Dynamically Set BizTalk 2006 Pipeline Properties

Matt Meleski's .Net Blog - The ABC's of .NET : Dynamically Configuring Pipeline Component Properties in a BizTalk Orchestration

I am so very glad that BTS 2006 is capable of this!

Basically, you set properties on the message you are about to send through a pipeline and those properties will get set dynamically within the pipeline. This works both for stock and customer pipeline component properties.

John

Calling A Receive Pipeline Inside an Orchestration in BizTalk 2006

Calling A Receive Pipeline Inside an Orchestration in BizTalk 2006

This is a quick example of how to call a receive pipeline from within a BizTalk 2006 orchestration.

Here's the gist of it:

InputPipeline = Microsoft.XLANGs.Pipeline.

XLANGPipelineManager.ExecuteReceivePipeline

(typeof(CallReceivePipeline.ReceivePipeline),msgFullMessage);

InputPipeline.MoveNext()

msgSingle = new System.Xml.XmlDocument();
InputPipeline.GetCurrent(msgSingle);

JkDefrag v3.6

JkDefrag v3.6

Here's a handy little defrag utility.

BizTalk - Make the Port Operation Unique

Kevin Lam's WebLog : An orchestration pattern that can hog the master message box CPU

This is a compelling article on why the operation property of an orchestration port should be uniquely named.

How to Debug a BizTalk Rules Policy in Code

Rule engine - Another way to debug the rule engine

I was experiencing an unreported error when I was trying to dynamically call a BizTalk 2006 rules policy in C# code. The policy ran and gave me no exception information and was annoying me to no end!

It turns out the issue had to do with facts and namespaces. I didn't discover this, however, until I learned from the link above how to put a debug trace into the policy so it would tell me what was going on.

Here's a snippet:

TypedXmlDocument typedResult = new TypedXmlDocument("ValidationResult", validationResult);
TypedXmlDocument typedTransaction = new TypedXmlDocument("Transaction", transaction);

System.Collections.ArrayList FactList = new System.Collections.ArrayList();
FactList.Add(typedResult);
FactList.Add(typedTransaction);

DebugTrackingInterceptor debug = new DebugTrackingInterceptor(@"D:\trace.txt");
Policy rulePolicy = new Policy("ValidateTransaction");
rulePolicy.Execute(FactList.ToArray());
rulePolicy.Dispose();

Passing an Array of Facts into the Rules Engine

Passing an Array of Facts into the Rules Engine (BizTalk 2004)

The last piece of the puzzle for me in working with generic messages to do away with a TON of duplication is to dynamically call a rules policy to validate outbound EDI messages.

This is some sample code I found on the blog mentioned above:

//System.Collections.ArrayList List;
sCon = "Initial Catalog=Northwind;Data Source=(local);Integrated Security=SSPI;";
con = new System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection(sCon);
dcNorthwind = new Microsoft.RuleEngine.DataConnection("Northwind", "ShipperCountry", con);
List.Add(dcNorthwind);

xmlDocument = msgShippingRequest;
typedXmlDocument = new Microsoft.RuleEngine.TypedXmlDocument("RoleLinkSample.ShippingRequest",xmlDocument);
policy = new Microsoft.RuleEngine.Policy("ShippingPolicy");
List.Add(typedXmlDocument);

policy.Execute(List.ToArray());
msgOutgoingShippingRequest = typedXmlDocument.Document;
policy.Dispose();
typedXmlDocument = null;
dcNorthwind = null;

This sample is based on Biztalk 2004, but should not differ in this instance for Biztalk 2006.

Dynamic Mapping (Transforms) in Biztalk Orchestrations

TopXML : Dynamic Mapping (Transforms) in Biztalk Orchestrations, in XmlDocument

This is how we call maps dynamically in Biztalk 2006.

tMapType = System.Type.GetType("DynamicMaps.Map_A, DynamicMaps, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=faed587cb93de4ea");

construct Out_Xml

{

transform (Out_Xml) = tMapType(In_Xml);

}

BizTalk Correlation of Untyped Messages

Richard Seroter - SoCal BizTalk Musings : BizTalk Correlation of Untyped Messages

This is VERY cool...

I had two choices: created fifty separate orchestrations to handle all of the types and scenarios I needed to cover, or find a way to correlate untyped (XmlDocument) messages. I searched for the latter and found this article.

public IBaseMessage Execute(IPipelineContext pc, IBaseMessage inmsg)
{
string trackCode = Convert.ToString(System.Guid.NewGuid());
inmsg.Context.Promote("TrackingID", "http://Microsoft.Demo.Customer.CustomerPropertySchema", trackCode);
return inmsg;
}

Sweet!

MSDN TV: Introduction to Analysis Services 2005

I watched this demo and it is really impressive how quicky analysis cubes can be created and consumed in SQL Server 2005. I haven't had the opportunity to use analysis services with SQL Server 2000, so I can't appreciate how much easier it is in 2005. However, the benefits of cubed data become apparent pretty quickly while watching this short demo.

MSDN TV: Introduction to Analysis Services 2005

SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

This article on SQL Server Query performance tuning appears to be very useful. Something to have in the toolbox.

http://www.sql-server-performance.com/statistics_io_time.asp