Biztalk 2006 EDI

Sorry, I have not heard any additional information on this.

As far as I know, you still need Covast to get all the EDI documents.

But that could be wrong or change.

[quote user="Anonymous"]I have tried to find information about BTS 2006 and EDI. BTS 2004 was limited to a number of EDI documents in base adapter, if you needed more EDI documents you had to pay for Covast. How does it work in this version?[/quote]

It is possible to develop you own schemas for different formats!

 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/840113/en-us
 

What is wrong with using Covast? There is more to it than just schemas; for example an EDI translator is supposed to be able to perform additional functions some of which I will list:

1. Document Validation in terms of compliance with X12 and Edifact EDI standards. Covast has a special language for expressing these rules that it validates at parse or serialize time. Your hacked standards will not implement compliance checking.

2. Presentation of detailed error messages for Compliance Violation.  Shows you where your error or your partner's error(s) is.

3. Functional acknowledgement reconciliation

4. Enveloping options – there are a variety for EDI.

5. Archiving. Are you aware of the legal requirement to archive your EDI transaction for a period of 7 years?  

etc.

As an EDI professional, it is not my recommendation to try to go into production with an application that you hacked into "working". In managing an EDI application, there is much more to consider than simply passing a document through an application. 

It seems strange for Microsoft to enter agreement with a solution provider and then sneak in a KB article about a "hack" to entice users to avoid using their solution partner's product, does it not? 

Do you all really believe that Microsoft is going to release schemas and that alone eliminates the need for Covast?