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The Workflow Studio IDE is where you develop EmpowerID workflows. It comprises four user interface components that work together to provide developers with a visual design environment. Through friendly drag-and-drop operations, depictions of business processes can be translated quickly into workflow logic without the need for extensive code. This can be as simple as dragging predefined activities onto the design surface of the IDE and connecting those activities with flow lines. Code editors allow C# code to be injected into the process when desired to create a complete package.

The below image shows what the Workflow Studio IDE looks like with a Flow Chart workflow opened in the Workflow Designer (also known as the Document Space.

As depicted by the above image, the Workflow Studio IDE is comprised of four components—the Toolbarcomponents – the Toolbar, the Solution Explorer, the Document Space, and the Toolbox—each the Toolbox – each of which combine combines to create a rich, interactive environment for workflow development.

Workflow Studio Toolbar

The Workflow Studio toolbar provides immediate access to a variety of tools and application-specific development commands. The commands are dynamic in that the number of commands at any given time is determined by the number and types of designers and editors opened in the Workflow Studio IDE.

Toolbar Commands

Solution Explorer

The Solution Explorer tab provides access to the in Workflow Studio is an essential tool for organizing, accessing, and managing your workflow applications and other objects that exist in source control. It is comprised of within the development environment. The three sub-tabs for managing these applications: the Workspace tab, which gives you access to within the Solution Explorer provide different functionality to help you efficiently work with your projects:

1. Workspace tab: The Workspace tab displays all the objects you develop in Workflow Studio

In Workflow Studio, the workflow applications and other objects that you develop are classified as solution items and placed in folders you create on your local development machine. These folders are simply containers for holding and organizing the items you are developing and are represented as nodes in the Source Control tree. Each time you create a new workflow, activity, user interface element, or other object, Workflow Studio prompts you for the folder in which the object should be placed and then places that within a Source Control folder underneath the selected folder.

Source Control folders exist for each item type that can be created in Workflow Studio and encompass the following:

Source Control Folder

Folder Purpose

Adaptive Auth Rules

Provides a location for organizing Adaptive Auth Rules you create in Workflow Studio

Alert Receivers

Provides a location for organizing Alert Receivers you create in Workflow Studio

APIs

1. , organized into folders on your local development machine. These folders act as containers for holding and organizing your workflow applications, activities, user interface elements, and other objects. You can create new folders, add objects to existing folders, and manage the contents of your workspace through this tab. As you develop new objects, Workflow Studio prompts you to select the folder where the object should be placed, ensuring that your workspace remains organized and easy to navigate.

2. Search tab: The Search tab allows you to search for objects by name and type, making it easy to quickly locate specific items within your workspace. This functionality is especially useful when working with large projects or searching for objects across multiple folders.

3. SharePoint tab: The SharePoint tab enables you to work with your SharePoint objects, integrating them into your EmpowerID workflows as needed. This functionality allows for seamless collaboration and integration between your EmpowerID projects and SharePoint resources.

Overall, the Solution Explorer tab in Workflow Studio provides a comprehensive and user-friendly interface for managing your workflow applications and objects. By organizing your projects in folders and providing easy access to search and integration features, the Solution Explorer helps you maintain an efficient and streamlined development process.

Source Control folders exist for each item type that can be created in Workflow Studio and encompass the following:

Additionally, the Workspace tab of Solution Explorer gives you ready access to the commands associated with folder and folder items. These commands are accessible from a context menu that appears when right-clicking an object in the Workspace Source Control tree.

Document Space

The Document Space is reserved for Workflow Studio designers and editors. Most of the work you do in Workflow Studio is accomplished through one or more where you work with various designers and editors , which are commonly referred to as development tools. In Workflow Studio, designers provide for rapid visual application development, enabling you to organize and present application content at design time. Editors provide intellisense-enabled C# and XML language support for editing code and appear in the Document Space as a tab when that feature is relevant to the object you open in the Document Space. For example, the C# Editor appears for workflows, activities, lookup controls, and forms are open in the Document Space, but does not appear for reports, menus, and pages. In those cases, the editor that appears is the XML Markup Editor.

