When using the BAM Portal Activity Search feature, you may be directed to an error page with the above error message. This error message means that there are instances with duplicate ID in the activity you were searching. If you look at the “Application…(read more)
I’m going to repost this series of “development tips” related to Commerce Server 2007 to help other folks get started with their development work. All of these “tips” come directly from what I’ve learned (the hard way) over the past eight months and are intended to save you time and effort. All code samples are now based upon the RTM version and have been tested in our production environment.
CS2007 now offers a custom ASP.NET 2.0 compatible membership provider (UpmMembershipProvider) for authentication and authorization. What’s still lacking however, is a custom role provider which is essential for most B2B scenarios. Finding this feature absent from the CTP and Beta builds, I did what any red-blooded American developer would do, I built it myself!
[Well almost by myself. I did get a ton of preview documentation from Brian Goldfarb and a role provider template from Joshua Flanagan, but I wrote almost ten lines of code myself to get it to work. That counts. Doesn’t it? (LOL)]
The source code to the Commerce Server 2007 UpmRoleProvider can be downloaded here.
The “heart” of the code is shown below and it’s amazingly simple to implement thanks to the new “Provider” model used by ASP.NET 2.0. I use the Commerce Server UserObject Profile to store the user’s “role” as the weakly-typed profile property GeneralInfo.user_role.
public override string[] GetRolesForUser(string username)
{ // Throw an exception if the username is null or empty verifyParameter(username, “username”); // Get the User Profile of the person currently logged in.Profile userProfile = CommerceContext.Current.ProfileSystem.GetProfile(“email_address”, username, “UserObject”);
// Get the User Role value from the customer property in the modified UserObject profilestring userrole = userProfile.Properties[“GeneralInfo.user_role”].Value.ToString();
// Return an empty string array if the User Role property was not setif (String.IsNullOrEmpty(userrole))
{return new string[] { “” };
}
// else return the User Role in a string arrayreturn new string[] { userrole };
}
To make this work, you add the UpmRoleProvider.cs class file to your Commerce Server web site’s App_Code folder and add the following to it’s Web.Config file.
In any site sub-folder that you wish to limit access to a certain role (such as the “Admin” role) you simply add the following code to it’s Web.Config.
The really cool thing about this is how it automatically enables SiteMap Security Trimming as I posted about several months ago. The result is pretty cool. If you belong to the “Admin” role, you can “see” all the menu choices as shown below.
If you belong to the “Normal User” role, you only “see” the appropriate menu choices as shown here.
Download the sample code and give it a try in your Commerce Server 2007 B2B site and let me know what you like and don’t like.
Special thanks to Brian Goldfarb and Joshua Flanagan for their guidance and sample code.
Technorati Tags: Commerce Server
Developer Productivity Study: Comparing Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 to SAP XI for Integrating Heterogeneous Systems (Download)
Today’s business applications not only run on a number of different platforms, they are often implemented in a variety of programming languages, running on multiple operating systems. To meet these demands, enterprise developers are progressively merging systems and infrastructure into comprehensive integration suites by relying on service-oriented architectures (SOA) that make integration possible at a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).
Microsoft engaged Crimson Consulting Company, a leading provider of consulting services to the high technology industry, to conduct a comparative study of developer productivity with integration servers Microsoft%u00ae BizTalk%u00ae Server 2006 and SAP XI 3.0, using mySAP%u2122 ERP in heterogeneous environments. The study was conducted in collaboration with Intelligroup, one of the leading SAP integrators.
This paper explains Crimson’s methodology and results of their study.
BizTalk Server 2006 Labs (Download)
These labs demonstrate Microsoft%u00ae BizTalk%u00ae Server 2006 capabilities by integrating various heterogeneous applications and systems in a business-to-business (B2B) environment.
The package contains the following documents with supporting code:
Looks like Microsoft’s UK team has released a new version of MSBuild Tasks for Biztalk Server 2006/2004. This is going to be of great use for deployments!!!
Take a look at http://blogs.msdn.com/pkelcey/archive/2006/07/12/663398.aspx
When using the BAM Portal Activity Search feature, you may be directed to an error page with the above error message.
This error message means that there are instances with duplicate ID in the activity you were searching. If you look at the “Application” event log on the computer which runs the BAM Web Services, you will find one entry from “BAM Web Service” comparable to the following:
EXCEPTION:System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: There are instances with duplicate ID ‘PO_COMPLETED_100’…(read more)
The last 6 months have been a lot of fun. On the downside I’ve attended exactly zero conferences – ok my wife doesn’t think that’s a downside. On the upside I’ve been working in areas I haven’t had the opportunity to over the past 5 years. Specifically I’ve been thinking about hardware virtualization and application virtualization. Some of that thinking is becoming real :).
For example, today we announced that Virtual PC 2004 SP1 is a free product. Go ahead and use it for any scenario you want. The download is available already from www.microsoft.com/virtualpc
We also announced the first of our licensing changes to internalize virtualization into Windows Vista. Specifically customers who buy first software assurance and then deploy either Vista Enterprise or Ultimate can install 4 copies of the OS in a VM in addition to the copy on the physical machine for the cost of one license. This is similar to an existing right we have on Windows Server Enterprise. This right is for one user on one device and is good for application compatibility scenarios. Download VPC, create up to 4 VMs for various previously incompatible applications and get going.
