Stephen W. Thomas BizTalk MVP

Got a Great BizTalk Tip or Trick and You Could Win Richard Seroter’s SOA Patterns Book

Thanks to Packt Publishing, I am pleased to offer you the opportunity to win a copy of Richard Seroter’s book SOA Patterns with BizTalk Server 2009 – a $60 value. I will even cover the shipping costs, via book mail, to any place in the world the US Postal Service will deliver to. Here is what you need to do in order to win: Simply let us know of a great BizTalk Tip or Trick using BizTalk...

Published Wed, Oct 28 2009 8:15 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Latest Windows Application Server Enhancement (Dublin) Videos On Channel 9

Recently I was asked to present at the BizTalk Users Group in Sweden. I had a great time and was welcomed nicely by my Swedish friends. I presented on the new enhancements to the Windows Application Server role code named Dublin. I presented two 35 minutes sessions covering a lot of the same material talked about at the recent TechEd in Los Angeles, CA. The two sessions are now online and...

Published Thu, Jun 18 2009 9:08 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: user group, Workflow 4, Dublin, .Net 4

Windows Application Server Enhancements known as Dublin Presentation in Sweden

On Thursday June 4th I will be presenting in Sweden to the BizTalk Users Group . I am excited to be making the trip to Sweden and it will be great to see so many BizTalk enthusiasts all in one place. I will be presenting two sessions both on Microsoft's new Window Application Server Enhancements – known as “Dublin”. The details of the sessions are below. If you are in Stockholm...

Published Sat, May 23 2009 5:43 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Designing Services for Management & Scale with Dublin Video Online

A few months ago Kent Brown and I presented on Dublin (the new enhancements to Windows for Workflow Hosting, Monitoring, and Tracking) at the 2009 SOA and Business Process Conference in Seattle Washington. This session was recorded and is now online. You can view this video here: http://soaconference2009.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!FA6FC7F5DB1C07!135.entry The abstract for the session is below....

Published Thu, Apr 30 2009 6:11 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Setting Up Continuous Integration, Automated Unit Tests, and MSI Packaging in BizTalk 2009

With BizTalk Server 2009, setting up integration with Team Foundation Server (TFS) has become much simpler. While setting up continuous integration, automated unit tests, and msi packaging was possible before BizTalk 2009 it was a huge pain. Below I will walk through the steps to set this up with BizTalk 2009. I was able to get this up and running in about 30 hours including the time...

Published Thu, Apr 16 2009 6:06 AM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: testing, BizTalk 2009, Continous Integration

Follow-up on Enabling BizTalk Unit Testing for Schemas and Maps

This is a follow up to my post yesterday . I was setting up some automated unit tests for BizTalk 2009 in Release mode. I received the following errors. CIDemo.Schemas.InputSchema does not contain a definition for 'ValidateInstance' and no extension method 'ValidateInstance' accepting a first argument of type 'CIDemo.Schemas.InputSchema' could be found (are...

Published Tue, Apr 14 2009 7:37 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: testing, BizTalk 2009

ValidateInstance Not Found When Setting Up BizTalk 2009 Unit Tests

Today I was setting up Unit Tests for BizTalk 2009 Schema and Maps. I was using the BizTalk Server 2009 help guide example as a reference. I ran into the following error message: <Class Name> does not contain a definition for 'ValidateInstance' and no extension method 'ValidateInstance' accepting a first argument of type <Class Name> could be found (are you missing...

Published Mon, Apr 13 2009 8:55 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: testing, BizTalk 2009

BizTalk Server 2009 Now on MSDN

The latest edition of BizTalk Server is now available on MSDN. The following editions are available for download (this may vary based on your MSDN subscription): Developer Edition Branch Edition Standard Edition Enterprise Edition I only see the x86 version of each product available for download right now. BizTalk Server 2009 has the following enhancements and improvements over the past version...

Published Sat, Apr 4 2009 10:11 AM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: BizTalk 2009

Issue 5 of BizTalk Hotrod Magazine Now Online

The latest edition of the BizTalk Hotrod magazine is now available. This is a awesome 45+ page magazine with loads of great articles. Get the latest edition here .

Published Wed, Feb 11 2009 4:22 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Designing Services for Management & Scale with Dublin Session at the SOA Conference

If you are headed to the SOA & Business Process Conference in Seattle this week and you have an interest in Dublin (Microsoft's new extensions to windows to host WCF and WF) make sure you check out my session. I will be presenting with Kent Brown from Microsoft. The abstract is below. Abstract: Dublin is the code name for the new Windows Application Server features inside Windows. In this session...

