I usually like to see the positive side of things, even in adverse situations, so despite 2023, it has been a strange year, neither good nor bad, just weird. Perhaps the constant inflation of the cost of living and the continuous loss of civility in society have influenced this definition. I still find myself remembering the good and most important moments, both professional and personal.
Personal highlights…
5 years in a row with home renovations. The path to our dream house is not a fast run but a marathon instead :). This year, we have decided to renew all the bedroom wardrobes in our house and improve our pergola with lights to have family dinners on summer nights. Also, do some renovations on our AIRBNB house in Porto:
We made one of our dream trips: Walter Disney Paris!
And I was able to bring my wife on a “business trip” with a personal weekend as a bonus for her to know a different city and country: Gothenburg, Sweden.
Professional highlights…
Each year, I change, or I try to, how I contribute to the different communities so that it does not become tiring or monotonous. If 2021 and 2022 were years that I dedicated myself to speaking engagements at conferences and User Groups worldwide on topics like BizTalk Server, Logic Apps, and Power Automate, delivering a combined total of 31 sessions. Or in 2022, a year that I also focused on creating whitepapers, ending up publishing ten whitepapers that year.
This year, I decided to return to my roots and dedicate myself to writing more blog posts on my blog (117 new posts) – a personal record!:
2022: 77 new posts
2021: 77 new posts
2020: 92 new posts
2019: 43 new posts
2018: 70 new posts
2017: 63 new posts (migrate to a new blog)
2016: 50 new posts
2015: 79 new posts
2014: 52 new posts
2013: 79 new posts
2012: 102 new posts
2011: 61 new posts
As in BizTalk360 (13 new posts) and Serveless360 (42 new posts). Making an astonishing total of 172 blog posts, which means an average of 14.33 blog posts per month.
I also contribute to GitHub with samples, tools, and other types of resources.
But don’t get me wrong, I was still able to deliver 8 sessions (on-prem and remote) in several conferences and User Groups worldwide on topics like BizTalk Server, Logic Apps, and Power Automate:
Microsoft Integration Trends 2023 Webinar | March 2,9 and 16, 2023 | Online | Enterprise case studies on migrating BizTalk Server to Azure
INTEGRATE 2023 London | JUNE 5-7, 2023 | London, UK | BizTalk Server to Azure Integration Services migration
Azure Logic Apps Community Day 2023 | June 22, 2023 | Online | A walk in the park with the new Logic App Data Mapper
Integration Down Under | June 29, 2023 | Online | A walk in the park with the new Logic App Data Mapper
BizTalk to Azure – The Migration Journey event | September 28, 2023 | Gothenburg, Sweden | Elevating Integration – The Roadmap from BizTalk Server to Azure
BizTalk to Azure – The Migration Journey event | September 28, 2023 | Gothenburg, Sweden | Azure Integration in Action – BizTalk to Azure Transition Case Studies
CONNECTED Conference 2023 | November 15, 2023 | Online | API Management: Best practices, tips and tricks
Porto.DATA #90 Christmas edition – Lightning talks | December 19, 2023 | Online | A walk in the park with the new Logic App Data Mapper
Another thing that I started doing more often was publishing videos on my YouTube channel alongside my coworker, Luis Rigueira. We ended up publishing 14 new videos I especially like:
Finally, this was a year full of training. I was able to deliver 10 training courses (in person and online) focused on BizTalk Server and Azure Integration Services to several partners and organizations on topics like:
Logic App Training Course
Azure Integration Services Training Course
BizTalk Server Developing Training Course
BizTalk Server Administration Training Course
BizTalk Server Dev and Admin Training Course
Star Wars…
Finally, I couldn’t endup without speaking this. If you saw some of my speaking engagements, you notice that at the end I finish the session with this slide:
Well, my son (and me) is a Star Wars fan, and every time I go to the computer at night to write articles and blogs, prepare sessions, or travel to lectures, I tell him I will earn money for our LEGO! So, I decided to create this buy-me-a-coffee thing for those who like my community work and want to contribute.
