One alternative is to put a map on the receive port. You could pick your favorite format (long or short) and map all messages to that format.
A common example is that a company receives orders from companies x, y, and z. Each company sends orders in a different format.
So you could have 3 maps on the same receive port. You would create a common order internal format for your company. The maps magically run or not depending on the root element and target namespace of the data received. If none of the maps match, the message will just be passed on \”as is\”.
When the messages goes to the send port, it will have already been transformed to your common (internal) order format.
This is how we processed orders at my former client, it worked very nicely.
Neal Walters
http://Biztalk-Training.com