Application Scenarios with ASP.NET

As mentioned several times throughout this book, one of the greatest things about Windows Workflow Foundation is the fact that it can be hosted in any .NET application type, including ASP.NET. One way that you could use a workflow and ASP.NET is to provide wizard- or step-based functionality - such as for an online store. Users start by visiting the site and adding various items to a basket. When they are ready to purchase items, the web application must check to see whether they are already members. If not, they must go through some kind of enrollment process. A workflow is a great way to model the various steps users might go through during a shopping experience online.

Consider also a lengthy application process that must maintain state across user visits. For example, a college admissions application could use Windows Workflow Foundation to provide a stateful page-flow back end. Applicants could start the process during their first visit, save their changes, and continue the process during subsequent visits. You could easily implement this by using the persistence functionality provided out of the box. This concept of using Windows Workflow Foundation as a page flow engine is discussed later in this chapter.