About the Step Palette

One of the things that distinguishes the use of Web services in orchestrations, rather than in applications, is the availability of control flow structures. These control flow structures make it possible to design an orchestration workflow that can branch based on a value, make calculations based on returned results, iterate through a set of data, and perform many other tasks.

The control flow structures are available on the area known as the Step Palette. Each item in the Step Palette is known as a step.

The following table describes the steps on the Step Palette.

Step Purpose
Calculate Performs a calculation or sets values on data.
Decision Inserts branches into the workflow.
ForEach Cycles through all members of a complex data element.
While Repeats during the time a certain condition is true.
Service Inserts a Web service into the workflow.
Group Creates a structure to organize steps logically.
Scope Creates a structure to handle faults that occur during the execution of a Web service.
Compensate Defines steps that can compensate for a problem.
Throw Defines steps to throw an exception.

Related Topics

Using the Step Palette