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.
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As depicted by the above image, the Workflow Studio IDE is comprised of four components—the Ribbon, the Solution Explorer, the Document Space, and the Toolbox—each of which combine to create a rich, interactive environment for workflow development. Expand the sections below for details about that particular component.
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| title | Workflow Studio Ribbon |
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The Workflow Studio ribbon provides immediate access to a variety of tools and application-specific development tabbed toolbars. The toolbars are dynamic in that the number of tabs and commands available on the ribbon at any given time is determined by the number and types of designers and editors opened in the IDE. The Common toolbar contains a number of command buttons that allow you to perform general tasks when working in the IDE. Command Button | Purpose |
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Save | Saves a new or edited package item. | Save As | Opens a dialog that allows you to name an open package item and choose the package to which you wish to save it. | Deployment Services | Provides options for opening and creating new manifests, building solutions and packaging development items for deployment to the local file system. | Refresh Toolbox | Forces a refresh of the toolbox. If any recent changes have occurred you can elect to have those reflected in the update. | Object Browser | Displays the Workflow Studio class library. |
The Build toolbar contains a number of commands relevant to publishing projects created in Workflow Studio. Command Button | Purpose |
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Compile | Compiles the open workflow, activity, form or lookup. | Publish | Publishes workflows to the designated workflow server. | Deployment | Provides options for opening and creating new manifests, building solutions and packaging development items for deployment to the local file system. |
The Tools toolbar contains commands for performing a number of Workflow Studio maintenance tasks. Command Button | Purpose |
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View Assemblies | Opens a list of all Workflow Studio assemblies by version number, allowing you to add or remove any from your copy of Workflow Studio. | Activity Templates | Opens a dialog that allows you to view and delete any activity templates from Workflow Studio. | Event Viewer | Opens an Event Viewer that allows you to view any workflow events that have occurred on a selected machine. | Isolate Workflow Versions | Allows you to select an existing workflow and save it as different version. |
The Workspace toolbar contains commands relevant to the Workspace, which is a local copy of the Workflow Studio Source Control. The workspace can be individualized with selected packages and package items. Command Button | Purpose |
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Build Log | Opens the Build log, if one exists. | Cancel Build | Cancels any batch build operations that exist in your workspace. | Program Files | Opens the Program Files folder on the local machine. | Program Data | Opens the ProgramData folder on the local machine. | Compile Temp | Opens the ProgramData > CompilerTemp folder on the local machine. | Dyna Local Temp Dll | Opens the ProgramData > DynaLocalTempDll folder on the local machine. | Intelli Cache | Opens the ProgramData > Cache folder on the local machine. | Workflow Templates | Opens the ProgramData > UserWorkflowTemplates folder on the local machine. |
The Options and Settings toolbar contains commands that allow you to perform various actions. Command Button | Purpose |
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Alert Receivers | Opens a window displaying a list of the current Alert Event Receivers configured in your environment. | STS Claims Extensions | Opens the STS Claims Extensions dialog with a list of extensions and related assemblies in your environment. | SSO Extensions | Opens the SSO Extension editor displaying a list of extensions and related assemblies. | C# Code Editor Font | Opens the Editor Style dialog, which allows you to style how text appears in the C# Code Editor. |
The Workflow Editing toolbar contains commands related to designing workflows and activities. This toolbar only appears when a workflow is open in the Workflow Designer or an activity is open in the Activity Designer. Command Button | Purpose |
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Add New Property | Opens the Add New Property dialog, which allows you to add a new property to the workflow or activity. Once added, the new property can be used for data binding. | Delete Property | Allows you to delete a selected property. You must select a property to delete it. | Promote | Promotes the selected property. | Bind Property | Opens the Data Binding Shortcut dialog, which allows you to create a new workflow or activity property bound to another property in the same workflow or activity. | Bind Wokflow | Opens the Shortcut Workflow Association wizard, which allows you to call an external workflow to return a property from that external workflow to the current workflow or workflow activity. | Copy | Copies an item selected in the designer. | Cut | Cuts an item selected in the designer. | Paste | Pastes a previously copied item into the designer. | Delete | Deletes a selected item from the designer. | Zoom In | Allows you to magnify the designer. | Zoom Out | Allows you to decrease the magnification level of the designer. | Pointer | Releases the mouse from the Zoom In and/ Zoom Out control. | Print Setup | Opens the Page Setup dialog, which allows you to configure print options. | Print Preview | Displays a preview of what the workflow or activity will look like when printed. | Print | Prints the workflow or activity to the printer selected in the Page Setup dialog. | Add Reference | Opens the GAC Assembly Reference dialog, which allows you to add an assembly reference to the project. |
