As I was shifting through my usual amount of mails this morning, I spotted a google alert regarding an article titled “BPM must integrate people, documents”. Now I thought that’s a tad obvious, and promptly went to read the article thinking I had missed something….And basically I hadn’t…

A good point was raised though, that most BPM software targets business analysts and project managers. There are usually options to utilise SDKs but these are often a low priority as the main selling point is almost always “out of the box” demonstrations aimed at business analysts. However, am I the only one that sees a flaw in this?

BPM design tools. Are they flawed?

Now putting together demonstrations and targeting analysts are all good things to a degree, however in the world of BPM I still maintain that too much is done to show a great demo, allow analysts to “model” processes and not enough is done to provide real integration and back end flexibility. What do I mean by this? Well, systems integration in the “real world” often require a lot more work than simply setting up some connectors with common integration points. Often you need to call functions from other systems, pull in data from more than just a single source, carry out some complex processing, update multiple systems etc all within a single step. Can you really do all this from a fancy modelling tool….My guess is no.

Modelling tools give power to the business

This is so very true. Business can make tweaks to their processes and make them happen immediately, which is great. Many BPM solutions almost live and die by their modelling tools / facilities and spend vast amounts of time, effort and money in making these better and more flexibile. There are so many benefits which many other articles will and have talked about. But again, in my experience, many larger systems aren’t just “out of the box”, nor are many smaller systems. They have applications written in .NET for example, that use the process map for guidelines and routing business rules. The application itself then contains its own “business layer” (if written well) which contains certain inbuilt business rules – typically regarding calculations and integration with other LOBs.

I have worked on numerous BPM projects that work in this way, providing lots of applications for different steps within the process map, using the process map for merely setting statuses and routing information. The application itself holds all the business logic and integration code. Even on the more complex solutions, an application was delivered in place of any out of the box front end components. Business rules were built into the application to interpret the process map, which in theory did give back more power to the process map, regarding statuses, routing, cooling off periods etc.

In this case you can see that the modelling tool gives power to the business on when and where to route work for example. Even such things as options the user can select, cooling down processes, awaiting other tasks etc. However, the real integration and bringing people / data together, happens in the business application, written by developers specifically for that client requirement.

But what happens if the business analyst wants to make a change to the process that involves carrying out additional calculations at a particular step or pulling in more content / data from other platforms. He can make the changes as he sees fit in the map, but what about the actual rules etc? More often than not a “change request” is raised and someone in the development team has to make a modification to the code of the application, which then obviously needs to be tested in a model office environment before being released. So even though the business feels like it has ownership of the process map, it doesn’t really have great ownership over how the map actually works as a process for the business. In this scenario the actual time taken to make the change is quite lengthy. Let’s break it down:

1. Business identifies the need for change
2. Business analyst is involved and investigates the options
3. Business analyst provides a new solution
4. Business analyst updates / creates a new business process map
5. Change request is made and passed on to the software developer
6. Business analyst updates the process map
7. Software developer makes the required changes
8. Process map is then tested (UNIT test)
9. Software is then tested against the new map (UNIT test)
10. Software is then sent back to a testing environment
11. Testing environment tests the new map and all the related applications / scenarios
12. New process map and application is released to the live environment

As you can see that’s quite a list of things that must happen.

What’s the answer?

It’s simple. Let’s let people do the jobs they are supposed to do, and let’s let software provide us with what it is designed to do, nothing more and nothing less.

So with this in mind. imagine a business analyst who models the business process. He / she put together a complete map with users, groups, security, calculations identified, function calls to other LOBs etc. They then model this in Visio for example with some accompanying documentation.

Once this is all complete, let’s move this over to the actual BPM software, which should allow all these things to be included into the “map”, even execution of complex code, calculations and integration etc. Please note, the BPM engine shouldn’t be confused with the BPM front end at this stage. The user will never see the “engine” as such. So our BPM specialist (which is more than likely at this level to be a developer), makes the changes to the BPM map, codes the required calculations and integrations and completes the map. This is then “tested” before being published. Please note, no application code has changed, there is no need to test the applications etc, rather just the map itself.

