SQL Server Template Creation Wizard

Article
06/14/2014

This content is no longer actively maintained. It is provided as is, for anyone who may still be using these technologies, with no warranties or claims of accuracy with regard to the most recent product version or service release.

A template is a complete copy of a workflow application that contains all of the information required to create another instance of the application, including the database schema, Web pages or folders, and database roles. To complete the wizard you must supply the information required in each of these screens:

Identify the Source Project Type

Database project refers to Access Data Project (ADP). If your workflow application was created using an ADP, select Database Project, and browse to the .adp file that points to the workflow application.

Select Workflow Project to point directly to the workflow application that you want to save as a template. Select the server where the application is located from the server list, and then click Connect to generate the list of workflow applications that are available on that server.

Select the application you want to save as a template, and click Next.

Provide the Template Information

The template will be saved with the name you designate here. The name must be unique on that server.

The title appears in the Workflow Manager template list after the wizard is completed. It can be used to provide a more complete description of the template contents than the file name provides.

The version number can be used to identify successive modifications to an application. If you want to keep earlier versions of a modified application, you can use the same title for continuity and show the progression by using version numbers. The version number appears in the Workflow Manager template list.

Add Additional Files

You can add any type of file to the template to be distributed along with the workflow application, but it is not required that you add any. You might want to include a help file or other non-database or Web-related files that support your application but that are not part of the database, workflow, or Web site.

Include Data in the Template

If you are creating a template for a server where the users do not require the data that is in all the tables, you can exclude the data from the template by clearing the check box next to the table name. If you include the data in a main table, you must include the data in all the associated detail tables, or the application will not function correctly. However, you can exclude the data from a main table and still include the data in the associated tables, or you can exclude all data from all tables.

For example, a company that has several regional offices might want to distribute a Customer Order workflow application to all its offices. The administrator who creates the template can include the product, customer, and employee data that is the same across the company and which is stored in detail tables but leave out the region-specific customer order information that is in the main table.

Include Current Users

Include the users only if this template will be used to create new applications for the same users as those specified for the selected application. For security reasons, you should exclude the users if you plan on providing this template to a different set of users. The default is to exclude existing users.

Select Implementation Options

Save template on server puts the template directly on the target server, so an instance can be created without having to be imported from a file first. Select the server where you want to save the template from the server list. After you have selected the server, click Connect to make sure the server is running. If the server is running, you will get a Connection Successful message.

Save template to file creates a .tpl file that can be distributed to other servers that have Workflow Services for SQL Server installed.

You can select one or both options.

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