SHAREPOINT 2013 WORKFLOW: INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING

In order to install Workflow Manager, you will need to download it as part of the Web Platform Installer 4.0, which is packaged with Workflow Manager 1.0. You can download this directly from Microsoft here.

Install Workflow Manager 1.0 using Web Platform Installer 4.0

1. Browse to the download location and run the workflowmanager.exe.
2. Click Install from the Workflow Manager 1.0 screen.
3. Click I Accept from the Prerequisites screen.
4. This will begin the installation process of Workflow Manager 1.0. When this has completed, we can then begin the configuration.
5. Now that the installation has completed, it’s time to configure. Click Continue on the Configure screen, as seen below.
6. After clicking Continue, you will see the Workflow Manager Configuration Wizard after a few seconds. In this example, we will choose Configure Workflow Manager with Default Settings (Recommended).
7. On the New Farm Configuration screen, enter the appropriate SQL server and the credentials. As you can see, in this example, I am using SQL Authentication, rather than Windows Authentication. Either option is fine. Test Connection.
8. In the Configure Service Account section, enter the appropriate service account you would like to use to run the Workflow Manager. In this example, I created a service account explicitly for the WM.*If your SharePoint farm is not using an SSL certification, please check the checkbox next toAllow Workflow Management over HTTP on this Computer.
9. In the Certificate Generation Key section, enter a unique key. In this particular example, I used the Farm Passphrase that was created when joining these servers to the SharePoint Farm. Enter a key and press the right arrow to continue.
10. When the Summary page is displayed, verify all information is correct. Click the checkmark to complete the configuration information.This will begin the configuration process. When this has completed, you should see similar to the below.
11. Click the check mark to complete the configuration.

In this example, we are using a single server SharePoint Farm. The Workflow Manager client must be installed on every SharePoint server in your farm.

Configure Workflow Manager with SharePoint 2013

Now that the Workflow Manager is installed on the system, we must now configure it so that it works with the SharePoint 2013 Farm.

1. Browse to the Start menu and open the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.
2. Run the following command, using the appropriate information:

Register-SPWorkflowService –SPSite https://sharepointsiteurl.com/ -WorkflowUrihttp://servername.domain.local:12290

Verify Installation of Workflow Manager:

The easiest way to verify that the installation was successful is to use SharePoint Designer 2013 to attempt creating a workflow.

1. Using SharePoint Designer 2013, open the site used in the steps above.
2. Select Workflows from the Site Objects menu.
3. Select List Workflow from the ribbon bar and then select any item in the drop-down list.
4. This will open the Create List Workflows dialog box. Under the Platform Type menu, you should now see at least SharePoint 2010 Workflow and SharePoint 2013 Workflow as seen below.

BEFORE SharePoint 2013 Workflow Manager Installation:

*Note the informational message at the bottom of the above dialog box.

AFTER SharePoint 2013 Workflow Manager Installation:

That’s it! You are now able to take full advantage of the SharePoint 2013 Workflow engine.

SharePoint 2013 Apps Vs Farm solutions

Comparison between Apps and Farm solutions in sharepoint 2013

SharePoint 2013 has introduces the new Cloud App Model that enables you to create apps.

In SharePoint 2010 you had an Option to Add custom components to SharePoint via SharePoint Sandboxed or Farm solutions.But in SharePoint 2013 sandboxed solutions are deprecated.So all we got is the New App model and the Old SharePoint Farm solutions.

SharePoint 2013 – Apps Vs Farm solutions

Apps	Farm Solutions
What are apps - An app for SharePoint is a small, easy-to-use, stand-alone app that solves a specific end-user or business need.	What are Farm solutions - Farm solutions are pieces of functionality that extend the capabilities of a SharePoint website. They are Installed to the solution store of a farm by a farm administrator.
where does it run – The code for an app runs in different places, depending on where your app is hosted.They never run in the context of SharePoint Server, but they will run in the context of the browser or in the context of the hosted platform. SharePoint-hosted apps Provider-hosted and autohosted apps – In the cloud Apps that have a mix of components in SharePoint and in the cloud	where does it run – They are Installed to the solution store of a farm by a farm administrator. They run from the sharepoint server.
How Does It run - When you deploy a SharePoint-hosted app, SharePoint creates a new website called the app web. You can think of it as a dynamically created safe space for your app. Besides allowing you to store pages, lists, and libraries, the app web is also an isolated endpoint that your app can securely call client side by using JavaScript.	How Does It run - when you deploy a Farm solution, It gets deployed to one or more web apps (any existing or new one). You can use it in any site collection of the web app where you deployed it.
Authentication options - Before you can call SharePoint APIs from your app, you need to authenticate to SharePoint. Which authentication mechanism you use depends upon where the code of your app is running. * Inside SharePoint: You have to use HTML and JavaScript, and authentication is already taken care for you. * In the cloud: You have two choices: Use client-side code along with the cross-domain library. User server-side code along with OAuth. *REST APIs	Authentication options - The components in the solution can, and usually do, run in full trust
Resource Allocation - Site collection administrators and tenant administrators can monitor apps and change the resources allocated to them.	Resource Allocation - No resource usage restrictions are placed on them
What Can be Created as Apps - Custom Web Parts (remote pages that contain custom Web Parts) Event receivers and Feature receivers(remote event receivers) Custom field (column) types () Custom web services built on the SharePoint Service Application Framework Application pages Cannot be created as Apps – Apps cannot call SharePoint server side code Apps cannot access SharePoint components that are not on the same site Apps cannot communicate with each other Custom site definitions Custom themes Custom action groups and custom action hiding User controls (.ascx files) Delegate controls	What Can be Created as Farm soltuion - You can deploy almost all the components as Farm solution.