We were not even close to raising the amount for the Millennium Falcon (not the biggest one, nor the small one :)), but I decided to tell him that we did it! And here he is, saying thank you to all the people who helped us achieve our goal!
The 2024 goal will be once again the LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon (75192) or Chewbacca (75371)!
For all of you…
Once again, thanks for following me, and for reading my blog, and I promise that I will continue to share my knowledge during 2024.
Author: Sandro Pereira
Sandro Pereira lives in Portugal and works as a consultant at DevScope. In the past years, he has been working on implementing Integration scenarios both on-premises and cloud for various clients, each with different scenarios from a technical point of view, size, and criticality, using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft BizTalk Server and different technologies like AS2, EDI, RosettaNet, SAP, TIBCO etc.
He is a regular blogger, international speaker, and technical reviewer of several BizTalk books all focused on Integration. He is also the author of the book “BizTalk Mapping Patterns & Best Practices”. He has been awarded MVP since 2011 for his contributions to the integration community.
View all posts by Sandro Pereira
2022… back to normality! Yes and no, nothing will be the same as it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic brought many bad things, that we all know, but like everything, there are always two sides to the coin. The reality is that the pandemic forced us to change our existing living style, and with that came also good stuff like remote work (for good) and more freedom of working hours… but yes, it was a year that we recovered more and more our life normality and freedom.
It was a year that I returned to perform live events… especially at my favorite event: INTEGRATE 2022 London + Remote! (I say this without discrediting all the other events, I like them all, but this one I helped create from day one 11/12 years ago!)
and see so many friends I made during these years!
It was also the year I released my SECOND book! This time alongside my dear friends Tom Canter and Lex Hegt: Migrating to BizTalk Server 2020
And was a year, I decided to do more online training courses about Microsoft Enterprise Integration, which means:
BizTalk Server on Administration or development topics
and Azure Integrations Services (Logic Apps Standard and Consumption, API Management, Azure Service Bus, and Functions)
One of these examples is this short and intense BizTalk Server training course that I do alongside my friends Stephen W. Thomas and Lex Hegt.
My Blog has still solid numbers and growing every year…
The numbers of my blog kept solid in terms of visitors and new content, and 2022 was again a very productive year:
Publish 70 new posts on my blog;
More than 364,107 visits to my blog.
Coming from 212 countries across the world in the past year (and more than 15,191 cities).
And the countries that most visited my blog are once again the top 3 maintains unchanged: the United States, followed by India, the United Kingdom, and, this time, Canada got the fourth position.
In terms of cities, Hyderabad got the first position followed closely by London and Bengaluru.
For me, this is amazing considering the fact I decided this year to do different things, so I dedicate 70% of my community time to doing other stuff them my blog, something that I never did on this scale during these 12 years. And if we compare it to the previous years… not bad indeed:
2021: 375,328 visits, 210 countries, 77 new posts
2020: 392,535 visits, 214 countries, 92 new posts
2019: 431,000visits, 207countries, 43 new posts
2018: 246,381 visits, 194 countries, 70 new posts
2017: 210,000 visits, 167 countries, 63 new posts (migrate to a new blog)
2016: 318,576 visits, 190 countries, 50 new posts
2015: 350,000 visits, 184 countries, 79 new posts
2014: 310,000 visits, 183 countries, 52 new posts
2013: 200,000 visits, 176 countries, 79 new posts
2012: 170,000 visits, 171 countries, 102 new posts
2011: 91,000 visits, 61 new posts
I want to say thanks to all my readers. I appreciate all the visits to my blog, and thanks for your support.
Attractionsin 2022
I’m always surprised by this analysis because my estimates never come out right to what the community consumes but I always like to do this. So, these are the top 10 posts that got the most views in 2022:
I mentioned before that I dedicate 70% of my community time doing other stuff them my blog, but in reality, I spend that amount of time doing different things than the previous years. That means I dedicate less time writing in my blog and doing online events, just to refresh a little… don’t get me wrong I love doing events, but after 21 virtual sessions last year, I was a little tired. So I focus more on writing whitepapers and outside my blog and getting back to code and providing a lot of resources.