Published Mon, Jan 26 2009 9:51 AM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: Dublin

BizTalk 2009 and ESB 2.0 Now Available for Public Beta

Today Microsoft has released the Beta for BizTalk Server 2009 to the public. It is available on Microsoft's Connect site at https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=218 This beta will be community supported though the Microsoft TechNet forums here . Some of the key enhancements to BizTalk 2009 is support for the latest Microsoft offerings (including Windows 2008, Visual Studios 2008...

Published Mon, Dec 8 2008 8:33 AM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: BizTalk 2009, ESB 2.0

Step by Step: Working with Content Based Correlation in Workflow 4.0

Don't miss the screen cast video on this same subject available at Content Based Correlation in Workflow 4.0 Content based correlation is used when you send a message out of a long running workflow and need to get a response back later into that same workflow using information contained inside the original message. In this case, the correlation needs to be stored and made available to match the...

Published Thu, Nov 20 2008 5:12 AM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: Workflow 4, Content Based Correlation, .Net 4

BizTalk vs Dublin - Do Not Get Confused

I was reading an interesting blog post today called Will Dublin Replace BizTalk? It got me thinking more about this and I wrote up the response below. I would love to hear other peoples comments and thoughts on this. I see a clear separation on when you would use BizTalk vs when you would use Dublin. I see a great story going forward with both technologies working together. I welcome comments and feedback...

Published Sat, Nov 15 2008 12:55 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: biztalk, Oslo, Workflow 4, Dublin

Screencast: Content Based Correlation in Workflow 4.0

What is Correlation? Correlation is when a process sends a message out and that same process is expecting a response to be returned to the same instance of that process. The complexity rises when the messaging patterns become asynchronous or the process becomes long running. Asynchronous and long running processes are a common scenario inside business processes today. BizTalk Server is great at correlation...

Published Tue, Nov 11 2008 5:23 AM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: Workflow 4, Correlation, Content Based Correlation

First Look Screen Shots of Windows Application Server - Dublin

Make sure you check out the video content on Dublin available on BizTalkGurus.com: First Look at Windows Application Server (Dublin) Dublin is the code name for the new Windows Application Server components. At the core, Dublin is designed to be a hosting environment for Windows Workflow and Windows Communication Foundation based applications. It integrates into IIS and provides eight new features...

Published Mon, Nov 10 2008 3:05 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: Oslo, Dublin, Windows Application Server

First Look Screen Shots of Workflow 4.0

Make sure you check out the video content on Workflow 4.0 available at BizTalkGurus.com: Consuming WCF Services in Workflow 4.0 Flowcharts and Rules in Workflow 4.0 Windows Workflow 4.0 is a major upgrade to the existing Microsoft workflow technology. As part of this upgrade, the designer has been enhanced to account for new features and increase the developer experience. Below is a screen shot of...

Published Thu, Oct 30 2008 4:23 AM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: WCF, Workflow 4, Rules, Flowchart

First Look Screen Shots of Microsoft’s Modeling Platform - Oslo

Make sure you check out the video content on Oslo available on BizTalkGurus.com: First Look at Quadrant – Oslo’s Modeling Tool First Look at M – Oslo’s Modeling Language Oslo is the codename for Microsoft's Modeling Platform. The end goal of Oslo is to increase productivity by promoting the use of model-driven applications. Oslo is composed of three pieces: a Tool, a Language...

Published Tue, Oct 28 2008 7:34 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: Oslo, Intellipad, Quadrant, M

Videos on Modeling (Oslo), Windows Application Server (Dublin), and .Net 4.0 Workflow

Today is a great day to be a BizTalk Developer! Why? Microsoft has introduced .Net 4.0, Windows Application Server (Dublin), and Microsoft’s Modeling Platform (Oslo). These new technologies compliment the existing Connection System technologies. As you look though the various technologies one thing is consistent: Take the best things of BizTalk and allow others outside of BizTalk to leverage it! I...

Published Tue, Oct 28 2008 6:18 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: video, Oslo, Intellipad, Workflow 4, Dublin, Quadrant, Windows Application Server, M

BizTalk 2006 R3 is now BizTalk 2009 & New Roadmap for the Future of BizTalk

Today Microsoft announced an updated Roadmap for BizTalk Server highlighting the next release of BizTalk and outlining plans for future releases every two years. Included with this is a name change. BizTalk Server 2006 R3 will now be called BizTalk Server 2009. While most people will see this as a simple name change. What this represents is Microsoft's commitment to BizTalk...

Published Fri, Sep 5 2008 10:45 AM by Stephen W. Thomas