As a workflow developer, the designers most relevant to you include the following:

Workflow Designer — The Workflow Designer opens whenever a new workflow application is created or an existing workflow application is being edited. The Workflow Designer allows you to visually design workflow applications and gives you access to all the commands and editors necessary to build a complete workflow application.

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Source Code — This tab allows you to view source code of the workflow application.

Activity Designer — In Workflow Studio, an activity represents the logic for a step within the workflow. The Activity Designer opens whenever a new activity is created or an existing activity is being edited. The Activity Designer allows you to visually design workflow activities and gives you access to all the commands and editors necessary to build a complete workflow activity that can then be associated with a workflow. Opening an activity gives you access to virtually the same tabs available to you when designing a workflow in the Workflow Designer.

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Form Designer — The Form Designer opens whenever a new form is created or an existing form is being edited. The Form Designer allows you to visually design forms and gives you access to all the commands and editors needed to build a complete form that can be associated with workflows. The Form Designer provides a drag-and-drop canvas that allows you to easily and quickly create a form by dropping user interface components and controls onto the designer. No coding is necessary, meaning that you can create forms quickly to capture any type of data—from primitive types, such as a string—to more complex types based on registered RBAC components. In addition, you can create your own components and controls and register them for use. Forms must be published before they can be used in a workflow.

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Lookup Designer — The Lookup Designer opens whenever a new Lookup control is created or an existing Lookup control is being edited. Lookup controls are used in workflows to provide workflow users with searchable grids for looking up and selecting objects contained in the EmpowerID Identity Warehouse for use at various points in a given workflow process. Examples include selecting a group to join or assigning a manager for a new hire. The type of objects returned by the Lookup is based on the method call selected when designing the Lookup. Each method call initiates a specific stored procedure against the EmpoweID Identity Warehouse for a specific resource type. For example, in the below image, the Lookup calls the GetAllSearch(string columnsToSearch, string textToSearch) method against the ManagementRoleView. This executes the dbo.custom_ManagementRoleView_GetAllSearch stored procedure.

to develop and edit workflow applications, activities, forms, and lookup controls. The designers and editors offer visual design capabilities, making it easy to create and modify your workflow components without extensive coding. Some of the key designers and editors in Workflow Studio include:

1. Workflow Designer – The Workflow Designer allows you to visually design workflow applications and access all necessary commands and editors to build a complete workflow application. It provides tabs for designing the workflow, managing properties, creating bindings, setting up external rules, and viewing source code.
   

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   When you open a workflow in Workflow Studio, you gain access to several workflow-related tabs that provide different functionalities to assist you in designing and managing the workflow process. These tabs include:

   • Workflow Designer Tab –In this tab, you create and modify the workflow visually by adding shapes and connecting them with lines and Business Rules (line rules) to define the process flow within the workflow.

   • Properties Tab –This tab provides a tree view of the workflow's properties. By clicking on a property, you can view its details. To add new properties to the workflow, right-click the base node in the tree and select "Add New Property" from the context menu.

   • Bindings Tab –The Bindings Tab displays two tree views showing the workflow's properties and the properties of each shape within the workflow. Using simple drag-and-drop operations, you can bind workflow and shape or activity properties to one another by dragging a property from one tree onto the corresponding property in the other tree. This binding allows you to visually maintain data consistency throughout the workflow process execution.

   • External Rules Tab –This tab is similar to the Bindings tab, but it displays two different tree views for binding properties in your workflow application. One tree shows the properties of the workflow and any shapes or activities within the workflow, while the other tree displays the Smart Object properties of any External Business Rule Application added to the workflow. This enables you to bind workflow properties to the Smart Object properties of the External Business Rule Application.

