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Where Are the Tools?

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I get a number of queries about when WF will ship, or (more frequently) when the tools will be ready.  The answers are "done" and "done."  I've had two internal requests in the last week along these lines, so I wanted to try to state this as clearly as possible.  The tools for WF are released and supported.  The tools for WCF and WPF are in CTP and will continue to be updated in a CTP like fashion.

You can get the bits from the list of links here.

It is important to point out that the " Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (Windows Workflow Foundation) " is shipping and supported, while similarly named " Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (WCF and WPF), November CTP " are being published as a CTP, so things can and will change with the WCF and WPF tools.  Let me say that one last time in case you got caught up in the names: 

The tools for WF are released.  You can use them today.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    December 13, 2006
    So if the tools are already there, why do you guys keep calling them "Technology Previews"? CTP = not done... that's why you keep getting the question. Why not version them 1.0 releases and just say they're going to update consistently until Orcas?

  • Anonymous
    December 13, 2006
    Is there/will there be a tool to allow you to view/edit Workflow without Visual Studio? We're evaluating WF for anh upcoming project, and that would be a wonderful tool.

  • Anonymous
    December 13, 2006
    interscape, the WCF and WPF tools are still Technology Previews (CTP) and are still being worked on. The WF tools are done and have been released as a fully supported 1.0 release.  The WF tools are not labeled as CTP (if you find anywhere that does have them that way, please let me know).

  • Anonymous
    December 13, 2006
    szurgot, The workflow designer is re-hostable inside of a Windows Forms application, so you can build your own tooling in order to edit the workflows.  There are a number of samples available for this (http://wf.netfx3.com/files/folders/teched_2006_chalk_talks/entry3734.aspx and http://wf.netfx3.com/files/folders/sample_applications/entry4074.aspx ).