The Form Designer toolbar contains commands related to designing forms. This toolbar only appears when a form is open in the Form Designer. Command Button | Purpose |
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New Tab | Adds a new tab to the form that is actively being edited in the Form Designer. | New Section | Adds a new section to the form that is actively being edited in the Form Designer. | Mask | Opens the Add New Mask dialog, which allows you to add a new Mask to the Components tree of the form that is actively being edited in the Form Designer. | Validation | Opens the Add New Validation dialog, which allows you to add a new Validator to the Components tree of the form that is actively being edited in the Form Designer. Validators force users to enter data in the format specified by the Validation Expression of the Validator. | Data Source | Opens the Add New Data Source dialog, which allows you to add a new Data Source object to the Components tree of the form that is actively being edited in the Form Designer. Data Source objects allow you to bind form controls to objects in the EmpowerID Identity Warehouse. | Add Object | Opens the Add Object dialog, which allows you to add Primitives (Strings, Booleans, DateTime, etc) and Rbac Components (Account, AccountStore, Person, etc) to the Components tree of the form that is actively being edited in the Form Designer. Once added to the Components tree, these objects can be dropped onto a form as properties for use in data binding. |
The Lookup Designer toolbar contains commands related to Lookup Control design. This toolbar only appears when the Lookup Designer is open. Command Button | Purpose |
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New Column | Adds an empty column to the currently open lookup | Set Grid Type | Allows you to set the grid type for the currently open lookup. Grid types can be set to custom, default or that of a current EmpowerID component. The selected grid type determines the initial columns of the lookup. For example, if you set the grid type for a lookup to the Account component, Workflow Studio adds the columns that appear in the default Account Lookup to the lookup in the designer. |
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The Workflow Studio Toolbox is situated to the right of the IDE and provides access to a number of features related to workflow development and project management. The Toolbox is comprised 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 on the type of object open in the Document Space, some tabs will have more relevance to your project than others. The purpose of each is discussed in more detail below. The Activities TabThe Activities tab displays icons for all activities in your environment that have been published to the Workflow Server(s). 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 activities. The Activity Toolbox provides 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 the string value entered into the field. To search for an activity, you simply enter the name of the activity or text that can be found in the activity's description. This search is performed across all activities regardless of the category selected. If you wish to broaden the search to a category of activity, you can use the Category drop-down list to locate activities classified by category. | Tip |
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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. |
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When searching for activities, it is important to note that an activity must be published before it is available to 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 TabThe Solution Tab contains two sub-tabs for working with a project: the Code Tree tab and the Code Snippets tab. The Code Tree Tab — The Code Tree tab 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. 
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.
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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 New Custom Method (Duplicate Signature) | | Edit Method Signature | | 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 Code Snippets Tab — The Code Snippets tab displays any Code Snippets that you have added to a project or other team members have published. The Code Snippets tab behaves as a toolbox. Thus, as with the activities in the Activities Toolbox, you can drag a code snippet from the Toolbox and drop it into an open project to incorporate it. However, code snippets must be dropped onto an open Code Editor. They cannot be dropped onto the design surface of an object.
The Properties TabThe 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 SelectGroups activity.  Whether 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. | Insert excerpt |
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