WCF Test Client Assembly was not found. Reinstall the assembly or Visual Studio. The application cannot continue and will exit.

While testing a new service I was creating on my BizTalk development machine, I wanted to test the service using the WCF Test Client.
However, when I brought up the tool, I was shown all of the adapters that are created for the WCF LOB adapters: SAP/SQL/ and the two Oracle adapters.
You can comment out the adapters so you don’t see the red x’s in the the tool

By going into the machine.config in the (for me) C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Config folder and commenting the endpoint from the client section

<client>
      <endpoint binding="sqlBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange" name="mssql"/>
      <metadata>...
      </metadata>
</client>

to

<client>
      <!--<endpoint binding="sqlBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange" name="mssql"/>-->
      <metadata>...
      </metadata>
</client>

I don’t see the the red x, however, if you don’t have the required assemblies (Oracle, SAP, etc) the tool will close automatically without giving you any results.

Lesson learned: only install the adapters that you will be connecting to, otherwise, the WCF Test Client Tool will close miserably.

Installing ESB setup powershell scripts about_signing

While installing the sample tutorials of the ESB toolkit, I came across this error:

ExceptionHanlding_Install.ps1 cannot be loaded because the execution of scripts is disabled on this system

So I, of course, set the execution policy to unrestricted (like everyone does anyway)

but still not love!!!!

The real issue is that it states that it is running under x86 Powershell (which is not the default PowerShell on a x64 system)

To fix this, you need to run the following command:

%windir%\SysWOW64\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe “Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted”

				
					

San Diego Day of Azure II, Azure Discovery

The San Diego .NET User Group is really excited about doing our second all-day Azure event of the year. This one will be intense. You can blame me as I put the program together, but we are going from 8:00am to 5:00pm on Saturday Dec 4th. This is full-spectrum coverage, ranging from architecture and greenfield applications through to migration of existing apps. We will of course also have lots of great SWAG. Show up early, show up caffeinated (we’ll have food and coffee).

This is a FREE event, sponsored by Microsoft and the San Diego .NET User Group. Space is however limited, so register today here.

If you are not a paid member of the group, please consider doing joining. We are self-funded, and our membership dues get used to fund meetings and events like this. Without the support of the developer community, we couldn’t be doing this. We are a federally incorporated 501(c)3 non-profit organization, so your $50 dues are tax deductible.

Here’s the content and conference agenda:

 

Andrew Karcher

Conference Opening

 

8:00 – 8:15

Brian Loesgen

Azure Discovery

Cloud technologies are transformational, and one of those rare paradigm shifts that we don’t see often. The Windows Azure platform represents a tremendous investment by Microsoft, one that developers can benefit from today to enable solutions that previously would have been impossible or prohibitively expensive to create. This session will go beyond an overview of Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud platform, it will show you why Cloud computing is a seismic shift, and why the Windows Azure platform is a natural evolution for .NET (and other) developers. What’s going on under the hood? What’s in it for me? Why PaaS and not IaaS? Fabric? Blobs? CDNs? Geo-distribution? Hybrids? This far-ranging session will touch on many aspects of the Azure platform.

8:15 – 9:15

Break

   

9:15 – 9:30

Scott Reed

Creating an Azure app, from “file|new|project” on through deployment

Demo after demo this talk will walk through creating a new Cloud application and then utilizing each major feature of Windows Azure.  From web roles to worker roles, internal and external communication, local storage as well as blobs, tables, and queues each aspect will be covered.  Provides a great overview of the different features available now, as well as an in depth look at the APIs available for that feature.

9:30 – 11:30

Lunch

   

11:30 – 12:30

Henry Chan

Migrating an existing ASP.NET app to Windows Azure (live demo)

Henry Chan, Chief Cloud Architect for Nubifer Cloud Computing will demonstrate the process of converting a traditional ASP.NET application into a Windows Azure application. The application being converted is the popular “Nerd Dinner” ASP.NET MVC technology demonstration application written by Scott Hanselman. The live demonstration will cover creation/setup of a new project in Visual Studio 2010, importing existing code, updating the code to utilize Windows Azure technologies, and publishing the completed project.