The last part of our solution is our front end. This should be written to only present data to the user and allow them to interact with that data, people or other systems depending on the BPM map (which holds all the rules / calculations etc). Because map changes are made in the map and are completely separate from other deliverable code, namely our actual application / front end, the whole process of making a change to the process map and having it made live is far shorter, less likely to fail, far more flexible and in the end, much cheaper.

Let’s review:

1. Business identifies the need for change
2. Business analyst is involved and investigates the options
3. Business analyst provides a new solution
4. Software developer updates / provides a new map
5. Process map is then tested (UNIT)
6. Process map is sent to testing environment
7. Process map is made live

We could even add in: 8. Full testing of the process map and application; and we are still 4 points shorter in our list of things to do. In addition, each point in this second implementation is not as time consuming as those in the previous list…

The downside

Because this type of BPM system / solution doesn’t display a great map for business analysts with lots of feature rich BA tools, it doesn’t really quickly and easily demonstrate BPM. A system like this won’t allow a BA to make a change to the process map and have it published immediately. All of this means that this kind of system, though in many ways far superior, may be viewed in a demonstration as a simpler tool with fewer capabilities.

Conclusion

When choosing your BPM platform, really focus on your actual requirements. Have more than just a rough idea of your processes and desired outcomes. If you have an in-house IT department, make sure you bring along a senior member of that team to any demonstrations / meetings.

Remember, a demonstration is not the same as a solution and don’t fall for the statement, “we have an SDK you can use to integrate”. This almost always means you need to build those more “complex rules and calculations” into your own application / step processor, not in the process itself.

BPM mapping tools are great; they deliver a powerful and rich environment that is fantastic for demonstrations. But make sure the BPM map itself has the capabilities and flexibility to meet your requirements without the need for you to build essentially what should be process rules into your own step processor / front end application…

Even with BPM there is still a process that you must follow to get your BPM system to work for your needs…

check it out here – Any photos you would request to see printed? The selection will be steadily growing – this is a test batch, and there will likely be some one-off proof prints for sale in a few months after I’ve tried various paper qualities.  I’m learning as I go, so if you order, please be patient!

People often underestimate the time it takes to process leave requests within an organisation. The festive season brings about all sorts of leave requests, with some holidays planned months in advance. Other requests may come through at short notice. Web-based workflow software can reduce most of the headaches involved with the processing and approval of leave requests.

Leave requests are not always visible. People are often unable to see who has requested leave, when it’s for, and whether there are overlaps that could cause bottlenecks.

Ensure that your software does the following:

1. Manages the workflow of leave requests (leave applications and approvals)
2. Displays leave schedules in real time, using an easy-to-understand dashboard
3. Manages employees leave balances by integrating with your HR system
4. Updates your payroll automatically, according to leave schedules
5. Monitors replacements for staff on leave
6. Ensures traceability, tracking the process of requests and approval
7. Delegates tasks automatically to the appropriate person when someone is on leave.

Every employee/manager saves time with an automated leave request, as well as being provided with instant feedback via email and seeing a real time view of their teams availability via their individual dashboard.

Automated leave tracking systems lead to a reduction in the number of unprocessed requests, so any requests not made deliberately, forgotten or neglected requests, lost requests or incorrectly entered requests are dramatically reduced.

Kontinuum is easy and simple to use. This simplicity is one of the main reasons why our clients have chosen Kontinuum to manage their leave requests. Contact us now if you want to improve your holiday and leave management processes.

Im zweiten Teil gehts um die Kontraste im Bild, aber bitte jetzt nicht falsch verstehen, denn ich ahne schon was ihr euch denkt.

Wenn ich jetzt die Kontraste anspreche, dann geht es hier nicht um die Helligkeit/Kontrast-Einstellung von Photoshop, sondern um die Tiefe im Bild. Manche von euch fragen sich oft,  wie bekommt man eine gewiße Tiefe ins Bild.

Einer der Möglichkeiten und sogar ein muß, ist das richtige Einsetzen der Kontraste, im ersten Teil ging es eher um die Sättigung.

Auch hier möchte ich erwähnen, das es nie Schaden kann seine Umgebung genau zu beobachten und zu Studieren, je mehr man sich dahingehend einlässt und ganz bewußt guckt, umso besser kommt man hinterher bei der Bildmontage oder dem Digital Painting klar.

