Category: .NET 3.5

.NET 3.5, BizTalk, Download, LINQ

LINQ in BizTalk – Follow up

thejohanhedberg

I’ve previously posted my ideas about using LINQ in BizTalk. At that point it was just theories, and following the links in the comments section of that post I wasn’t the first to have them. Thanks to the red bits/green bits approach BizTalk Server can use LINQ today by using Visual Studio 2008 side-by-side with Visual Studio 2005. This post provides a working sample that does just that – uses LINQ in BizTalk by utilizing a helper assembly, built using Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5, from a BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Orchestration (built using Visual Studio 2005). If you do have both Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 available, and this doesn’t conflict with the rules of engagement you have as far as your environment goes, I think it’s worth looking at.


The sample consist of the following parts:




  1. A library project named LINQHelperLibrary, with a method that takes in a XLangMessage, extracts the stream, wraps the stream in an XmlReader and feeds that into the constructor for an XElement. Using that XElement a LINQ to XML statement is performed to extract the totalt amount of a Purchase Order document. This library is built using Visual Studio 2008 and the .NET Framework 3.5 compiler.


  2. A BizTalk project named BizTalkLINQ, that contains a generated xsd schema and a very simple orchestration with an expression shape that calls the LINQHelperLibrary and passes in the message, receives the response and outputs a Trace.WriteLine. This project has a reference to LINQHelperLibrary as well as (an explicitly added) reference to System.Xml.Linq.

The sample requires the following:




  • BizTalk Server 2006 (I used R2)


  • Visual Studio 2005


  • .NET 2.0 and .NET 3.5


  • I am including the dll built using Visual Studio 2008, but if you wan’t to build it yourself you’ll need Visual Studio 2008.

To run the sample do the following:




  1. GAC LINQHelperLibrary.dll. (If you want to build it yourself do so using Visual Studio 2008 first)


  2. Build and Deploy BizTalkLINQ.


  3. Configure the orchestration by assigning it a host instance, a receive and a send port (use the XML pipeline).


  4. Feed a Purchase Order document into the Receive Port. A sample file is included in the sample (in the BizTalk LINQFileDrop folder)  – it originates from Sample XML File: Purchase Order in a namespace.


  5. Optionally display the value returned by the helper assembly by using DebugView while it runs. If you don’t there really isn’t muc to see…

Note: This isn’t a LINQ to BizTalk implementation – implementing a provider for BizTalk is a totally different matter, this just uses LINQ to XML from within BizTalk.


Download: biztalklinq.zip

.NET 3.5, BizTalk, News, SOA

BizTalk Server 2006 R3

thejohanhedberg

Official news about the next release of BizTalk Server has been released on Steve Martins blog here with follow ups on the BizTalk Server Team Blog here and of course followed by other comments around the connected systems blogosphere. It’s been expected and anticipated. This is not an Oslo release, and it’s not a new product, and it’s not a service pack, but it’s an R3. I’m not quite sure what the difference is when compared to a service pack, but according to Steve 
“Because this release build on existing bits, the name of this release will be BizTalk Server 2006 R3. Refreshing the bits (instead of applying a large Service Pack) provides for the best update experience.“


What’s interesting around this release is not the fact that it will support the new wave of products and technologies being SQL 2008, Windows Server 2008, .NET 3,5 and Visual Studio 2008, although I’ve been told this in itself is not a small thing and I’m exhited about that as well, but the fact that they are choosing to bring in a couple of additional features. Among those are BizTalk RFID Mobile, an UDDI based Registry (no doubt inspired by the ESB Guidance) and additional LOB adapters and talk about service enabling and delivering SOA pattern and practices as part of the product. For me it’s a clear expression of the desire to make BizTalk a more attractive SOA plattform.


The official date for release is planned for Q1 2009, with a CTP expected later this year following the release of SQL Server 2008 in Q3 2008. There are however already TAP programs available for BizTalk Server as well as some of the other features by themselves. I wish I hade a customer ready to run with it today…

.NET 3.5, BizTalk, LINQ

LINQ in BizTalk?

thejohanhedberg

Intriguing title, and I think it can be done. It might not be practical, not yet. We’ll get there eventually. But for now…


There are ways to utilize many of the C# 3.0 features in 2.0, even extension methods, and there is even a LINQ library that allows you to do LINQ to objects in .NET 2.0. However these approaches still requires Visual Studio 2008 (or rather the C# 3.5 compiler), since they make use of Visual Studios multi-targeting features. And if you have to use Visual Studio 2008 there is really no point in not using .NET 3.5. But BizTalk doesn’t work with VS.NET 2008 yet. At least not the Visual part. There should however not be anything stopping you from building for example pipeline components or functoids with Visual Studio 2008. The way I’ve understood it, it’s “only” the designers and project templates that are missing. And since Visual Studio 2008 functions side-by-side with Visual Studio 2005, it’s totally plausible to do one type of development in one tool and the other in another. Not very practical though. I’m guessing we have to wait quite awhile to get VS.NET 2008 support. Information about when this will be is scarce, about the only thing I’ve found is below.


From Paul Somers blog (Pauls blog seems to frequently use more resources than allowed and can at times not be viewed, so I am choosing to reproduce part of it here. The blogpost itself seems to be quoting someone else, but I couldn’t say whom or what)
With the launch of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 right around the corner, a number of you have asked when you will be able to take advantage of the new platforms with BizTalk Server.  We are currently investigating various options to deliver updates prior to Oslo. As we have done historically, this would follow the RTM of Windows Server and SQL Server.  This will give us time to do the final work and testing to ensure compatibility.  Our intent is to provide an integrated release that supports the updated Tools (Visual Studio 2008), OS (Windows Server 2008) and DB (SQL Server 2008) as part of an infrastructure update.


To me this suggest availability at the earliest somewhere in Q4 2008, if we’re lucky, since at the moment SQL 2008 is planned for Q3. This will probably happen through a SP1 for BizTalk Server 2006 and R2. And based on the above that release will be much larger then just tools, or even .NET 3.5, compliance.


With all that said, although I think LINQ and the new language features are cool, I can’t really say it’s something that I am really missing in BizTalk development. Being able to run BizTalk on Windows Server 2008 utilizing SQL Server 2008 excites me more then getting access to LINQ. Oh, and don’t take this post as stating truths, it’s just my 5 cents as it stands right now.


[Edit: For an example of using LINQ to XML in a helper class from an Orchestration, view my post here.]