No option to open the Build process Workflow Designer

2
votes

I have a build process in TFS and I'm using Visual Studio 2010. I can view the build process in the default xml editor, but I want to open it in the Workflow Designer.

Mostly there will be an option to open the build process in the Workflow Designer or you can press Shift-F7 and it'll open it when viewing the xaml.

For some reason that has disappeared, any ideas why?

Is there any way to force VS2010 to open a xaml (or xoml) file in the Workflow Designer and / or are there any good Windows Workflow editors out there like Kaxaml for WPF / Silverlight?

2
visual-studio-2010build-processworkflow-foundation

2 Answers

1
votes

I have the same condition.

I have set my default editor for .xaml to the XML editor. This speeds up the load time of the file because it does not have to load the designer, but prevents me from seeing the workflow view of a build process. There is no option in TFS to allow you to view the build in a different editor, there is only a 'View' option.

So here is my workaround:

  1. Find a .xaml form in your solution (not a build process .xaml)
  2. Right click the file and choose 'Open with...'
  3. Choose 'Workflow Designer' and click 'Set as Default'
  4. Click 'Cancel' because clicking OK will try and open the file, fail, and set the setting back.
  5. Now go open your build process .xaml. If it was already opened, nothing will change, so close the tab and try again.
  6. Don't forget to default your setting back.

It's not a great solution, but it works for what I'm doing.

0
votes

Did you try right clicking the template file and using "Open With" and selecting Workflow Designer?