More Open Source Contributions…
Continue to improve the existing GitHub contributions and add new ones. Here are some samples:
BizTalk Business Activity Monitoring Management Utility Tool: this is a Windows Application tool that works on top of the BM.exe to modernize and simplify its use. It is the equivalent of the BAM Management utility (BM.exe) tool with a GUI.
ODBC File Decoder Pipeline Component: This is, as the name mentioned, a decode component that you can use in a receive pipeline to process DBF or Excel files. Still, it can be possible to process other ODBC types (maybe requiring minor adjustments). The component uses basic ADO.NET to parse the incoming DBF or Excel files into an XML document.
BizTalk PDF2Xml Pipeline Component: This is, as the name mentioned, a decode component that transforms the content of a PDF document to an XML message that BizTalk can understand and process.
Receive Location Name Property Promotion Pipeline Component: This isis a simple pipeline component to promote the Receive Location Name (ReceiveLocationName) property to the context of the message. Several BizTalk Server context properties are not promoted by default with BizTalk Server, which means that they are not available for routing.
Message Archive Pipeline Component: This is a pipeline component that can be used to arch incoming/outgoing messages from any adapters into a local or shared folder.
Archive Pipeline Component for BizTalk Server: This is based on the initial work of Randy Paulo‘s BizTalk Archiving SQL and File component that my team and I adjusted and migrated to Microsoft BizTalk Server 2020.
PDF Decoder Pipeline Component for BizTalk Server: This is, as the name suggests, a decode component that transforms the content of a PDF document into an XML message that BizTalk can understand and process. The component uses the iTextSharp library to extract the PDF content.
SQL Archive Pipeline Component: This was created initially by Johan Hedberg, and I decided to migrate to Microsoft BizTalk Server 2020.
This year, was also the year that I start publishing more blogs and more constantly on other sites, and on that my major partner in crime is Saravana Kumar:
Publish 19 guest blog posts on Serveless360 about Azure Integration Services on topics like Logic Apps, API Management, Azure App Configuration, and Power Automate.
Publish 20 guest blog posts on BizTalk360 about BizTalk Server.
Speaking engagements…
However, that is not all! I still was able to deliver 21 virtual sessions in several conferences and User Groups worldwide on topics like BizTalk Server, Logic Apps, and Power Automate:
M365 Below in Chicago! | January 14, 2022 | Power Automation: A new set of Best practices, tips and tricks
Global Automation Bootcamp | February 4, 2022 | How to monitor your integrations solutions with Automation Account
Azure Integration Bootcamp | February 5, 2022 | Logic Apps: New set of Best practices, Tips and Tricks
Global Power Platform Bootcamp 2022 – Münsterland | February 19, 2022 | How to create robust monitor solutions PowerShell, Azure Functions & Power Automate
aMS Lausanne 2022 | April 19, 2022 | LogicApps: New set of Best practices, Tips and Tricks
Microsoft 365 Virtual Marathon | May 4, 2022 | Power Automation: Best practices, tips and tricks
Global Azure 2022 – Spain | May 6, 2022 | Logic Apps: New set of Best practices, Tips and Tricks
Global Azure Bootcamp 2022 Lüdinghausen | May 7, 2022 | Logic Apps: New set of Best practices, Tips and Trick
INTEGRATE 2022 | June 13-15, 2022 | Building Hybrid Integration Solutions with BizTalk Server
CONNECTED Conference 2022 | November 11, 2022 | Logic Apps: The good, the bad and the ugly
Porto.Data | December 20, 2022 | Logic Apps: Error Handling
For all of you…
Once again, thanks for following me, and for reading my blog, and I promise that I will continue to share my knowledge during 2023.
