Workflow Interview Questions and answers

Workflow Interview Questions and answers

Can we apply Workflow  to  all elements of SharePoint ?	Workflow associations are often created directly on lists and document libraries, It can also be created on a content type that exists within the Content Type Gallery for the current site or content types defined within a list. In short, WF can be applied ·         At the level of a list (or document library) ·         At the level of a content type defined at site scope ·         At the level of a site ( Sharepoint 2010 )
What are the ways to initiate the workflow ?	·         Automatic (on item added or item deleted) ·         Manual (standard WSS UI interface) ·         Manual (Custom UI Interface) ·         Programatically through custom code
What is the difference between method activity and event activity in WF ?	A method activity is one that performs an action, such as creating or updating a task. An event activity is one that runs in response to an action occurring.
What is different with SharePoint 2010 workflows ?	Some of the additions in workflow model are : 1. SharePoint 2010 workflows are build upon the the workflow engine provide .Net Framework 3.5. 2. In addition to the SharePoint lists we can now create workflows for SharePoint sites as well. 3. SharePoint Designer 2010 also has a new graphical workflow designer for designing workflows and deploying them directly to SharePoint. 4. Another Improvement in SharePoint Designer 2010 is that it now allows you to edit the out-of-the-box workflows that come with SharePoint.
What is the difference between an Internet and an intranet site?	An internet site is a normal site that anyone on the internet can access (e.g., www.msn.com, www.microsoft.com, etc.). You can set up a site for your company that can be accessed by anyone without any user name and password. An intranet (or internal network), though hosted on the Web, can only be accessed by people who are members of the network. They need to have a login and password that was assigned to them when they were added to the site by the site administrator
What are the various kinds of roles the users can have?	A user can be assigned one of the following roles Reader - Has read-only access to the Web site. Contributor - Can add content to existing document libraries and lists. Web Designer - Can create lists and document libraries and customize pages in the Web site. Administrator - Has full control of the Web site.
What are the types of input forms that can be created for a workflow ?	You can create four different types of input forms including an association form, an initiation form, a modification form, and a task edit form. Note that these forms are optional when you create a workflow template.
What are ways to create input forms for workflow ?	Two different approaches can be used to develop custom input forms for a WSS workflow template. You can create your forms by using custom application pages, which are standard .aspx pages deployed to run out of the _layouts directory. ( disadv: lot of code required when compared to Infopath approach) using Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 /2010 (disadv: picks up a dependenct on MOSS, i.e. it cannot run in a standalone WSS environment)
What is claims based authentication ?	Claims is a new authentication method that SharePoint 2010 can utilize. This allows a single authentication store for multiple types of authentication (Windows NTLM, SQL FBA, LDAP, etc) which allows all of these types of authentication to access SharePoint under a single URL.
How do we use the claims identity outside of SharePoint?	LOB systems External partner services Separate SharePoint farms
Q. What is LINQ to Sharepoint ?	LINQ is a feature of the programming languages C# 3.0 and Visual Basic .NET LINQ adds, to each of the languages, a SQL-like syntax and vocabulary for querying data sources. LINQ to Sharepoint allows developers to use SQL-like syntax to query Lists and Libraries in Sharepoint. LINQ to Sharepoint internally converts the LINQ query to a CAML query to fetch records Advantage : Strongly typed access to the entities of the list. Disadvantage : If the new columns are added or its datatype changed, the datacontext class used by LINQ is no longer valid and may break the code
Q. Name the tool used to create DataContent classes for use in LINQ queries?	SPMetal.exe
Q. What are the advantages and disadvantages of LINQ to Sharepoint ?	Advantages: Intellisense Strongly typed access to the entities of the list Faster development Simplify complex queries Disadvantages: If the new columns are added or its datatype changed, the datacontext class used by LINQ is no longer valid and may break the code Extra layer to the actual CAML query
Q. Can MS Visio be used to create a Sharepoint workflow ?	MS Visio cannot be used to create the Sharepoint workflow itself, but can be used for workflow visualization. What this means is that, the flow diagram designed in Visio can be imported in Sharepoint Designer where all the functionality can be added and deployed to Sharepoint. Note: To use Visio 2010 for workflow visualization, you must be running the Enterprise version of SharePoint Server 2010 and Visio 2010 Premium.
Q. Whats new in Shared Service Provider (SSP ) in Sharepoint 2010 ? (  or   What is "Service Application" ? )	“Service Application” or “Service App” is a concept in Sharepoint 2010, where SSP Services are split out into separate services. What is replaced : Profiles, Audiences = People Service App Search = Search Service App Excel = Excel Service App Whats new : Project Server = Project Server App Visio Services = Visio Service App Advantages : Web applications can be configured to only use a subset of the deployed services. You can deploy multiple instances of the same service in a farm by giving the new service instances unique names. You can share services across multiple web applications in a farm.
Q. What is a declarative workflow? Can non-authenticated users participate in workflows?	Workflows created by using Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010, the default setting enables deployment of declarative workflows. Yes, however you do not give non-authorized users access to the site. The e-mail message and attachments sent from notifications might contain sensitive information.
Q.What are event receivers?	Event receivers are classes that inherit from the SpItemEventReciever or SPListEventReciever base class (both of which derive out of the abstract base class SPEventRecieverBase), and provide the option of responding to events as they occur within SharePoint, such as adding an item or deleting an item.
Q. what are Reusable List Workflows and Site workflows ?	Reusable List Workflows - You can create a reusable list workflow (reusable workflow) in the top-level site in the site collection, and that workflow can be made globally reusable — meaning that the workflow can be associated to any list, library, or content type in the site collection. You can also create a reusable workflow in any subsite in the site collection; this workflow is available for reuse in that particular subsite. Site workflows -  A site workflow is associated to a site — not to a list, library, or content type. So unlike most workflows, a site workflow is not running on a specific list item. Because of this, many of the actions that are available for items not available for site workflows.
Q. Can you modify the Out-of-Box workflows in SharePoint 2010 ?	In SharePoint 2010, you have an option to customize the Out-of-Box workflows. The four most popular workflows in SharePoint Server 2007 — the Approval, Collect Feedback, Collect Signatures, Publishing Approval workflows — have been completely rebuilt as declarative reusable workflows, meaning that they are now fully customizable in SharePoint Designer 2010.