Übung macht aber auch den Meister, das ist schon ein altes und sehr weises Sprichwort und trifft auch hier den Nagel auf dem Kopf. Von nichts kommt nichts und wer jetzt glaubt, man müsse sich das hier nur mal durchlesen und dann passt das schon, der liegt hier eindeutig falsch. Sicherlich mag dieser Artikel einigen Helfen (oder auch nicht), aber ohne das üben wird man nicht erwarten können, das es auf anhieb funzt.

Was ich damit sagen möchte, schult euer Auge schon beim üben bzw. durch das üben und versucht ein Gespür für Dynamik und Stimmung zu bekommen.

Nun gut, jetzt zum Praktischen…

Im folgenden Beispiel möchte ich euch zeigen, wie ihr die Kontraste so einsetzt das man eine gewiße Tiefe im Bild vermuten könnte.

Wie ihr sehen könnt, bekommt man alleine durch das richtige und gezielte einsetzen der Kontraste, eine gewiße Tiefe ins Bild. Versucht hierbei mal eines, ruft die “Tonwertkorrektur” von Photoshop auf und setzt beim zweiten hinteren Objekt den Tonwertumfang wie hier im gezeigten Beispiel auf etwa 25.

Im Endeffekt keine große Sache und eigentlich weiß man es ja auch, zumindestens sagt uns dies unsere eigenen Augen, nur manchmal kommt man eben nicht gleich drauf oder weiß es einfach nicht.

Deshalb versuche ich auch, es euch so gut wie möglich nahe zu bringen.

Nun den, das war jetzt der zweite Teil und weitere werden in den nächsten tagen folgen.

I just got the following error message in my Dynamics AX Workflow history. It appears that the original context record for this workflow instance (purch req) was deleted, and when workflow tried to escalate the work item it failed as the PurchReq no longer existed. One needs to add the relevant checks to ensure that the original context records cannot be deleted while it is in workflow.

Stopped (error): Error in call of method EventContextInformation.unpack

Full Error log:

Exception thrown in     :
 Workflow work item escalation failed: 
   Error in call of method EventContextInformation.unpack

Ok, so here’s the deal. You have a workflow setup in Dynamics AX and you want to for one reason or another know when your work-items are assigned or reassigned e.g. writing to a custom audit trail etc. However there are a few small short-comings with the workflow framework in Dynamics:
1) There is no onDelegate eventHandler
2) The start Event on your approvals is triggered when the approval is started, but before the item is assigned.
3) The users returned from your participant provider class may may not be the final assignee due to delegation (Administration -> Users -> User Options -> Delegation)

So how can you (without any major modifiications) capture who is finally assigned the workitems.
1) Write a batch job to examine open workitems (no system code modification required)
2) Add your code at the end of the ‘saveTracking‘ method on the ‘WorkflowTrackingTable‘ table. At this point the workitem has been assigned to the correct user which you can use for your own purposes. As this is a system class avoid adding too much code here, rather just do a single line to call other code in order to keep your footprint to a minimum. E.G.

 ...
 }
 MyClass::createNewAuditLog(trackingTable,commentTable,statusTable);
 ttscommit;
}

static void createNewAuditLog(WorkflowTrackingTable trackingTable, WorkflowTrackingCommentTable commentTable, WorkflowTrackingStatusTable statusTable)
{
;
resp_user = trackingTable.User; switch(trackingTable.TrackingType)
case WorkflowTrackingType::EscalationPath : [action was on escalation]; break;
case WorkflowTrackingType::Denied: [action was on workitem denial]; break;
case WorkflowTrackingType::RequestChange: [action was on request change]; break;
case WorkflowTrackingType::Resubmission: [action was on resubmission]; break;
case WorkflowTrackingType::Submission: [action was on submission to WF]; break;
case WorkflowTrackingType::Cancellation: [action was on cancellation]; break;
}

MUPPITS is (another) acronym for Multiple User Post Production IT Services which is worth checking out.   According to its website:

MUPPITS is a research and development project set up to address the ever increasing challenges faced by the Post Production Industry today, caused by the adoption of increasingly complex processing requirements and the adoption of tapeless workflows.

Another excellent podcast in which .NET Rocks! interviews Dean Gou about Project Trident. Project Trident was created for the real/near-time monitoring of thousands of oceanic sensors, in short it helps to crunch large quantities of data.

