BizTalk Server: 8 Tips And Tricks For Better BizTalk Programming

I found an interesting blog post that I would like to share with you: BizTalk Server: 8 Tips And Tricks For Better BizTalk Programming

Calling Pipelines with custom property settings from an orchestration

In my previous blog post I explained how to execute pipelines from an orchestration using the default pipeline property settings.
Now I would like to show you how to call pipelines from an orchestration while configuring the pipeline with custom property settings. To achieve this the standard methods wouldn't suffice.

First of all you'll need to add some extra functionalities. Here's my code to achieve this:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;

using Microsoft.XLANGs.Pipeline;
using Microsoft.BizTalk.PipelineOM;
using Microsoft.XLANGs.BaseTypes;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Collections;
using System.Data;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using Microsoft.XLANGs.RuntimeTypes;
using Microsoft.XLANGs.Core;
using MIME;
using System.Net;

namespace TP.BTS.GlobalFunctions
{

public class PipelineInstance
    {
        internal Microsoft.BizTalk.PipelineOM.Pipeline pipeline = null;

        public static PipelineInstance CreateInstance(Type type)
        {
            PipelineInstance instance = new PipelineInstance();
            instance.pipeline = (Pipeline)Activator.CreateInstance(type);
            return instance;
        }

        public void ApplyInstanceConfig(String config)
        {
            try
            {
                using (Stream stream = new MemoryStream(Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(config)))
                    LoadPerInstanceConfig(pipeline, stream);
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(String.Format("{0}", e));
                throw;
            }
        }

        #region Implementation

        private static void LoadPerInstanceConfig(Pipeline pipeline, Stream stream)
        {
            try
            {
                MethodInfo method =
                    typeof(Pipeline).GetMethod(
                        "LoadPerInstanceConfig"
                        , BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance);
                method.Invoke(pipeline, new object[] { stream });
            }
            catch (System.Exception e)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(e);
                throw;
            }
        }

        #endregion
    }

    public static class PipelineManager
    {
        #region receive pipeline
        public static ReceivePipelineOutputMessages ExecuteReceivePipeline(Type type, XLANGMessage message)
        {
            string EmptyConfig =
                        @"<Root
                        xmlns:xsd='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema'
                        xmlns:xsi='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance'>
                        <Stages />
                    </Root>";

            return ExecuteReceivePipeline(type, EmptyConfig, message);
        }

        public static ReceivePipelineOutputMessages ExecuteReceivePipeline(Type type, String config, XLANGMessage message)
        {
            try
            {
                PipelineInstance pipeline = PipelineInstance.CreateInstance(type);
                pipeline.ApplyInstanceConfig(config);
                return ExecuteReceivePipeline(pipeline, message);
            }
            catch (TargetInvocationException e)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(e);
                ThrowPipelineException(e);
                throw;
            }
            catch (XLANGPipelineManagerException e)
            {
                throw;
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.Assert(false, String.Format("Unexpected exception: {0}", e));
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(e);
                throw;
            }
        }

        public static ReceivePipelineOutputMessages ExecuteReceivePipeline(PipelineInstance pipeline, XLANGMessage message)
        {
            Microsoft.BizTalk.PipelineOM.Pipeline pipelineOM = pipeline.pipeline;

            try
            {
                MethodInfo method =
                    typeof(XLANGPipelineManager).GetMethod(
                        "ExecutePipeline"
                        , BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Static
                        , null, new Type[] { typeof(ReceivePipeline), typeof(XLANGMessage) }
                        , null);
                return (ReceivePipelineOutputMessages)method.Invoke(null, new object[] { pipelineOM, message });
            }
            catch (TargetInvocationException e)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(e);
                ThrowPipelineException(e);
                throw;
            }
        }
        #endregion

        #region send pipeline
        public static void ExecuteSendPipeline(Type type, SendPipelineInputMessages pipelineinputmsg, XLANGMessage message)
        {
            string EmptyConfig =
                        @"<Root
                        xmlns:xsd='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema'
                        xmlns:xsi='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance'>
                        <Stages />
                    </Root>";

