August 2005 - Stephen W. Thomas BizTalk MVP

Using Dynamic Transforms (Mapping) in Biztalk 2004 Orchestrations

Dynamic mapping is the concept of specifying the map to be used for a transform at runtime inside the orchestration. That means no Transform Shape is used to specify the map or input and output schemas. The help guide talks about dynamic mapping. It is...

Published Sun, Aug 08 2005 12:20 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: biztalk 2004, maps, untyped messages, orchestration

Load Generation Tool For Testing BizTalk Server

A few days ago Microsoft released a Load Generation tool to help simulate load for testing Biztalk 2004 solutions. You can download this testing tool here . It seems that the installation package defaults the installation path for the testing tool to...

Published Sat, Aug 08 2005 3:15 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: biztalk, testing

Promoted Properties and Distinguished Fields in Biztalk Server

Quick Tip on Property Promotion : Distinguished fields can not be used to promote values in a record. Promoted Properties can only be used on records with Simple Content type. Both can be used to promote elements and attributes. Don’t forget Promoted...

Published Tue, Aug 08 2005 9:50 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: schema, promoted properties

Mapper Improvements in Biztalk 2006

Biztalk Server 2006 introduces many exciting new features like Recoverable Message Processing and Suspended Message Routing . With great new features like these, sometimes the map and schema editor improvements can get overlooked. Anyone that has worked...

Published Mon, Aug 08 2005 6:21 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: maps, biztalk 2006

Direct Binding Sample for BizTalk 2004

Direct binding in Biztalk Server 2004 can be used to send messages from one Orchestration to another. It can also be used to send messages directly into the message box, but that is not the focus of this post. Direct binding is easily misunderstood, specifically...

Published Wed, Aug 08 2005 10:48 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: biztalk 2004, orchestration, direct binding

Overview of the New BizTalk 2006 Sharepoint Adapter

I came across Adrian Hamza’s blog today. His blog seems to be totally dedicated to the Sharepoint Adapter for Biztalk. It looks like it will be a great resource for information on anything related to Sharepoint and Biztalk integration. The post...

Published Tue, Aug 08 2005 12:09 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: biztalk 2006, sharepoint

Performance Testing Tool for Biztalk

Larry Beck from Avanade has released a Biztalk Throughput and Capacity Testing Tool for testing Biztalk Performance. This tool will automatically generate files for you to submit them into Biztalk. In addition, it will track server parameters in a nice...

Published Fri, Aug 08 2005 1:05 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: biztalk, performance, testing

Suspended Message Routing and Reporting in Biztalk Server 2006

Suspended message routing is arguably the greatest and most anticipated new feature in Biztalk 2006. Suspended message routing gives you the ability to subscribe to messages that fail inside the messaging system. Matt Hall going into detail on how to...

Published Tue, Aug 08 2005 9:52 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: biztalk 2006, messaging

How To Prepend to the SourceFileName in BizTalk Sample

Biztalk 2004 provides a variety of built in macros for dynamically naming files. A full list of macros can be found in the help guide or here . Recently, I have been looking at SourceFileName. I have posted a sample in the past that covers how to name...

Published Mon, Aug 08 2005 5:35 PM by Stephen W. Thomas

Filed under: biztalk, file name