R – Performance implications of using WF to control UI navigation in ASP.NET MVC application

asp.net-mvcperformanceworkflow-foundation

I need to build a web application with different process flows and different UI steps depending on the locale of the logged in user.

I have developed a number of ASP.NET applications in C# and like the separation of concerns an MVC approach would give me. So I am looking at using these technologies.

The kicker is that different users in different locales need to have very different experiences, despite accessing the same datasource. I'm also constrained by the requirement to have new process flows be able to be configured easily. The XAML based Windows Workflow Foundation looks like a good candidate, and would allow me to avoid developing my own process flow engine.

However, I am a little concerned about the performance implications of such an approach. Has anyone tried this sort of architecture? What sort of impact can I expect on request time, CPU utilization and memory consumption?

All opinions gratefully received, Thanks.

Best Answer

Howdo

The principle objection, and I suppose, performance risk, which although not specically related to your ask, is that windows workflow hasn't been designed for that type of scenario. Simply put, WF first design tenet, was to enable long running transactions, built around web service and SOA, i.e. transactional connectivity lasting days, and as such its runtime is optimised for it. It doesn't really make a good fit, especially when you will need to shoe horn it into working, and it will be much more resource hungry for short running workflows, i.e. in relation to state changes, caching, etc, in terms of comparable other process flow code/engines. If you do go ahead, get a pilot up and running and test to death using Mercury Load Runner.

scope_creep

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