The boys talk to Dean Gou about Project Trident, a scientific workflow workbench. With Project Trident, you can author workflows visually by using a catalog of existing activities and complete workflows. The workflow workbench provides a tiered library that hides the complexity of different workflow activities and services for ease of use.

While the project sounds very interesting in its own right I have to wonder at what other possible applications there are for Project Trident.

Trident is part of a collaborative project between The University of Washington, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Microsoft, to provide Project NEPTUNE with a scientific workflow workbench for Oceanography. Trident, implemented on top of Windows Workflow Foundation, allows scientists to explore and visualize oceanographic data in real-time and provides an environment to visually compose, run and catalog workflows.

If Trident is used by oceanographic scientists then it should also be useful to educational researchers, while enhancing the fidelity of their work.

Other features in Trident for data-intensive research include: automatic provenance capture, “smart” re-running of different versions of a workflow, on-the-fly updatable parameters, cost estimation of the resources a workflow will require, monitoring of long-running tasks, and support for fault-tolerance and recovery from failures.

Fascinating stuff!

via .NET Rocks!.

es verdad sin trud no hay truth curratelo todo para llegar siempre hasta el lack total fak da lack
::::::::::::::::::::
истина е без трут няма трут трява да се утрепеш от работа за да стигнеш неизменния лак фак да лак

I have been doing some researching on iWeb and how well iWeb pages can be seen by search engines. Basically they are invisible without some added work like adding a sitemap and adding your site to Google Webmaster Tools. This research has led to further work on my site turning images into text as much as possible. Specifically:

• every time text is given a shadow, iWeb turns it into an image which makes the text invisible to search engines – turn off shadows;
• to check which elements on your page are text or images, go to iWeb > Preferences and check the box for “Show text imaging indicator” - this is essential for doing a thorough job;
• whenever an image is added inline to text, the whole thing is turned into an image. – remove images from inline;
• lastly, when a text box is hyperlinked, it turns into an image – hyperlink the actual text by selecting it.

More and more search engines are basing their rankings on actual page content rather than meta tags in the header. This means an app like iWeb SEO Tools is becoming less and less helpful. What really matters is what’s on the page. So, make sure you have a s much text as possible by turning off shadows except where they are really needed – especially for things like navigation bars and links since they often carry important keywords.

Register your site with Google WEbmaster Tools and  a basic sitemap by following the instructions at iWebfaq.org.

I was experiencing an issue where after publishing a workflow to the workflow server the page that would come up where your supposed to see your webform or project was showing a “Page cannot be displayed” error. A quick MySupport incident and a phone call from SYMC support found the issue that .NET 3.5 SP1 was installed.

The solution is to uninstall 3.5 SP1, 2.0, and 1.1. I then rebooted and reinstalled in reverse order up to 3.5 WITHOUT 3.5 SP1. After double checking the associations in ‘default website’ in IIS Manager and an iisreset I was good to go.

Extensis, a division of Celartem Inc., today announced the immediate availability of Portfolio NetMediaMAX, an add-on for Portfolio Server 9. This media-processing software lets digital imaging professionals automate their media workflows for increased productivity and faster turn-around times.

Seasoned designers and marketers spend significant time performing repetitive production tasks as part of their imaging workflow. The NetMediaMAX add-on for Portfolio Server manages this repetitive work for faster production. Complex export operations no longer require manual work and multiple applications, meaning users spend more time on their core tasks, translating into faster output and profits for organizations.

“We have heard from many of our customers that their creative teams spend too much time doing repetitive, non-value added activities,” says Martin Stein, VP of Products and Services at Extensis. “NetMediaMAX is designed to automate manual processes, eliminate routine tasks, create consistency and standardize processes, resulting in individuals focusing back on their creative tasks.”

Converting batches of images into derivatives for use on the Web and in print would typically take many hours. With NetMediaMAX, which offers graphical tools to simplify processing tasks, file conversions are created on the fly for faster output. Templates can be utilized to accomplish common batch-processing operations-such as file resizing and format conversion-to ensure standardization and eliminate errors.