Author: Sandro Pereira
Sandro Pereira lives in Portugal and works as a consultant at DevScope. In the past years, he has been working on implementing Integration scenarios both on-premises and cloud for various clients, each with different scenarios from a technical point of view, size, and criticality, using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft BizTalk Server and different technologies like AS2, EDI, RosettaNet, SAP, TIBCO etc.
He is a regular blogger, international speaker, and technical reviewer of several BizTalk books all focused on Integration. He is also the author of the book “BizTalk Mapping Patterns & Best Practices”. He has been awarded MVP since 2011 for his contributions to the integration community.
View all posts by Sandro Pereira
2021 wasn’t the year we all desire to be, COVID-19 pandemic is still present, but overall it was a good year for my family and me. We manage to be safe and well, which is the most important. Because we use our homes more and more, renovations at home continue to happen during 2021 to continue to build our dream house:
It was a year we all got vaccinated, and that allowed us to have more freedom, so we were able to safely visit Portugal (our country) and take a deserved vacation away from the hustle of the city or the most tourist places:
But without exaggeration! Homeworking, or working in all possible crazy situations and from literally everywhere, was still present:
And I decide not to do any in-person events. Instead, I did 21 online events and kept friends close by doing a lot of video calls!
My Blog has still solid numbers and growing every year…
The numbers of my blog kept solid in terms of visitors and new content, and 2021 was again a very productive year:
Publish 77 new posts on my blog;
One more publisher: Pedro Almeida
More than 375,328 visits to my blog.
Coming from 210 countries across the world in the past year (and more than 15,137 cities).
And the countries that most visited my blog are once again the United States, followed by India, the United Kingdom, and this time Australia
Not bad if we compare to previous years:
2020: 392,535 visits, 214 countries, 92 new posts
2019: 431,000visits, 207countries, 43 new posts
2018: 246,381 visits, 194 countries, 70 new posts
2017: 210,000 visits, 167 countries, 63 new posts (migrate to a new blog)
2016: 318,576 visits, 190 countries, 50 new posts
2015: 350,000 visits, 184 countries, 79 new posts
2014: 310,000 visits, 183 countries, 52 new posts
2013: 200,000 visits, 176 countries, 79 new posts
2012: 170,000 visits, 171 countries, 102 new posts
2011: 91,000 visits, 61 new posts
I want to say thanks to all my readers. I appreciate all the visits to my blog, and thanks for your support. And a big thanks to my team at DevScope:
Attractionsin 2021
These are the top 10 posts that got the most views in 2021:
2021 was also the year I finished my second book: Migrating to BizTalk Server 2020. This time with the help of good friends: Tom Canter and Lex Hegt.
The book is almost available! Unfortunately, we had some setbacks with printing books and shipping (Brexit), but I’m confident it will become available by the end of this month (January 2022).
Open Source Contributions…
Continue to improve the existing GitHub contributions and add new ones. Here are some samples:
BizTalk Server File-RADITZ Adapter: The File-RADITZ adapter is kind of the arch-enemy of the File-Z Adapter, this adapter doesn’t pick up or process empty (zero-byte) files.
BizTalk Server WCF-Loopback Adapter: The Loopback adapter is simply a two-way send adapter that, in its essence, returns a copy of the outbound message.
BizTalk Server SSO Application Configuration CLI: Unfortunately, there is no command line tool to allow you to script the deployment SSO Application Configurations or perform CI/CD thru DevOps. This tool is designed to address this gap allowing you to: you can securely import Application configurations by using this CLI application
PowerShell Runbook: Find Broken Azure API Connections: This PowerShell Runbook will look at all of the API Connections in all resource groups present in a specific Azure Subscription and provide a list of all broken API Connections.
Function App: Find Broken Azure API Connections: This PowerShell Function App will look at all of the API Connections in all resource groups present in a specific Azure Subscription and provide a list of all broken API Connections.
API Connections Status Report: This PowerShell script will look at all of the API Connections in all resource groups present in a specific Azure Subscription and providen their currenct status.