   • Source Code Tab: This tab allows you to view and edit the source code of the workflow application, providing an opportunity to further customize the workflow by modifying or adding custom code if necessary.

2. Activity Designer: The Activity Designer lets you visually design workflow activities and access all commands and editors needed to build a complete workflow activity that can be associated with a workflow. It offers virtually the same tabs as the Workflow Designer.
   

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3. Form Designer: The Form Designer enables you to visually design forms by dragging and dropping user interface components and controls onto the canvas. No coding is necessary, and you can create forms for various data types, from primitive types like strings to more complex types based on registered RBAC components. Once a form is published, a "Form activity" is generated and published to the EmpowerID Identity Warehouse, allowing you to use the form within a workflow.
   

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4. Lookup Designer: The Lookup Designer is used to create and edit Lookup controls, which are searchable grids for looking up and selecting objects within the EmpowerID Identity Warehouse. The type of objects returned by the Lookup is based on the method call selected when designing the Lookup, which initiates a specific stored procedure against the EmpowerID Identity Warehouse for a particular resource type. For example, when creating a Lookup that calls the GetAllSearch(string columnsToSearch, string textToSearch) method against the ManagementRoleView, it will execute the dbo.custom_ManagementRoleView_GetAllSearch stored procedure. This allows users to search and select objects such as groups, managers, or other resources during various stages of a workflow process, making the workflow more dynamic and adaptable to different scenarios.

   Code Block
   language c#
   ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[Custom_ManagementRoleView_GetAllSearch] ( @ColumnsToSearch NVARCHAR(MAX) = null, @TextToSearch NVARCHAR(MAX) = null, @ResourceTags NVARCHAR(MAX) = NULL, @StartRow INT=0, @TotalRows INT=1000 ) AS SET NOCOUNT ON; DECLARE @Statement NVARCHAR(MAX) = '' EXEC [GenericSearchForResources] @Statement = @Statement, @ComponentName = 'ManagementRole', @ObjectName = 'ManagementRoleView', @ColumnsToSearch = @ColumnsToSearch, @TextToSearch = @TextToSearch, @OrderByClause = '[Name]', @ResourceTags = @ResourceTags, @ResourceTypeIDForTags = 40, @StartRow = @StartRow, @TotalRows = @TotalRows

The fields returned by the procedure are determined by

1. 
   In the given example, the procedure returns fields based on the columns added to the designer.

In the above image, procedure returns the 

1. Specifically, it returns ManagementRoleID,

 

1. DisplayName,

 

1. Name,

the 

1. Parent Management Role Definition,

 

1. Extension Attribute 1,

and 

1. and Extension Attribute 2.

Toolbox

The Workflow Studio Toolbox is situated to , located on the right side of the IDE and provides , offers access to a number of various features related to workflow development and project management. The Toolbox is comprised It consists of four tabs: the Activities Toolbox tab; the Solution tab; the Properties tab; and the Workflows tab. Each tab has its own unique function, and depending , Solution, Properties, and Workflows, each with its distinct functionality. Depending on the type of object open in the Document Space, some tabs will have may be more relevance relevant to your project than others. The purpose of each tab is discussed in more detail below.

The Activities Toolbox

The Activities tab displays icons for all activities in your environment that have been published to the Workflow Server(s) in your environment. Once an activity is published, it becomes available as a toolbox item that can be dragged from the toolbox and dropped onto the design surface of any workflow open in the Document Space. You can also drop activities onto the design surface of a select number of other activities.

The Activity Toolbox provides includes a Search field and a Category drop-down, both of which can be used to narrow the amount of activities appearing in the toolbox. When using the Search field, the available activities are narrowed by help you refine the list of displayed activities. The Search field filters activities based on the string value entered into the field. To search for an activity, you simply enter input the name of the activity or text that can be found in the activity's description. This search is performed conducted across all activities regardless , irrespective of the selected category selected. If you wish want to broaden the search to a category of activity, you can use the Category drop-down list to locate activities classified sorted by category.