NetMediaMAX Highlights:

” Automates repetitive image production tasks

” Increases efficiency, quality and output

” On-demand generation of digital assets

” Download files and ’save as’ many file types as you choose-on the fly

” Batch-convert images and other files into any standard format

” Utilizes MediaScript™, an open, standards-based scripting language to automate and customize for many different workflow needs

” Publish web portals that allow users to download files in a variety of file types

” Distributed processing for high-volume environments with multiple media engines

NetMediaMAX is built on the Portfolio Server platform that provides support for Windows® and Macintosh® environments and utilizes server-side processing, freeing up desktops from media-processing tasks. The MediaRich® technology inside NetMediaMAX provides organizations with heavy workloads the ability to process media-related tasks dynamically and automatically, saving significant time and manual effort. Organizations can distribute media-processing tasks to one or more external servers for even faster performance.

NetMediaMAX provides support for a wide range of image file formats. Users can convert to the most popular file types such as TIFF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, PSD, TGA, BMP, PDF and EPS.

For enhanced capabilities, IT professionals can create limitless customizations by enabling custom scripts to automate steps such as transferring multiple digital assets, updating metadata, building composite logos, colorizing, resizing and more. NetMediaMAX comes with sample scripts to get you started. Scripts can be easily customized using MediaScript, Equilibrium’s easy-to-learn ECMAScript-based scripting language (like JavaScript) that is uniquely designed for media-processing environments.

Pricing and Availability

NetMediaMAX is available immediately. Current Portfolio Server 9 customers can purchase NetMediaMAX as an add-on to their existing installation for USD $2,964.50. A full NetMediaMAX Bundle is available for USD $9,161.64 and includes Portfolio Server 9 and three clients. All prices include an annual service agreement. Academic pricing is also available.

NetMediaMAX will be available in English, French, German, and Japanese. For more information visit www.NetMediaMAX.com

About NetMediaMAX

NetMediaMAX is an extensible media-processing engine that allows organizations to automate media-centric workflows and edit, update and convert digital assets on demand. It’s a turnkey solution that can be set up in hours to automate routine jobs and distribute media processing tasks. It is an open system built on trusted technologies such as Java™ J2EE™, Adobe® FLEX®, JBoss and OpenOffice.org. For end users, this translates into superior usability and unique integration with their existing workflow. For IT managers, it delivers power and efficiency with central and remote web-based administration. In addition, the optional SQL Connect module provides greater scalability, superior data integration and advanced administration.

No Question: The XPage-Feature introduced by Notes/Domino 8.5 is quite cool. Web applications look like modern webpages. But how can Lotus Workflow participate from this?

First of all, there is no integration/support out of the box. Quite a shame as more and more applications move towards this new technology.

Is there a workaround? Maybe! You can build your own custom controls. But which API to call? Call the agent used by official” API to do your work? – No good solution, this even does not work reliable. Of course you may alter items directly, but what about compatibility in the future? And what about exposing Tasks and Decisions? – There is no API for this features.

Seems to me, the only real solution is an official upgrade by IBM. Any other implementation may fail when upgrading to a new version or lack of functionality.

So, all we can do is sit and wait for Big Blue moving

There is already an idea on IdeaJam dealing with XPages – feel free to vote ;o)

Introduction

This document explains why/ how local services are required/ registered to a workflow. We are going to discuss the theoretical concept alone. Implementation of local services will be dealt in the coming documents.

Local services are optional services mostly used to get details from workflow to outside world.

Local Services

It got events and methods which can be called from workflow instance. Workflow instance uses CallExternalMethodActivity class belonging to Sytem.Workflow.Activities library to call a method on a local service. The method will be synchronously invoked using workflow thread. This will help us to retrieve/transfer data to outside world beyond workflow instance. So we can say call happens from workflow to host application. But for events exposed in local services, flow is in opposite direction.

Workflow instance uses HandleExternalEventActivity to accept events raised by local services. So now the host application will raise an event and workflow is going to waiting for event to happen. During this wait time workflow thread is idled and so not consuming an active thread. State machine workflows are the major consumers of event from local services. They use this service to change their state as well as processing data.

The Figure 1.1 defines interaction between workflow instance, local services and host application.

Figure 1.1 – interaction between workflow instance, local services and host application

Now we need to look into thread handling during the whole process. Normally events are executed in the same thread in which it is raised. In our case host application thread is the one which raises events. Microsoft made sure that request is handled in workflow thread itself by using an internal queue. When a local service raises an event it is added to this internal queue, which is picked by workflow instance. So we can say workflow is looking into the internal queue.