Find Orphaned Azure API Connectors: This PowerShell script will look at all of the API Connections in all resource groups present in a specific Azure Subscription and then inspect every Logic App in your resource group to check if the API Connections are being used or not. The goal of this script, of course, is to identify orphaned API Connections in a single Resource Group quickly and effectively.
And if you think I stayed and contribute only to my blog, you are very wrong I perform several other publications outside my blog:
Publish 9 guest blog posts on Serveless360 about Azure Integration Services on topics like Logic Apps, API Management, Azure App Configuration, and Power Automate.
However, that is not all! I still was able to deliver 21 virtual sessions in several conferences and User Groups worldwide on topics like BizTalk Server, Logic Apps, and Power Automate:
Azure User Group Portugal | January 13, 2021 | Logic Apps: Development experiences
101 Talk Arena | January 14, 2021 | 101 Talk Arena with Sandro Pereira: What about integration now?
Microsoft Integrate Conference DACH 2021 | January 21, 2021 | Logic Apps: Anywhere, Everywhere
Azure Lowlands | January 29, 2021 | How to create robust monitor solutions with PowerShell, Azure Functions and Logic Apps
Global Automation Bootcamp 2021 | February 6, 2021 | Power Automation: Best practices, tips and tricks
Virtual Scottish Summit 2021 | February 19, 2021 | Power Automation: Best practices, tips and tricks
Global Power Platform Bootcamp 2021 – Münsterland | February 19, 2021 | Power Automate: Best practices, Tips and Tricks
Webinar: PowerTalk by Atea | February 22, 2021 | Power Automate: Best practices, Tips and Tricks
Global Integration Bootcamp 2021 – Virtual | February 25, 2021 | Logic App (Preview): The new kid on the block
Power Platform Virtual Conference | March 12, 2021 | Power Automate: Best practices, Tips and Tricks
Global Azure Lüdinghausen 2021 | April 16, 2021 | Logic App (Preview): The new kid on the block
Global Azure Portugal 2021 | April 16, 2021 | Logic App (Preview): The new kid on the block
DeveloperWeek Europe 2021 | April 26, 2021 | The most important Best practices you need to know to develop Azure Logic Apps
Microsoft 365 Virtual Marathon | April 26, 2021 | Logic Apps: Best practices, Tips and Tricks
Power Platform 24 | May 5, 2021 | How to create robust monitor solutions with PowerShell and Power Automate
Bizz Summit ES | June 4, 2021 | Power Automation: Best practices, tips and tricks
Dutch Microsoft Cloud Call | June 5, 2021 | Logic Apps: Best practices, Tips and Tricks
I sincerely believe that humankind has faced worse years than in 2020. Nevertheless, this was probably the most challenging, exhausting, and difficult year of our generation. When the pandemic hit, and we were forced to be locked down at home, everything change, and we have to struggle between:
Both parents working from home. We were not prepared, i.e., we did not have the necessary conditions at home, but that was the least of concerns, and it was relatively easier to fix. I ready had my office at home, so it was a matter to extend it to fit my wife’s needs and improve the network capabilities.
3 Kids with younger ages being 24 hours at home and more critical having virtual school at home, and this was truly a challenge. Once again, luckily, I have several devices, that unfortunately, many people do not have, so in terms of equipment, that was easy, the oldest get a Mac, and the youngest was entitled to a Surface Pro. the little one, fortunately, didn’t have virtual school. But to conciliate both kids having virtual school and both parents having to work, and taking care of the kids and the house… wow, that was something huge that we luckily succeeded in without causing to much stress on our family and marriage.
Briefly and in the face of adversity, I would say that this turned out to be a good year. Family until now is safe and healthy, and that is the essential thing in life. We didn’t travel this year, that is something that I miss, but we arrange other things to pass the time in family, mainly at home safely. And for that reason, renovations at home continue to happen during 2020 in order to continue to build our dream house.