            ExecuteSendPipeline(type, EmptyConfig, pipelineinputmsg, message);
        }

        public static void ExecuteSendPipeline(Type type, String config, SendPipelineInputMessages pipelineinputmsg, XLANGMessage message)
        {
            try
            {
                PipelineInstance pipeline = PipelineInstance.CreateInstance(type);
                pipeline.ApplyInstanceConfig(config);
                ExecuteSendPipeline(pipeline, pipelineinputmsg, message);
            }
            catch (TargetInvocationException e)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(e);
                ThrowPipelineException(e);
                throw;
            }
            catch (XLANGPipelineManagerException e)
            {
                throw;
            }
            catch (Exception e)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.Assert(false, String.Format("Unexpected exception: {0}", e));
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(e);
                throw;
            }
        }

        public static void ExecuteSendPipeline(PipelineInstance pipeline, SendPipelineInputMessages pipelineinputmsg, XLANGMessage message)
        {
            Microsoft.BizTalk.PipelineOM.Pipeline pipelineOM = pipeline.pipeline;

            try
            {
                MethodInfo method =
                    typeof(XLANGPipelineManager).GetMethod(
                        "ExecutePipeline"
                        , BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Static
                        , null, new Type[] { typeof(SendPipeline), typeof(SendPipelineInputMessages), typeof(XLANGMessage) }
                        , null);
                method.Invoke(null, new object[] { pipelineOM, pipelineinputmsg, message });
            }
            catch (TargetInvocationException e)
            {
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(e);
                ThrowPipelineException(e);
                throw;
            }
        }
       
        #endregion

        #region Implementation

        private static void ThrowPipelineException(Exception innerException)
        {
            ConstructorInfo constructor =
                typeof(XLANGPipelineManagerException).GetConstructor(
                    BindingFlags.NonPublic | BindingFlags.Instance
                    , null
                    , new Type[] { typeof(String), typeof(Exception) }
                    , null);
            throw (XLANGPipelineManagerException)constructor.Invoke(
                    new object[] {
                    innerException != null ? 
                    innerException.InnerException.Message != null? 
                    innerException.InnerException.Message : innerException.Message: 
                    String.Empty, innerException });
        }

        #endregion
    }
    }

Now, here's how to execute a receive pipeline using the custom property settings.
First create a variable of type TP.BTS.GlobalFunctions.PipelineInstance (called ReceivePipeline in my example). Also create a variable PipelineOutputMsg of type Microsoft.XLANGs.Pipeline.ReceivePipelineOutputMessages.
This would be the code to execute the pipeline then:

ReceivePipeline = 
TP.BTS.GlobalFunctions.PipelineInstance.CreateInstance(typeof(TC_FFRECEIVE.TC_FFRECEIVE));

ReceivePipeline.ApplyInstanceConfig(
@"<Root xmlns:xsd='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema' xmlns:xsi='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance'>
  <Stages>
    <Stage CategoryId='9d0e4103-4cce-4536-83fa-4a5040674ad6'>
      <Components>
        <Component Name='TP.BTS.PIPELINES.CustomXMLRECEIVECOMPONENT'>
          <Properties />
        </Component>
      </Components>
    </Stage>
    <Stage CategoryId='9d0e4105-4cce-4536-83fa-4a5040674ad6'>
      <Components>
        <Component Name='Microsoft.BizTalk.Component.FFDasmComp'>
          <Properties>
            <DocumentSpecName vt='8'>FLATFILE.ORDERS.FF_ORDERS,FLATFILE.ORDERS, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=a8e07cee919011d4</DocumentSpecName>
          </Properties>
        </Component>
      </Components>
    </Stage>
  </Stages>
</Root>");



PipelineOutputMsg = TP.BTS.GlobalFunctions.PipelineManager.ExecuteReceivePipeline(ReceivePipeline,MsgICMTxt);

The XML assigned when calling the ApplyInstanceConfig is the same as you can find when exporting the binding file with the Biztalk Admin Console.
It is that simple :).

Calling a send pipeline with custom property settings would be done like this:
Create a variable SendPipelineInput from type Microsoft.XLANGs.Pipeline.SendPipelineInputMessages. I've also used a variable PipelineConfig of type System.String.
Here's the code I've used:

SendPipelineInput.Add(MsgINVOIC_EDI);

PipelineConfig = @"<Root xmlns:xsd='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema' xmlns:xsi='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance'>
  <Stages>
    <Stage CategoryId='9d0e4101-4cce-4536-83fa-4a5040674ad6'>
      <Components>
        <Component Name='TP.BTS.PIPELINES.CUSTOMSENDEDIPARTYRESOLUTION.CUSTOMSENDEDIPARTYRESOLUTION'>
          <Properties>
            <OverrideRcvprn vt='8'>" + MsgINVOIC_GEN(ORDERS.ORDERSPropertySchema.RCVPRN) + @"</OverrideRcvprn>
            <OverrideRecipient vt='11'>-1</OverrideRecipient>
            <OverrideSndprn vt='8'>" + MsgINVOIC_GEN(ORDERS.ORDERSPropertySchema.SNDPRN) + @"</OverrideSndprn>
          </Properties>
        </Component>
      </Components>
    </Stage>
    <Stage CategoryId='9d0e4107-4cce-4536-83fa-4a5040674ad6'>
      <Components>
        <Component Name='Microsoft.BizTalk.Edi.Pipelines.EdiAssembler'>
          <Properties />
        </Component>
      </Components>
    </Stage>
    <Stage CategoryId='9d0e4108-4cce-4536-83fa-4a5040674ad6'>
      <Components>
        <Component Name='TP.BTS.PIPELINES.CustomXMLSENDCOMPONENT'>
          <Properties />
        </Component>
      </Components>
    </Stage>
  </Stages>
</Root>";