Tip
Activity Categories are set by the value of the activity's ToolboxPath property, which is accessible from the Toolbox Properties Tab when an activity is open in the Document Space. This property can be any string value that helps you to logically categorize the activity.

Info

When searching for activities, it is 's important to note remember that an activity must be published before it is becomes available to in the Activity Toolbox. Published activities are stored in the EmpowerID Identity Warehouse and are only synchronized with Workflow Studio when the Activity Toolbox is updated. If you are working in a team environment, each member must update their Activity Toolbox as well. Activities are only used with the Workflow Designers and Activity Designers; therefore, Workflow Studio only loads the full activity toolbox the first time you create or open a workflow or activity. When you publish an activity, Workflow Studio may prompt you to update the toolbox. If you are working with other team members who are also using Workflow Studio to develop workflows and activities, it is recommended that you update the Activity Toolbox from time to time to keep your activities in sync with the rest of your team.

The following image shows the Activity Toolbox with the User Interface category selected from the Category drop-down list. This narrows the activities that are displayed in the toolbox to those with their ToolboxPath property set to User Interface.

The Solution Tab

The Solution Tab provides access to the Code Tree, which provides a logically organized tree view of the files associated with the object currently open in the Document Space and provides placeholders for adding new files, such as custom methods and classes. Expanding a node in the Code Tree allows you to view the files in your project related to that node and gives you access to the commands relevant to it, allowing you to add new assembly references, namespaces, support classes, and embedded resources to the project.

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Right-clicking on a node in the Code Tree allows you to access commands relevant to the files represented by that node, as well as the type of object open in the Document Space. The following table show the commands available from the Code Tree for workflow applications.

Command

Function

Add Reference

This command allows you to add assemblies, namespaces, and WCF or Web services to a solution. New references are added to the appropriate node in the Code Tree.

Add as Snippet

This command allows you to create a code snippet from C# code that exists in your project and save it to the snippets library for ease of reuse. This command is only available when right-clicking on a node containing code, such as a method node.

Add Code Fragment Snippet

This command allows you to create commonly used blocks of C# code that can be injected into a project as needed.

Built-In Method Overrides

This command allows you to add a selected overridable method as a custom method to your project.

Add New Event Handler

This command allows you to create an event-handling method that responds to a specified user event.

Add New Custom Method

This command allows you to add your own methods to a project.

Add Visual C# Source Item

This command allows you to add support classes for use in your project based on the Workflow Studio object model.

Add New Business Rule

This command allows you to add a Business Rule to a workflow or activity. Business rules are used to determine what should occur in a given workflow based on the input and output of the rule.

Add New Binding Type Converter

Allows you to add a type converter to a workflow or activity. Type converters are used to convert values between data types.

New Folder

This command allows you to add a new folder to the Code Tree.

Add Embedded Resource

This command allows you to search for a file on your computer or the network and add it to your project.

Remove All Embedded Resources

This command allows you to remove *all* embedded resources from your project.

Retrofit Embedded Resource Prefix

This command allows you to add a prefix to an embedded resource.

Add Source from File

This command allows you to search for and insert a .cs file into your project.

Rename Item Support Class

This command allows you to rename a Support Class file that you have added to your project. You must right-click on the particular Support Class file in the Code Tree that you want to rename.

Delete Item

Deletes a selected item from the project.

The Properties Tab

The Properties Tab provides immediate access to the browsable properties of the currently selected object or document in the Document Workspace. Changes made to property values shown in the property grid are committed immediately to the object.

The following image shows property grid displaying browsable properties for the SelectTargetGroups activity.