But that it’s not all:
We increased the family by adopting a new member: a 4-year-old puppy who suffered from mistreatment and that is now is a little princess here at home and cause for great joy and children’s play
We started a pep project during this pandemic to reduce stress, but it ended up improving our food: a biological garden that was initially small and got bigger and bigger!
And my team at DevScope grew even more and we hope it will continue to grow during this year in terms of business but full of challenging and great projects worldwide. We are doing a fantastic job;
My Blog is growing every year…
With all these constraints caused by the pandemic, both in personal and professional terms, It was to imagine that I had little time to do something I like: sharing knowledge. But when you do something that you enjoy, you always find the time. It was also a way to escape from all the problems and worries that have happened and relax. So it actually was a very productive year:
Publish 92 new posts on my blog; This goes directly to the podium, being the second most productive year since I start my personal blog.
More than 392,535 visits to my blog – that’s an average of 1,075 visits per day!
Coming from 214 countries across the world in the past year.
7 new countries compare to the previous year
And the countries that most visited my blog are once again the United States, followed by India, the United Kingdom, and Canada
Not bad if we compare to previous years:
2019: 431,000 visits, 207countries, 43 new posts
2018: 246,381 visits, 194 countries, 70 new posts
2017: 210,000 visits, 167 countries, 63 new posts (migrate to a new blog)
2016: 318,576 visits, 190 countries, 50 new posts
2015: 350,000 visits, 184 countries, 79 new posts
2014: 310,000 visits, 183 countries, 52 new posts
2013: 200,000 visits, 176 countries, 79 new posts
2012: 170,000 visits, 171 countries, 102 new posts
2011: 91,000 visits, 61 new posts
I want to say thanks to all my readers. I appreciate all the visits to my blog, and thanks for your support.
Attractions in 2020
These are the top 10 posts that got the most views in 2020:
With all of this activity on my blog and to support my posts, I end up reorganizing and add several repositories and contributions to my GitHub account and organizations. Here are some samples:
Migrate all the BizTalk Server tools and Open Source Community projects to BizTalk Server 2020:
BizTalk Port Multiplier Tool: a tool that aims to simplify this process by allowing you to easily “clone or duplicate” an existing port (Receive Port or Send Port).
BizTalk Filter Finder Tool: a tool that aims to simplify the process for better understand and maintain solutions based on content-based routing. By allowing you to have a quick overview of all the artifacts, send ports, or orchestrations that have filters associated.
BizTalk Server SSO Application Configuration Tool: a tool that provides the ability to add and manage applications, add and manage key-value pairs in the SSO database, as well as import and export configuration applications so that they can be deployed to different environments.
BizTalk MapperExtensions Functoid Wizard: a Custom Functoid Project Wizard for Visual Studio 2010. It allows you to create a new Functoids project for BizTalk Server without having to create manually the project.
BizTalk MapperExtensions Functoid Project Template: a Custom Functoid Project Template for Visual Studio 2019. It allows you to create a new Functoids project for BizTalk Server 2020 without having to create manually the project.
BizTalk Pipeline Components Extensions Utility Pack: a set of custom pipeline components (libraries) with several custom pipeline components that can be used in received and sent pipelines, which will provide an extension of BizTalk out-of-the-box pipeline capabilities.
BizTalk Mapper Extensions UtilityPack: a set of libraries with several useful functoids to include and use in a map, which will provide an extension of BizTalk Mapper capabilities.
Azure Learning Path: still in progress but already has one code sample about Functions Apps
Generic Resources: this is a public repository for Generic resources mainly PowerShell scripts that I want to share that are not related to Azure or Integration.
And if you think I stayed and contribute only on my blog, you are very wrong I perform several other publications outside my blog:
Publish 12 guest blog posts on Serveless360 about Azure Integration Services on topics like Logic Apps, API Management, Azure App Configuration, and Power Automate.
And 3 of them still waiting to be published (soon).
