not your typical question here on StackExchange, but hopefully somebody can point in the right direction to get started.

I currently use SPD 2010 to create many workflows on our On Premise instance of SP2010. I have a small number of custom workflow actions installed from codeplex as farm solutions that add actions that allow me to apply custom permissions to list and library items.

I am currently looking to move our SharePoint environment Online and think I should really start looking at creating my workflows in Visual Studio, otherwise I feel I will loose many of the capabilities I currently use.

I am struggling to find some good general starting guides in getting started.

Ive never used Visual Studio with SharePoint before and the project types I find all seem to require me to have a local install of SP, is this still the case for developing for SP Online?

I do have programming experience, but its with C++, so a good general guide with samples would be very useful as I have limited exposure to JavaScript.

I know a full start to finish guide is too much to ask for on here, but if anyone know of a good resource, or a collection of good resources that would be great.

I think something that may be confusing me are the new terms for things, in VS2012 I see project templates for 'SharePoint Solutions', but also 'App for SharePoint 2013', are workflows for SharePoint 2013 Online created through the App template?

Also, we currently have a SharePoint 2013 Online environment to work with, and I have Visual Studio 2012, but could just as easily install VS 2013 if more suitable.

Thanks.

Not typical question here on StackExchange, but hopefully somebody can point in the right direction to get started.

I currently use SPD 2010 to create many workflows on our On Premise instance of SP2010. I have a small number of custom workflow actions installed from codeplex as farm solutions that add actions that allow me to apply custom permissions to list and library items.

I am currently looking to move our SharePoint environment Online and think I should really start looking at creating my workflows in Visual Studio, otherwise I feel I will loose many of the capabilities I currently use.

I am struggling to find some good general starting guides in getting started.

I've never used Visual Studio with SharePoint before and the project types I find all seem to require me to have a local install of SP, is this still the case for developing for SP Online?

I do have programming experience, but its with C++, so a good general guide with samples would be very useful as I have limited exposure to JavaScript.

I know a full start to finish guide is too much to ask for on here, but if anyone know of a good resource, or a collection of good resources that would be great.

I think something that may be confusing me are the new terms for things, in VS2012 I see project templates for 'SharePoint Solutions', but also 'App for SharePoint 2013', are workflows for SharePoint 2013 Online created through the App template?

Also, we currently have a SharePoint 2013 Online environment to work with, and I have Visual Studio 2012, but could just as easily install VS 2013 if more suitable.