Workflow Foundation of .Net Framework 3.5 & Visual Studio 2008

Description:

This clinic will provide a start point for Enterprise Developers and Software Architects that are looking to Windows Workflow Foundation as a solution for enabling business processes within their solutions. Within the clinic you will learn about the functionality provided by the workflow engine, the overall architecture, and how to build workflow enabled applications.

Objectives:

At the end of the course, students will be able to

• Describe the WF value proposition
  Describe Windows Workflow Foundation
  Describe Model driven benefits


• Describe how WF increases developer productivity
  Describe how WF allows increased collaboration between devs and business analysts
  Describe the benefits of OS integration


• Describe Scenarios for building WF
  Describe Microsoft products that will leverage WF
  Describe how to build WF applications
  WF hosting environments
  Workflow Designer
  Workflow debugger
  XAML
  Describe the WF architecture
  Workflow Runtime
  Workflows


• Activities
  Fault Handling
  Communication Activities
  Role Activities
  Custom Activities


• Integration of workflow (WF) and services (WCF) as Workflow Enabled Services

System Requirements:

To view this course, you need

• A Pentium II, 256 MB RAM with a processor speed greater than or equal to 400 MHZ
  Microsoft® Windows® 2000 or higher
  Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher
  Macromedia Flash 7.0 or higher (1MB disk space needed to install)
  Microsoft Windows Media Player 7.0 or higher
  Microsoft XML Core Services 3.0 or higher
  A Super VGA monitor with minimum screen resolution 1024x768, with 16-bit color.
  A sound card, and either speakers or headphones (for multi-media audio).
  Internet bandwidth of 56K or faster. Broadband internet access is recommended.

Google Labs

Google Suggest

Google Suggest is a feature that analyzes what you're typing into the search box and offers relevant suggested search terms in real time. You can choose one of the suggested queries by moving up or down the list with the arrow keys or mouse.
Google Suggest items will appear with a green number next to them representing the approximate number of results that would return for the suggested query.
You can also try out Google Suggest in many other Web and browser applications, such as Google Chrome, Google Toolbar, the Firefox search box, Google Maps, YouTube, iPhone, to name a few.

GOOG-411

You don't need a computer, an Internet connection, or even the keypad on your phone or mobile device. GOOG-411 is voice-activated, so you can access it from any phone (mobile or land line), in any location, at any time. For free. (*)
Dial (1-800) GOOG-411. Say where. Say what you're looking for. GOOG-411 will connect you with the business you choose.
If you are calling from a mobile device, GOOG-411 can even send you a text message with more details and a map. Simply say "Text message" or "Map it."

Google Alerts

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:
monitoring a developing news story
keeping current on a competitor or industry
getting the latest on a celebrity or event
keeping tabs on your favorite sports teamsCreate an alert with the form on the right.

Personalized Search

View and manage your web activity. You know that great web site you saw online and now can't find? From now on, you can. With Web History, you can view and search across the full text of the pages you've visited, including Google searches, web pages, images, videos and news stories. You can also manage your web activity and remove items from your web history at any time.
Get the search results most relevant to you. Web History helps deliver more personalized search results based on the things you've searched for on Google and the sites you've visited. You might not notice a big impact on your search results early on, but they should steadily improve over time the more you use Web History.
Follow interesting trends in your web activity. Which sites do you visit frequently? How many searches did you do between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.? Web History can tell you about these and other interesting trends in your web activity.

SearchWiki with sound

Do you like SearchWiki? Do you enjoy having the power to remove results from your search results pages? Now you can do so in style by having a sound effect play along with the animation whenever you remove a result. Recorded by our co-founder Sergey Brin himself, this sound effect is sure to please!

Alternate views for search results

See results on a timeline, map, or in context of other information types. With these views, Google's technology extracts key dates, locations, measurements, and more from select search results so you can view the information in a different dimension. Timeline and map views work best for searches related to people, companies, events and places. Info view shows all the data found for each result, to help you select the best choice.

Just Think Simple - Simple MSN Gadgets

Turning air into water?

Remember those sweltering summer days when the air was so muggy you could practically drink it? A new home appliance is promising to make that possible by converting outdoor air into nearly 13 quarts of fresh water every day.
Originally envisioned as an antidote to the shortage of clean drinking water in the world, the WaterMill has the look of a futuristic air conditioner and the ability to condense, filter and sterilize water for about 3 cents per quart.
At $1,299, the 45-pound device doesn’t come cheap, and it is neither the first nor the biggest machine to enter the fast-growing field of atmospheric water generators. But by targeting individual households with a self-cleaning, environmentally friendly alternative to bottled water, Kelowna, British Columbia-based Element 4 is hoping its WaterMill will become the new must-have appliance of 2009.