And contributing in all crazy ideas with my dear friend Nino Crudele on his blog: https://ninocrudele.com/
A year of on-line speaking engagements…
However, that not all! I still was able to deliver 10 virtual sessions in several conferences and User Groups worldwide on topics like BizTalk Server, Logic Apps and Power Automate:
Virtual Global Azure Lisbon | April 25, 2020 | Logic Apps: Best practices, Tips, and Tricks
Integration Use Group | May 4, 2020 |Microsoft Power Platform: Learn what Power BI + PowerApps + Power Automate + Office 365 can do for your organization
Integration Use Group | May 25, 2020 |Logic App: Best Practices, Tips & Tricks
INTEGRATE 2020 Remote | June 1-3, 2020 | BizTalk Server 2020: Migration Path
On-Demand | July 16, 2020 | Current Vision Enterprise Integration & Automation
Collabdays Lisbon | October 10, 2020 | Power Automates: Best Practices, Tips & Tricks
Global Microsoft 365 Bootcamp Lisbon 2020 | November 21, 2020 | Power Automates: Best Practices, Tips & Tricks
Global Integration Bootcamp Madrid 2020 | November 28, 2020 | BizTalk Server 2020 In Action
Integration Use Group | December 07, 2020 | Logic Apps: Development Experiences
Developer! Developer! Developer! (DDD2020) | December 12, 2020 | Logic App: Best Practices, Tips & Tricks
For all of you…
Once again, thanks for following me, for reading my blog, and I promise that I will continue to share my knowledge during 2021.
2019 was a very challenging year. Nevertheless, it was another great year both on a personal and professional level, if last year I described as a family year this one it was a consolidation year.
If last year I moved my family to a bigger house, this year we made all the necessary modifications to the home of our dreams;
If my team at DevScope grew at the end of 2018, 2019 was a year of consolidation, and we hope it will continue to grow during this year in terms of business but full of challenging and great projects worldwide. We are doing a fantastic job;
My Porto Airbnb host house is running smoothly, with good reviews from our guests. Nevertheless, there is always space for improvement.
And who knows me knows that one of my passions is to enjoy a glass of good wine, so I’m delighted to have my first wine cellar draft (it will be improved in the future)
But with all of these renovations, it was also a year
that I had to dedicated more time to the family – something that was delightful!
And I got married…
My Blog is growing every year…
So, once again, I struggle to have free time, but when you love what you do, you will always find a way to do it. So, in the end, I was able to:
Publish 43 new posts on my blog; it was indeed the year I publish fewer blog posts since I started my blog, but to be honest, I compensate in other aspects!
More than 431,000 visits to my blog – that’s an average of 1,181 visits per day!
That is almost double of last year. And the best year ever.
Coming from 207 countries across the world in the past year.
13 new locations compare to the previous year
And the countries that most visited my blog still are the United States, followed by India, the United Kingdom, and Canada
Not bad if we compare to previous years:
2018: 246,381 visits, 194 countries, 70 new posts
2017: 210,000 visits, 167 countries, 63 new posts (migrate to a new blog)
2016: 318,576 visits, 190 countries, 50
new posts
2015: 350,000 visits, 184 countries, 79 new
posts
2014: 310,000 visits, 183 countries, 52
new posts
2013: 200,000 visits, 176 countries, 79
new posts
2012: 170,000 visits, 171 countries, 102
new posts
2011: 91,000 visits, 61 new posts
I want to say thanks to all my readers. I appreciate all the visits to my
blog, and thanks for your support.
Attractions in 2019
These are the top 10 posts that got the most views in 2019:
I told earlier that this was the year I wrote fewer
blog posts in my blog. On the other hand, this was the year I published more
open source contributions like code samples, tools, and resources. Here is the
current list of all my contributions:
Migrate all the code samples that existed in Microsoft Code Gallery that shut down to a GitHub repository: BizTalk Server Learning Path that includes nothing less than 46 code samples that will help you understand and improve different skill in BizTalk Server.
BizTalk Scheduled Task Adapter repo includes an in-process receive adapter that executes a prescribed task on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule.
