What You Need to Use This Book

For those who want to follow along with the code in this book, which is not required, there are only a few prerequisites, the biggest of which is access to Visual Studio 2005. Although Visual Studio is not required to develop C# or other .NET code, it is the most common tool for developers to do so. Therefore, most of the code in this book assumes the reader has access to Visual Studio.

The remaining software needed to develop software using Windows Workflow Foundation is free and can easily be obtained on the Microsoft website. The first download needed is the .NET Frameworks 2.0 and 3.0. .NET 2.0 provides the base class library and common language runtime for .NET 3.0. However, .NET 3.0 contains the new code for Windows Workflow Foundation and the other pillars (which are introduced in Chapter 1).

The next downloadable piece of software is the Visual Studio 2005 extensions for .NET Framework 3.0. This software enables the development of Windows Workflow Foundation in Visual Studio by providing a visual workflow designer and general workflow project templates.

The final, and optional, download is the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows Vista and .NET Framework 3.0 Runtime Components. Don’t be fooled by the name of this SDK-it works for Windows operating systems such as Windows 2003 and Windows XP SP2. This download provides you with documentation and samples to help get you started developing on the next-generation Windows development platform, the .NET Framework 3.0.