To develop a local service first we need is an interface which is decorated with property ExternalDataExchangeAttribute. This interface should include all the methods and events that are required for local service. One more thing need to be done, we need to make sure events are derived from ExternalDataEventArgs. Without these steps workflow won’t be able to recognize your local service and subscribe to event. Last step will be to write a class which implements this interface.

Local Services are created and registered to workflow runtime engine by host application. Registration happens in 2 steps

1. Create instance of ExternalDataExchangeService class and add it to WorkflowRuntime instance.
2. Add local service to instance of ExternalDataExchangeService.

ExternalDataExchangeService is a core service. So in nutshell the talking to local services is done by this class not our workflow engine.

Conclusion

It is important that everyone working on WF should have the concept of local service rather than simple knowledge of coding local service.

Building on the release in 2008 of Phantasm CS Studio, Astute Graphics is reaching out further to the high-end design and pre-press markets with the latest in its award-winning and acclaimed Adobe Illustrator plugin range; Phantasm CS Publisher. Unique in its combination of fantastic value for money and critical features to enhance workflow and boost creativity, Phantasm CS Publisher has been developed and tested by professionals for professionals.

The key additions to Phantasm CS Studio’s features are:

- Exposure Filter and live Effect that work with all embedded artwork, both vector and raster

- Advanced Swap Channels tools adding process to spot channel swapping plus the copying of channel levels

- Advanced Ink Coverage tool providing individual ink usage levels (percentage and area)

- Bitmap Alpha adjustment in Curves and Levels tools giving contour control of standard live Effect Drop Shadows, Outer Glows and Blurs

- Link embedded images, allowing for easy image extraction and storage for common use across multiple documents

An illustrated example of the new tools’ capabilities may be found in this PDF file: www.astutegraphics.com/pdf/raspberry-carton.pdf

Full details of the plugin’s features can be found at www.astutegraphics.com/products/phantasm/features.html including a revised plugin range feature matrix.

Available for Mac OS X and Windows XP/Vista/7, with versions available for Adobe Illustrator CS2, CS3 and CS4, the user manual provided in both German and English. Phantasm CS Publisher is priced at £139+VAT (approximately €155 / $231) with discounts for multi-licenses.

All versions are available for immediate purchase and download from www.astutegraphics.com

For further editorial information and resources, please visit www.astutegraphics.com/press/

Astute Graphics Limited, Hereford, England

Introduction

This document gives an introduction to Windows Work flow Foundation [WF] and some basic concepts.

Work flow Foundation – Basics

Workflow can be defined as a set of activity that coordinates people or software.  WF enables workflow within an application.

There are two types of workflows

1.       Sequential workflows: used where there is interaction between programs.

2.       State Machine workflows: used when there is more user interaction.

Let’s start with a simple sequential workflow sample.  Select Sequential Workflow Console Application from Visual Studio Workflow template. It will result in workflow designer page as sown below

Figure 1.1 – Workflow Designer

WF related assemblies :

1.       System.Workflow.Activities

2.       System.Workflow.ComponentModel

3.       System.Workflow.Runtime

4.       System.WorkflowServices [with .NET 3.5 only]

Workflow Activities

Activities are the steps in the workflows. Activity defines a particular set of logic [mostly unique purpose]. Activities are derived from System.Workflow.ComponentModel.

Sequential Workflow has a definite start and end point as shown in Figure 1.1.  Activities are dropped in between these two end points. Activities are provided with set of properties which can be set.

Few of the standard activities are as shown in the Figure 1.2

Figure 1.2 – Few of the activities available in visual studio tools

Logic to Workflow

Drag and drop CodeActivity[class name] into the workflow designer. It is displayed as Code in tools. CodeActivity is one way through which we can place our logic.

Figure 1.3 – Adding CodeActivity

The exclamation mark says there are some properties which need to be set.