OrdersOutputInterchange = null;

TP.BTS.GlobalFunctions.PipelineManager.ExecuteSendPipeline(typeof
(CUSTOM_EDI_SEND.CUSTOM_EDI_SEND), PipelineConfig, SendPipelineInput,OrdersOutputInterchange);

And that should do the trick.

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Call pipelines from an orchestration

Calling a pipeline from an orchestration is quite easy.

First of all you need to add a reference to the Microsoft.XLANGs.Pipeline.dll and Microsoft.BizTalk.Pipeline.dll assemblies. When this is done you'll be able to execute a receive pipeline as follows:

ReceivePipelineOutput = Microsoft.XLANGs.Pipeline.XLANGPipelineManager.ExecuteReceivePipeline
(typeof(ShemasAndPipelines.ReceiveCustOrdres), OrdersInputInterchange);

To get all messages coming out the pipeline, you'll have to loop over the batch and get all messages like this:

 ReceivePipelineOutput.GetCurrent(OrdersInputMsg);

For the execution of a send pipeline you'll need to create a variable of type Microsoft.XLANGs.Pipeline.SendPipelineInputMessages. then call the method add on this variable which adds message of type Microsoft.XLANGs.BaseType.XLANGMessage.

SendPipelineInputMessages.Add(OrderSummary);

To execute the send pipeline, you'll have call the ExecuteSendPipeline method with the just created SendPipelineInputMessages and the output message as follows:

Microsoft.XLANGs.Pipeline.XLANGPipelineManager.ExecuteSendPipeline(typeof
(ShemasAndPipelines.SendCustOrdersPipeline), SendPipelineInput, OrdersOutputInterchange);

This way of executing pipelines will execute the pipelines using the default settings for all pipeline properties. How to execute pipelines from an orchestration with custom settings for the pipeline properties will be explained in my next blogs.

a more detailed explanation can be found here

Backup BizTalk: Don't make ordinary Full backups

Off course you make backups of your BizTalk databases! You have set the Recovery Model from the databases to Full and every single day your Maintenance Plans or (actually) the SQL Server Agent jobs make Full and Log backups. So in case you need to restore your BizTalk databases, you are safe...
Well, I've got some news for you... You're not so safe...

If you make BizTalk Backups like described above, you could be in deep trouble in case you need to restore. When it comes to making backups from your BizTalk databases, Microsoft supports only one way....

Read this very nice written blog on how to backup Biztalk Databases the right way: Backup BizTalk: Don't make ordinary Full backups

Task Scheduler failed to start: Error Value: 2147943645

We have a script scheduled using the Task Scheduler. Now we realised however that the script hadn't run for a while.

when analyzing the scheduled task, we couldn't find any issue... the task was currently running.
However, when we reveiwed the history of the task we noticed there was an error each time it tried to run the task.
The error just said : 'Task Scheduler failed to start "YourScript" task for user "yourUser". Additional Data: Error Value: 2147943645.'

The error message doesn't say much useful. But what does it mean?
Turned out the solution was quite simple: it just means you are trying to run a job with the “Run only when user is logged on” flag set.

This also explains why the job was running succesfully when we checked the task, since we were logged in as the configured user. A real simple solution for a meaningless error message.

BizTalk Server 2010 Exam : How to prepare?

I'm planning to take the BizTalk Server 2010 Exam (Exam 70-595) this year.

A nice overview on how to prepare for the exam can be found here, by Steef-Jan Wiggers.

Also Saravana Kumar has a nice blog post on how he prepared for the Biztalk exam. You can find the blog post here.

Another option to prepare for the exam is to use the upcoming book '(MCTS): Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 (70-595) Certification Guide'.
The book will be released in May 2012, it can however be pre-orderd already here.
UPDATE: Unfortunately, Packt has told me that the release of the book is postponed to the second week of June.

I 'll be using these to prepare for the exam later this year.

Cumulative update package 4 for BizTalk Server 2010

As of yesterday, BizTalk 2010 has a fourth cumulative update available already!
This CU includes 8 product updates based on customer escalations.

Download & info: Cumulative update package 4 for BizTalk Server 2010