12:30 – 1:30

Break

   

1:30 – 1:45

Lynn Langit, Ike Ellis

SQL Azure (approx. 1 hour on migration of existing DBs to SQL Az, and then Twitter-on-WA WA BI demo)

In this demo-filled session, Ike and Lynn will show how SQL Azure works. They will demonstrate working with SQL Azure storage in your application and discuss the option to connect a non-cloud hosted front end and/or a cloud-hosted front end to a SQL Azure back end solution. Ike and Lynn will also talk about migration strategies and best practices. In this talk, you will also learn recommended business scenarios for cloud-based storage. They will cover in detail features of SQL Server RDMS which are and are not supported in SQL Azure. Finally, Ike and Lynn will demonstrate several new enhancements Microsoft has added to SQL Azure based on the feedback received from the community since launching the service earlier this year.

1:45 – 3:45

Break

   

3:45 – 4:00

Brian Loesgen

Architectural patterns and best practices

Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud platform is a full Platform-as-a-Service offering, and is much, MUCH more than “Hosting Version 2.0”. You could do things the way you always have, but as an architect or developer on the Windows Azure platform there are some exciting new architectural patterns that enable the next generation of software, and do things that would have been impossible just a few years ago. As an architect evangelist on the Microsoft Azure ISV team, I see new Windows Azure patterns and best practices regularly. The key takeaway from this session is “question everything”, come and see why.

4:00 – 5:00

Andrew Karcher

Raffle

 

5:00 – 5:15

Scott Reed, DevelopMentor, Brain Hz

Scott’s career in software began in 1993 at IBM. Along the way he has developed enterprise solutions for both Microsoft and Cardinal Health. In 2006, Scott founded Brain Hz Software, a company specializing in software architecture and agile development. He is an expert in all things .NET and is a .NET and WCF instructor for DevelopMentor.  His interests range from data access technologies, multithreading, and communications as well as UI technologies.

Scott holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Virginia Tech. He is an active member of the local .NET community, regularly giving talks at user groups and code camps in Southern California.

Henry T. Chan, Nubifer

Henry Chan is a thought leader in Cloud Computing and has over 20 years of proven experience in architecting and building custom enterprise software applications, client server and system applications. Henry possesses extensive experience working with Fortune 500 companies, as well as with start-up companies. Henry maintains expertise in analysis, design and implementation of information systems using web and client-server technologies. He is heavily involved in design and development, with a special focus on the Windows Azure platform, leveraging technologies like T-SQL, C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET (both WebForms and MVC) with AJAX extensions, Javascript, jQuery, WPF, Silverlight, and XHTML technologies. Henry possesses a BS in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego. To read some of the cloud computing research Henry has co-authored with the nubifer research team, visit0http://nubifer.wordpress.com

Lynn Langit, Microsoft

Lynn Langit is a Developer Evangelist for Microsoft in Southern California.  She has worked with SQL Server for 10 years and has published two technical books on SQL Server (both on Business Intelligence).  In her spare time, Lynn works on creating courseware to get kids started in coding.  She also personally volunteers on the largest electronic medical records project implemented in sub-saharan Africa – SmartCare.  For more information check out her blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/SoCalDevGal.

Ike Ellis, DevelopMentor, EllisTeam

Ike is the Lead SQL Instructor and SQL Course Author for DevelopMentor. He first worked with Microsoft SQL Server in 1997. Ike started as an independent consultant and trainer in September, 2000. Recent projects include a planning and financial solution used by a major retailer, a SQL Server Analysis Services project for a top ten university, an attorney scorecard tool used by the oldest intellectual property law firm in the US, SQL performance tuning for a medical imaging company, and an enrollment and retention tool used by an online university.

