Using WF Rules Engine without any Workflow
Customer often ask me: "If all I need is the WF Rules Engine – why do I have to use Windows Workflow Foundation?"
There is something very important to be clear about – The WF Rules Engine is although a part the the technology called Windows Workflow Foundation, but it can be used without being hosted inside a business process that was built with Windows Workflow Foundation.
The WF Rules Engine has it own API that allows developers to integrate rules capabilities into their applications. It also has many extensibility points for building custom actions, conditions and more.
In the pas I've written several posts about it:
- Execute Windows Workflow Rules without Workflow – This post shows the basic API of editing rules in the Rules Editor, and executing rules inside your application.
- Build workflow rules using Code Dom and Rules API – If you chose to manually build workflow rules, or create another user interface for editing rules instead of the Rules Editor, this post shows how to build those rules using CodeDom.