Host new WF4 workflows in appfabric

Question

Hello,

I am new to using AppFabric to host WF services. I am trying to write a workflow admin application that will allow users to create xaml workflow definitions using the hosted WF4 designer, and then somehow allow those workflow defitions to be automatically deployed and hosted in AppFabric with the click of a button.

I have the designer going, and I have read a couple of tutorials on how to host workflow services in AppFabric such as http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee677238.aspx, but my problem is how to deploy and host the workflow services via code.

Does anyone know if this sort of "autodeploy/host" thing can be done with AppFabric? If so, could you point me in the right direction on this?

-David

Answer 1

It looks like AppFabric does not yet have an API for this sort of thing, but you can get workflow services deployed using the IIS7 APIs. Check out Chris Craft's answer at http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/dublin/thread/b503ac4a-249f-415d-b2ea-1026414de1f0 for more details.

Answer 2

Using AppFabric to host Workflow Services implies that you are using IIS 7 and a web application. Here is a link http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee814764.aspx showing how to deploy a workflow order service using PowerShell and MSDeploy. You can do one click deployments in Visual Studio 2010 using the new MS Deploy features built in but I think the given link is more along the lines of what you are wanting.