Ike has been Microsoft Certified since the beginning. He currently holds the MCDBA, MCSE, MCSD, MCNE, and MCT certifications. Ike loves consulting, loves technology, and thoroughly enjoys teaching. He’s been doing all three since 1996. Ike is a popular code camp and user group speaker.  In addition to his responsibilities at EllisTeam, he is the current chairperson for the Tech Immersion Group of the San Diego .NET User’s Group. He also volunteers his time with SQLPass and the San Diego .NET Developer’s Group. Ike blogs at http://ellisteam.blogspot.com/

Brian Loesgen, Microsoft

Brian Loesgen is a Principal Architect Evangelist with Microsoft, on the Azure ISV team. Based in San Diego, Brian is a 6-time Microsoft MVP and has extensive experience in building sophisticated enterprise, ESB and SOA solutions. Brian was a key architect/developer of the “Microsoft ESB Guidance”, initially released by Microsoft in Oct 2006. He is a co-author of the SOA Manifesto, and is a co-author of 8 books, including “SOA with .NET and Windows Azure”, and is the lead author and currently working on “BizTalk Server 2010 Unleashed”. He has written technical white papers for Intel, Microsoft and others. Brian has spoken at numerous major technical conferences worldwide. Brian is a co-founder and past-President of the International .NET Association (ineta.org), and past-President of the San Diego .NET user group, where he continues to lead the Connected Systems SIG, and is a member of the Editorial Board for the .NET Developer’s Journal. Brian was also a member of the Microsoft Connected Systems Division Virtual Technical Specialist Team pilot, and is part of Microsoft’s Connected Systems Advisory Board. Brian has been blogging since 2003 at http://blog.BrianLoesgen.com.

BizTalk 2010 Installation and Configuration – Installing BizTalk Adapter Pack 2010 and BizTalk AppFabric Connect feature (Part 10)

BizTalk 2010 Installation and Configuration – Installing BizTalk Adapter Pack 2010 and BizTalk AppFabric Connect feature (Part 10)

In sequence of a set of posts about installation and configuration of BizTalk 2010, I leave you here two excellent posts about: Installing BizTalk Adapter Pack 2010 posted by Steef-Jan Wiggers: http://soa-thoughts.blogspot.com/2010/11/installing-biztalk-adapter-pack-2010-on.html And Microsoft AppFabric Connect in BizTalk 2010 posted by Thiago Almeida: http://connectedthoughts.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/microsoft-appfabric-connect-in-biztalk-2010-licensing-and-installation-whats-the-deal/ Related links BizTalk 2010 Installation and Configuration – Enable Internet Information […]

Moving to cloud a bit more

Since it announcement Windows Azure is getting more and more attention also by us BizTalk guys lije myself in Holland. I witnessed the announcement of Windows Azure by Ray Ozzie during the keynote at PDC 2008 and I was amazed by it in fact that is a was brand new wave that is heading us: Cloud Computing. Currently it is at is at highpoint of hype-cycle and it has everybody’s attention. Coming year Microsoft in The Netherlands will fully focus on Azure, it’s coming issue of .NET Magazine in March will have Windows Azure as its theme and also Developer Days will have a very strong focus on Windows Azure.

I myself in future will expand my scope and will add some of my experiences from this platform here on my blog. I have joined the Dutch Windows Azure User Group and hopefully I can gain and share knowledge with other members the same way as in the BizTalk User Group.You can expect some stories coming in the near future. I did some post on the subject in the past, but I will try to do so more frequently. I would encourage you if you have not do so already to start investing time in this new technology. A good starting point is the Windows Azure Portal and reading Azure In Action, which is definitely an great resource for learning and understanding Azure.

Cheers!