Figure 1.4 – Property window for CodeActivity –Before and After

Now we need to fill the event codeActivity1_ExecuteCode in the Workflow1.cs with our logic.  Shown below is the logic to display a message.

namespace SampleImplimentationSequentialWorkflow

{

    public
sealed
partial
class
Workflow1 : SequentialWorkflowActivity

    {

        public Workflow1()

        {

            InitializeComponent();

        }

        private
void codeActivity1_ExcecuteCode(object sender, EventArgs e)

        {

            Console.WriteLine(“My First WorkFlow worked.”);

        }

    }

}

Hosting Workflow

Inspecting Program.cs in the project

namespace SampleImplimentationSequentialWorkflow

{

    class
Program

    {

        static
void Main(string[] args)

        {

            using(WorkflowRuntime workflowRuntime = new
WorkflowRuntime())

            {

                AutoResetEvent waitHandle = new
AutoResetEvent(false);

                workflowRuntime.WorkflowCompleted += delegate(object sender, WorkflowCompletedEventArgs e) {waitHandle.Set();};

                workflowRuntime.WorkflowTerminated += delegate(object sender, WorkflowTerminatedEventArgs e)

                {

                    Console.WriteLine(e.Exception.Message);

                    waitHandle.Set();

                };

                WorkflowInstance instance = workflowRuntime.CreateWorkflow(typeof(SampleImplimentationSequentialWorkflow.Workflow1));

                instance.Start();

                waitHandle.WaitOne();

            }

            Console.WriteLine(“Press any key to continue …”);

            Console.ReadKey(true);

        }

    }

}

These autogenerated lines of code host the workflow runtime and execute the workflow.

WorkflowRuntime class provides methods and event to monitor and control workflow. Each workflow defined is going to be executed in separate thread. In this sample only two events of WorkflowRuntime is referred [highlighted in green]

1.       WorkflowRuntime.WorkflowCompleted

2.       WorkflowRuntime.WorkflowTerminated

These two events informs console application when workflow is completed /terminated.

 The code highlighted in yellow creates object AutoResetEvent class; used to release a single waiting thread. In this sample threads are going to be from host console application and workflow itself.

The code highlighted in grey creates an instance of workflow. Now build and run the workflow to get following console window.

Figure 1.5 – Output console window

Conclusion

This document gives a bird eye view on workflow and dissection of a simple work flow.

Thinking I should update my workflow and make a blog post out of it…

Recently, someone was complaining to me that the photos they were having printed at a well-known pro-lab were coming out brown toned. 

I asked, “Do you mean ‘muddy’?”

They said muddy was a good description.   They said the colors were all off, dull, and washed out, and so forth.

I recognized right off the bat what they did.  They shot in Adobe RGB and sent the Adobe RGB file off to their lab.  They didn’t tell their lab to convert to sRGB, or the lab’s “color profile”, and so the lab just printed them.  (Remember, your lab will do what you tell them to do.)

Although printers are now coming on the market that support a wide gamut of color space, MOST printers are so much more narrow that Adobe RGB, and Adobe RGB was not designed with photography in mind.  Okay, neither was sRBG, but sRBG is a safer bet when printing.

So, if you do not want to take the time to learn about color management, at least set everything you own to sRGB.  Shoot in sRGB, edit in sRGB, and send it to your lab as a sRBG file.  Yes, it is a smaller color space, but you’ll be more pleased with the results than trying to print an Adobe RBG file.  You other option is to talk to your lab when you submit your files and tell them what color space you used, and ask them to convert.  They MIGHT charge a FEE!  Just beware.

Your other, and better option, is to learn how to manage color profiles.

A few points to keep in mind as we work on holiday papers:

Deadlines: There will be earlier deadlines on all our products Wednesday.

• Shreveport — 4:30 PM
• Monroe — 5:30 PM
• Opelousas — 6:40 PM
• Alexandria — 8:00 PM
• Lafayette — 10:40 PM

Price: All Thursday products should have the same price as a Sunday edition. Double-check this when you are building the fronts and when you are proofing the fronts.

Barcodes (or UPC graphic): Whatever it’s called, make sure that the Thursday editions have the barcode graphic for Sunday so that the price will ring up correctly when they are scanned. Watch for this when building the fronts and when proofing them. If you don’t know what this means or how to check it, please ask a supervisor.

Advance page production: Currently, there are a lot of advance pages in production at the same time as daily pages. This requires extra diligence on the part of those building the pages as well as those proofing. Be sure that folios match the content (does the TV grid match the folio for example). Advance sections are usually printed ahead of time, so there are no remakes. Errors on advance run sections that make it through production on this end are errors that can’t be fixed later. We are the last line of defense.