Image RemovedWhether a property is displayed in the property grid can be controlled with the Browsable attribute. When you create dependency properties for activities you can select or deselect the Show in property grid checkbox, depending on whether you want to display the property in the property grid. Note that public properties without the Browsable attribute are displayed in the property grid by default

the EmpowerID Identity Warehouse and are synchronized with Workflow Studio only when the Activity Toolbox is updated. If you are working in a team environment, each team member must also update their Activity Toolbox. Activities are exclusively used with Workflow Designers and Activity Designers, so Workflow Studio only loads the full activity toolbox the first time you create or open a workflow or activity. When you publish an activity, Workflow Studio may prompt you to update the toolbox. If you're working with other team members who are also using Workflow Studio to develop workflows and activities, it's recommended to update the Activity Toolbox periodically to ensure your activities stay in sync with the rest of your team.

The Solution Tab

The Solution Tab offers access to the Code Tree, presenting a logically organized tree view of files associated with the object currently open in the Document Space. It also provides placeholders for adding new files, such as custom methods and classes. Expanding a node in the Code Tree lets you view the project files related to that node and access relevant commands, enabling you to add new assembly references, namespaces, support classes, and embedded resources to the project.

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Right-clicking on a node in the Code Tree allows you to access commands relevant to the files represented by that node, as well as the type of object open in the Document Space. The following table shows the commands available from the Code Tree for workflow applications:

Command	Function
Add Reference	Adds assemblies, namespaces, and Web services to a solution. New references are added to the appropriate node in the Code Tree.
Add as Snippet	Creates a code snippet from C# code in your project and saves it to the snippets library for ease of reuse.
Add Code Fragment Snippet	Creates commonly used blocks of C# code that can be injected into a project as needed.
Built-In Method Overrides	Adds a selected overridable method as a custom method to your project.
Add New Event Handler	Creates an event-handling method that responds to a specified user event.
Add New Custom Method	Adds your own methods to a project.
Add Visual C# Source Item	Adds support classes for use in your project based on the Workflow Studio object model.
Add New Business Rule	Adds a Business Rule to a workflow or activity, determining what should occur in a given workflow based on the rule's input/output.
Add New Binding Type Converter	Adds a type converter to a workflow or activity to convert values between data types.
New Folder	Adds a new folder to the Code Tree.
Add Embedded Resource	Searches for a file on your computer or the network and adds it to your project.
Remove All Embedded Resources	Removes all embedded resources from your project.
Retrofit Embedded Resource Prefix	Adds a prefix to an embedded resource.
Add Source from File	Searches for and inserts a .cs file into your project.
Rename Item Support Class	Renames a Support Class file that you have added to your project. You must right-click on the particular file in the Code Tree.
Delete Item	Deletes a selected item from the project.

The Properties Tab

The Properties Tab in Workflow Studio displays the browsable properties of the currently selected object or document in the Document Workspace. This tab provides a convenient way to view and edit the properties of the selected item directly without having to navigate to another interface. The property grid typically displays properties in a two-column layout, with the property names on the left and their corresponding values on the right.

For example, if you select the "SelectTargetGroups" activity within a workflow, the Properties Tab will show all the relevant properties for that activity, such as its name, description, execution order, input and output properties, and any other configurable settings. You can modify these properties directly in the property grid, and the changes will be applied to the object immediately.

The following image shows the property grid displaying browsable properties for the SelectTargetGroups activity.

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The visibility of a property in the property grid can be controlled using the Browsable attribute. When you create dependency properties for activities, you have the option to choose whether to display the property in the property grid by selecting or deselecting the "Show in property grid" checkbox. This allows you to determine which properties are easily accessible and editable within the grid.

It's important to note that public properties without the Browsable attribute are displayed in the property grid by default. If you want to hide a public property from the property grid, you can explicitly set the Browsable attribute to false. This can be useful when you want to limit the visibility of certain properties to maintain a clean and organized property grid, or when you want to prevent users from accidentally modifying properties that should remain constant throughout the workflow design process.

Tip
For more information on the relationship between properties and activities, see Common Workflow Activities.