BizTalk FTP Adapter – How to send an FTP message with a specified filename

BizTalk FTP Adapter – How to send an FTP message with a specified filename

There are many approaches to this. I’ll give the simple (or basic) way to do. Set the FILE.ReceivedFileName and use the %SourceFileName% macro In the orchestration Construct Message shape, add a Message Assignment shape and then you can set the FILE.ReceivedFileName property for your flat file message as so: OutputMsg(FILE.ReceivedFileName) = System.DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyyMMdd") + “.txt” This […]

Hosting BizTalk Server on Azure VM Role

Another great announcement on PDC was the Virtual Machine Role feature.  This feature is added to Azure with the primary goal to move existing applications to the cloud. 

The feature allows us to upload our own VHD (virtual hard disk) with the Operating System on it (Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise).  This machine could have your application pre-packaged and installed.  After doing this, you are now able to spin up multiple instances of that machine.

BizTalk on VM Role?

Being a BizTalk Server architect that is highly interested in the Azure platform, I immediately thought about a scenario where I could have my own BizTalk Server in the cloud, on Azure.  But, knowing some of the limitations of the Azure platform, I knew I would have a lot of potential issues. 

I listed these issues and added the various workaround or solutions for it.  This post is a post, based on the PDC information and can contain incorrect information.  Consider it as some early thinking and considerations.

No MSDTC support with SQL Azure

  • Problem description
    • BizTalk Server relies heavily on SQL Server and uses MSDTC to keep transactional state across databases and with the adapters.
    • SQL Azure does not support distributed transactions and also introduces more latency to the database queries.
  • Solution
    • SQL Server will need to be installed on the VHD image locally
  • Consequences
    • It won’t be possible to build a multi-machine BizTalk Server Group through the VM role.

The OS image is not durable

  • Problem description
    • All changes that are being made after a Virtual Machine instance is started will be lost, once the instance shuts down or fails over.  (there is only one VHD, but multiple instances are possible -> concurrency issues)
    • This means all database state (configuration, tracking, process state) will be lost if an instance fails.
  • Consequences
    • It won’t be possible to have a stateful BizTalk Server configured or to host long running processes on a VM Role BizTalk Server
    • We will need to expose BizTalk Server capabilities as services to a stateful engine (Workflow?)

The Virtual Machine name will be assigned by the Windows Azure fabric controller

  • Problem description
    • Since it is possible to have multiple instances of a VM running, these instances will get a specific Computer Name assigned by the Azure Fabric controller. 
    • It is very hard to change the computer name of a BizTalk Server machine
  • Solution
    • We will need to automate the BizTalk Server configuration, using a Silent Install, once the VM is initiating.
  • Consequences
    • One of the biggest painpoints in setting up BizTalk Server in a VM role will be to configure the BizTalk Server instance on the fly as a startup task.
    • Starting / restarting a BizTalk VM Role instance will take a considerable amount of time

Licenses are needed

  • Problem description
    • BizTalk Server and SQL Server licenses are needed for each instance that is running
  • Solution
    • Since everything will be installed on a single box, we could use a standard edition of BizTalk & SQL
  • Consequences
    • There is no big pricing advantage, except for the operational cost
    • Only 5 applications will be supported , when using the standard edition

General conclusion

If we succeed in setting up BizTalk Server on VM Role at all, it will be a BizTalk Server with the following limitations:

  • No support for long running transactions
  • Single box machine
  • Stateless BizTalk box

Considering that integration as a service is on the roadmap of Microsoft (see session at PDC), we should only consider it as a temporary solution to have BizTalk Server configured on a VM Role.  If we do this, then we should just see it as a BizTalk Server that exposes its various ’short running / isolated’ capabilities as a service.  (flat file parsing, transformation, pub/sub, connectivity, EDI)

Sam Vanhoutte, Codit

Using a SAML token for the Service Bus Transport Client Credential

The Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus uses a class called TransportClientEndpointBehavior to specify the credentials for a particular endpoint.  There are four options available to you: Unauthenticated, SimpleWebToken, SharedSecret, and SAML.  For details, take a look at the CredentialType member.  The first three are pretty well described and documented – in fact, if you’ve spent […]