A Business/Workflow Engine

[Abraham Shilon]

Hey,

We're contemplating about using a rule/workflow engine in our app.
I wonder what engine, if any, you guys are using.
Is it an existing framework, like WF, NxBRE and the like?
Or have you implemented a custom built engine of your own?

P.S
  If I recall correctly, in the first ALT.NET meeting Oren mentioned something about implementing a dsl that simplifies things in comparison to a rule engine.
  But I can't remember anything from his lecture :)

What's your take on this guys?

Thanks a bunch guys,
Avi

[Avishay Lavie]

Depending on how specific and simple your rules are expected to be, you might want to consider building a simple rule DSL in Boo. It's easy to create simple DSLs that generate classes and/or members, so that might work for you. Ayende knows more :)

[Abraham Shilon]

Ha, I knew it! Just kidding :)

So, in general, what you're saying is that as long as my rules are simple, rule DSLs may get the job done. And for more elaborate rules, they might not work. Am I right?
Well, I'm not sure at this stage about the complexity of the rules to be defined at a later stage. I can try and guess that a rule/workflow engine is the only way to go when
the complexity gets high, right?
I heard that people had a so so experience with WF. Which makes me a little hesitant to try and push it in our company.
Any suggestions guys?

P.S
Why is Boo chosen for building DSLs? I know that Visual Studio also offers some capabilities in this regard.

Thank u all.

[Avishay Lavie]

I don't know much about the (relatively new) capabilities of DSLing in Visual Studio, but I do know that when Microsoft say "DSL" they usually mean a graphical one which in most cases is a huge overkill for what you need.

Boo is suited for DSLs because it's easily meta-programmable, i.e. you can easily add keywords to the language and transform them into other code. Then again, the learning curve might not be so easy if you're just getting into it. I have no other experience with any rule engines so I can't really compare the two.

[Abraham Shilon]

I see. Thanks dude :)