“The idea is making this thing intelligent,” said Jonathan Ritchey, inventor of the original WaterMill prototype and president of Element Four. “So what happens is the machine knows where it is. If you put it in a rainforest, it will sample that environment every three minutes, and it will adapt.” Ditto for a desert. That adaptation, he said during a November preview at Manhattan’s WIRED Store, is critical for energy efficiency.

Cooling the machine’s condensation chamber to just below the dew point, or the temperature at which the air becomes saturated with water vapor and begins to condense, is central to the process.
“If I have a dumb machine, it might bring the air down to just three degrees above dew point and I wouldn’t get any water,” Ritchey said.
“If I take the air way below the dew point, I’m using what’s called latent heat. It’s sort of like taking an ice cube and trying to freeze it some more. You’re just wasting your energy.”
The unit’s activated carbon filter offers another feature not found on most appliances.
“We’ve actually designed a system that knows when the filter is spent and will tell you, the consumer, ‘Time to change the filter, time to change the filter,’ Ritchey said. “And then if you don’t, we’ve got it dummy-proofed. It will shut itself down. Either you change the filter, and it makes pure water, or it doesn’t make water at all.”

A cloud hangs over BlackBerry Storm

After nearly two weeks on the market, the much-anticipated BlackBerry Storm has lived up to its name, with longtime BlackBerry loyalists frustrated by the smartphone's bugginess, sluggishness and user unfriendliness with its three touchscreen keyboards.
Their rants are shared at several phone and BlackBerry-related Web sites, including Research In Motion's own community support forums,where customers are finding empathy but little in the way of answers from the company that makes the legendary line of business-class phones equipped with e-mail and Web browsing.
"Having used many other Research In Motion devices, I can't remember a device being released with so many bugs," said Allen Nogee, In-Stat Research's principal analyst for wireless technology and infrastructure.

The Storm has been the buzz of the BlackBerry world for much of the year. Its release date was pushed back at least once, from September to November. Perhaps it should have been pushed back more.
"There is no doubt that this device was rushed to market to make the Christmas selling season," said Nogee. "Unfortunately, the decision was made to ship this device with bugs and fix them later, rather than to fix them first, and then sell the device."
That may be so. There are Web postings about software fixes that are on the way to deal with both the Storm's hardware and its operating system.
Little word from RIMSo far, RIM has not commented on the problems of its first all-touchscreen BlackBerry, considered a strong competitor to Apple's touchscreen iPhone.
Verizon Wireless, the exclusive carrier of the device in the United States, has said little, except how well sales have gone. The company, like most, doesn't publicly share sales figures.
When the Storm was released Nov. 21, there were lines of customers outside many Verizon Wireless stores around the country, with the same kind of excitement consumers felt about the iPhone's release.
"This is the fastest-selling device we've had to date," said Nancy Starker, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman.
She referred questions about the phone's performance to RIM, but did say, "As with any phone, there are constant tweaks that are made and pushed to the phone" via the carrier's wireless network.
On its Web site yesterday, Verizon Wireless said it will be Dec. 15 before new Storms are available to be shipped. Some speculate that the delay is to give RIM time to make the needed software and firmware updates to the phone.
The Storm costs $199.99 after committing to a two-year contract with Verizon Wireless and mailing in a $50 rebate.

Technology and Change

Information Evolution

We are facing a time of "information evolution". The Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program issued the following ways new information technologies are spurring complex patterns of change:

• New Tensions
• Centralization vs. Fragmentation
• A holistic perspective vs. Specialized knowledge
• Too much information vs. Too little information
• Leadership vs. Fellowship
• Worker isoliation/alientation vs. Community connections

The Information Superhighway

• The Telecommunications Act of 1996, the largest overhaul of our nation’s telecommunications policy in over 60 years, has been signed into law;
• More than one out of every three computers used in U.S. households has been acquired in the past two years, with as many as 15% bought in the past twelve months;
• The number of American who subscribe to online services grew nearly 140% between the winter of 1994 and June 1995 (from 5 million to nearly 12 million);
• Each of the largest commercial companies that provide online services has added a "kids only" or family-oriented section.

Exploring Technology Changes in Education

• Authentic challenging tasks are best supported with flexible technology applications rather than with canned instructional programs.
• Having project-based, cooperative learning skills in place is important.
• Teachers need time to develop their own skills with technology.
• Easily available access to technical assistance is critical, especially in the early years.
• Schools need permission and support for innovations from the district, state, and federal levels.