Additionally we announced Virtual PC 2007 which will support Windows Vista and be available shortly thereafter.
We are starting to think about future virtualization scenarios for Windows so if you have something you want us to do drop me a line.
Finally, I’m hiring up a small team within Windows to help us think more deeply about virtualization and drive innovation in the space from a business model, marketing, and product planning perspective. If you are interested and skilled then drop me a line. The job descriptions are here.
Several people have asked me about support for MSBuild within BizTalk projects. So I’m happy to see that our team in the UK has just released some MSBuild tasks for BizTalk 2006. They are availalbe on GotDotNet.
(http://www.gotdotnet.com/codegallery/codegallery.aspx?id=b4d6499f-0020-4771-a305-c156498db75e ).
There are tasks to do the following:
Export a current system to an MSBuild proj file.
Application
AddReferences | Adds a reference to an application |
Create | Creates an application |
Delete | Deletes an Application, and all its child objects |
Exists | Checks if an application exists |
RemoveReferences | Removes a reference from an application |
Start | Starts an application |
Stop | Stops an application |
Assembly
Deploy | Deploys an assembly into BizTalk. |
Exists | Checks whether an assembly is deployed in a BizTalk installation. |
ExportBindings | Exports the bindings of an assembly in BizTalk to an XML file. |
ImportBindings | Imports the bindings of an assembly into BizTalk from an XML file. |
Undeploy | Undeploy an assembly from BizTalk. |
Orchestration
Bind | Binds an orchestration |
Enlist | Enlists the given instance of the BizTalk Orchestration. |
Exists | Checks if an Orchestration exists in an assembly in BizTalk Server. |
Start | Starts the given instance of the BizTalk Orchestration. |
Stop | Stops the given instance of the BizTalk Orchestration. |
TerminateInstances | Terminates any running instances of the BizTalk Orchestration. |
UnBind | Unbind an orchestration |
UnEnlist | UnEnlists the given instance of the BizTalk Orchestration. |
ReceiveLocation
Configure | Configures a receive location |
Exists | Checks if it exists |
ReceivePort
AddReceiveLocation | Adds a receive location to this port |
Configure | Configures a receive port |
Create | Creates a receive port |
Delete | Deletes a receive port |
Exists | Checks if it exists |
RemoveReceiveLocation | Removes a receive location |
SendPort
Configure | Configures a send port |
Create | Creates a send port |
Delete | Deletes a send port |
Enlist | Enlists a send port |
Exists | Checks if it exists |
Start | Starts a send port |
Stop | Stops a send port |
UnEnlist | Unenlists a send port |
SendPortGroup
AddSendPort | Adds a send port to an existing send port group |
Configure | Configures a send port group |
Create | Creates a send port group |
Delete | Deletes a send port group |
Enlist | Enlists a send port group |
Exists | Checks if it exists |
RemoveSendPort | Removes a send port from the send port group |
Start | Starts the group |
Stop | Stops the group |
UnEnlist | Unenlists the group |
There are also 2004 tasks in the same assembly for those of you that don’t know they are there.
Cheers and keep on BizTalking
“People-Ready Process Through Business Process Management (BPM).” That’s our just-articulated vision for BPM using
Microsoft technologies. We see BPM not as just a technology solution, but something Gartner calls a “management discipline.” However,
we’re claiming that the Microsoft stack can get you through the four main phases of BPM (model/design –> develop/deploy –> manage/interact –>
analyze/optimize).
Now I’m not here to regurgitate a press release. What is this REALLY? This is NOT a product launch announcement with regards to BizTalk
functionality. We’re pretty much turning the spotlight on the ways to build flexible, dynamic processes using Microsoft
software like Office (Office Business Applications), SharePoint, BizTalk, WinFx and partner software.
So, first check out our new BPM site, and register for the BPM webcast
(
Enabling “People-Ready Processes” Using Microsoft Business Process Management Solutions and Technologies ).
So what do I care about here personally? I think that of the 4 phases above, that at this moment, our software does 3 of them quite
well. Our development toolset is unparalleled (IMHO), our management options are increasingly solid, and our analysis story
is top-notch (especially with the ProClarity acquisition). I think our process modeling toolset and business rule design isn’t quite
complete, so what I care about is the slew of integrated partner offerings we highlighted today. A few of them
are remarkably promising. These solutions from 3rd parties integrate tightly with BizTalk and the Rules Engine to fill in the gaps
of the current Microsoft stack. I summarize each here …
Rules Engine Enhancements
Process Modeling
In my opinion, these solutions nicely fill in existing shortcomings in the current edition of BizTalk. Rule management is something I hear
about all the time, and now there are some legit solutions to make the BRE easier to commit to. If you don’t think the currently-offered
Orchestration Designer for Business Analysts (ODBA) is a full featured modeling tool (which probably no one does), then these
process modeling solutions are a great choice if you’re doing large scale modeling using BizTalk Server 2006. Very complimentary stuff.
I’m looking to get my hands on some of the software highlighted above, and if I’m successful, will write up reviews and highlights.
Technorati Tags: BizTalk