And the creation of a public repository for Microsoft BizTalk Server open source community extensions: code samples, BizTalk Artifacts (components), adapters, tools and so on: BizTalk Server Open Source Community that at the moment already includes 5 tools and 3 resources:
BizTalk Binding Exporter Tool is a simple tool that you can use to easily generate and export binding files from BizTalk Applications.
BizTalk Port Multiplier Tool is a simple tool that aims to simplify this process by allowing you to easily “clone or duplicate” an existing port (Receive Port or Send Port).
BizTalk Filter Finder Tool is a simple tool that aims to simplify the process for better understand and maintain solutions based on content-based routing and context-based routing with or without orchestrations involved.
BizTalk Pipeline Components Extensions Utility Pack is a set of custom pipeline components (libraries) with several custom pipeline components that can be used in received and sent pipelines, which will provide an extension of BizTalk out-of-the-box pipeline capabilities.
BizTalk Mapper Extensions UtilityPack is a set of libraries with several useful functoids to include and use it in a map, which will provide an extension of BizTalk Mapper capabilities.
BizTalk MapperExtensions Functoid Wizard is a Custom Functoid Project Wizard for Visual Studio. It allows you to create a new Functoids project for BizTalk Server without having to create manually the project.
SSO Application Configuration tool that provides the ability to add and manage applications, add and manage key-value pairs in the SSO database, as well as import and export configuration applications so that they can be deployed to different environments.
Other contributions…
And of course, several other publications outside my
blog.
Last year I didn’t have the opportunity to deliver 16 sessions across the world like 2017 because I had to slow down my trips, or I didn’t participate as I would or did in the past in some communities and I don’t regret a single second. If I have to describe 2018 in a single word I have to choose: family.
I don’t have any difficulty in selecting the best moments, my baby boy born and I move my family to a bigger house because we now have 3 kids, two beautiful girls, like there mother and of course a mini-me.
So, as you may imagine, I struggle to have free time, but when you love what you do, instead of finding excuses you will always find a way to do it. So in the end, I was able to:
Publish 70 new posts in my blog; I wrote more blog post that in 2017, And I just now realize that! And the countries that most visited my blog still are the United States, followed by India, the United Kingdom, and Canada in a total of 194 countries
IntegrationMonday |online |The birth of a new SSO Application Configuration Tool
XXXX Porto.Data meeting, March 27 | Porto | Automatization Platform with Dynamics 365 | Dynamics365, Microsoft Flow and PowerApps
CSI about Microsoft Flow and PowerApps
Integrate 2018 | London | BizTalk Server Notes from the Road
MVPDays Microsoft Flow Conference 2018 | online | How we use Microsoft Flow and PowerApps: Real cases scenarios
And migrate all and improve, at least almost all, my community projects to GitHub:
And this is just a small set of my contributions because I still publish several small scripts and sample codes on TechNet Gallery and Code Gallery and help in other ways the community.
My favorite’s posts
The top posts that I enjoyed writing or add more fun to do it last year was:
Because of the fact normally people look at me and think that I’m a BizTalk guy but I really do more than BizTalk Server, but I only like to write about real stuff that I use daily and indeed I had a lot of fun writing these blog post and real-life cases.
And of course, to close this list:
Thanks for following me, for reading my blog and I promise that I will continue to share my knowledge during 2019.
Author: Sandro Pereira
Sandro Pereira lives in Portugal and works as a consultant at DevScope. In the past years, he has been working on implementing Integration scenarios both on-premises and cloud for various clients, each with different scenarios from a technical point of view, size, and criticality, using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft BizTalk Server and different technologies like AS2, EDI, RosettaNet, SAP, TIBCO etc. He is a regular blogger, international speaker, and technical reviewer of several BizTalk books all focused on Integration. He is also the author of the book “BizTalk Mapping Patterns & Best Practices”. He has been awarded MVP since 2011 for his contributions to the integration community. View all posts by Sandro Pereira
