Using Wireshark to capture the SOAP messages

Again this blog is my knowledge repository/diary. I have done something new which I haven’t done before; I have blog it here so that I can refer it when I want to reuse it again.

I was working with a webservice to which I would post a request message from my test harness and expected the response / resultset from it. But the response was an unexpected resultset. So I wanted to capture the outgoing request to the webservice and incoming response from it by intercepting and examining the SOAP messages exchanged to and from the webservice.

Before I was using an excellent tool to monitor traffic over a machine NIC called Packet sniffer. Now I wanted to use Wireshark (http://www.wireshark.org/download.html) another excellent network sniffing tool.

I have installed and running the Wireshark on my test machine where I am going to post the request message using the test harness to the webservice. Off course you can use Wireshark on any end, either at test harness end or at Webservice end. This is just a network sniffer, which can sniff both the incoming and outgoing messages.

Click “Capture” and select “Options”

Below is the screen shot of “Wireshark:Capture Options”.

Then do the following steps:

Step 1: In “Interface” dropdown list, select the appropriate network card to capture data from. There will be only one option if you have have only one ethernet card. If you’re not sure, no worries try by selecting the different network card and see whether the tool captures any data for the selected card. If it doesn’t, then change the option.

Step 2: Enter “tcp port 8080” in the “Capture Filter:” This filter instructs the Wireshark to capture TCP packets over the port 8080. You can get the port number from the webservice object’s URL property or from the Endpoint definition of your webservice.

Step 3: Click “Start”

Now Wireshark is ready to capture the network traffic over the port 8080. Send some calls to the webservice. After sending the request and receving the response, stop the capture by selecting Capture->Stop or press Control+E.

By default you will have three panel view: Packet List, Packet Details and Packet Bytes.

Packet List is at the top, Packet Details is in the middle and PacketBytes is at the bottom of the window.

Now you have captured the all the network traffics over  the port 8080. All of them would be listed in the Packet List panel. Select one by one and see their details in the Packet Details panel. In the Packet Detail panel you will have tree node like structure. Expand the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, and then look for a node called “Data:” under it. Select the node “Data:” and in the Packet Bytes panel you would see the actual data captured, as shown in the above picture. To read the data in a better way, right-click on the “Data:” node in the Packet Details panel, select Copy->Bytes (Printable Text only) and paste it in a note pad to see the exact xml message being passed to the webservice.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

<soap:Body>………………………………………………..

This is the SOAP request sent across to the webservice and we will capture the SOAP response from the webservice. In the Packet List panel, go through the list after the SOAP request. And you will see the SOAP response on the Packet Details panel itself.

VBScript to convert the comma-delimited file to a carriage-return delimited file

'This script will convert the comma-delimited file to a carriage-return delimited file.

Const ForReading = 1
Const ForWriting = 2

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objFSOWrite = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

'Set folder
objStartFolder = "C:\Folder"

Set objFolder = objFSO.GetFolder(objStartFolder)

Set colFiles = objFolder.Files

'Loop through all the files in the folder
For Each objFile in colFiles
    'This line will output the name of the file including the extension
    objFileNameParts = split(objFile.Name,".")
    'Remove the extension from the file name
    objFileName = objFileNameParts(0)   
    'msgbox("FileName: " & objFileName)
    objReadFilePath = objFolder & "\" & objFileName & ".csv"
    objWriteFilePath = objFolder & "_OUTPUT\" & objFileName & ".csv"
    'msgbox("ReadFilePath: "& objReadFilePath)   
    'msgbox("WriteFilePath: "& objWriteFilePath)
    Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(objReadFilePath, ForReading)   
    Do Until objFile.AtEndOfStream
        strLine = objFile.ReadLine
        'Replace commas(,) with carriage return(vbCrLF)
        strLine = Replace(strLine, ",", vbCrLF)       
        strNewText = strLine   
    Loop
    objFile.Close
    'Create a new file in not created before, otherwise rewrite in the existing file
    If objFSO.FileExists(objWriteFilePath) Then
        Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(objWriteFilePath, ForWriting)
        MSGBOX("FILE OPENED")
    Else
        set objFile = objFSO.CreateTextFile(objWriteFilePath)
        MSGBOX("FILE CREATED")
    End If
    objFile.WriteLine strNewText

    objFile.Close
Next

KB: The following error occurred while saving message from the message box tracking spool. Class not registered

Today when I tried to save the tracked message in HAT, I had the following error:

The following error occurred while saving message from the message box tracking spool. Class not registered

The solution which worked for us is to restart the “Windows Management Instrumentation” service in the services tray.

HAT  uses WMI to query the MessageBox database. There can be two possible causes for this issue. Connectivity issue to the database or WMI. Since the message transmission is normal and its only the problem with HAT, we didn’t doubt the connectivity. Anyway to ensure that the things are right, we checked the MS-DTC setting as suggested here..http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa544733(CS.70).aspx .

Then WMI, in our case we have HP-Openview (like MOM/SCOM) to monitor the BizTalk environment and its agent service runs in BizTalk server to check the status of the server. We have some rules in Openview to monitor the status of the BizTalk artefacts like Orchestrations, receive locations , send ports etc. which uses WMI. Since Openview continuously polls for the BizTalk servers for the status the WMI services is battered. So for us recycling the WMI service (Windows Management Instrumentation) resolved the issue.

Errors List

In our day to day work, if we face any errors we either resolve the error by our experience or google it to find the correct solution. When you search for the correct solution often we find various potential solutions. So we go through each of them and apply the most suitable for our situation. Why not list the errors which I have encounters here. Instead of searching for the right solution why not first look here and see whether these solution which I have used sometime earlier when I had errors. This may not be useful to others, but might help me again in saving some time. So this is going to be a running list, I’ll update as when I encounter any errors.

Error	The following error occurred while saving message from the message box tracking spool. Class not registered
Cause	WMI service has been battered
Solution	Recycle the “Windows Management Instrumentation” service in the services tray
Reference	http://indway-is.blogspot.com/2010/10/kb-following-error-occurred-while.html

 

Error	Cannot load source/destination schema: “schema_name”. Either the file/type does not exist, or if a project dependency exists, the dependent project is not built
Cause	For some reason the BizTalk designer loses the schema reference and it is a little hard trying to “trick” the designer into remembering the schema’s location
Solution	Unload/load project of refresh the VS shell with the references.
Reference	http://sandroaspbiztalkblog.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/biztalk-mapper-cannot-load-sourcedestination-schema/

Error	Error <<Error Number>> Exception Caught: Mapper Compiler: Functoid not found: guid (<<GUID>>) with functoid id (<<functiod ID>>)
Cause	For some reason the BizTalk designer loses the schema reference and it is a little hard trying to “trick” the designer into remembering the schema’s location
Solution	Copy the custom functiod’s assembly to Drive:\Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006\Developer Tools\Mapper And GAC the custom functiod’s assembly
Reference	http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/biztalkgeneral/thread/f9d43d64-84a3-4116-95cb-f4cca19a7d82

Error	sgen.exe exited with code 1
Cause	When you build the solution in release mode. Exact cause??
Solution	Remove the previous version of the assembly from the GAC
Reference	http://chrissyblanco.blogspot.com/2006/10/sgenexe-exited-with-code-1.html

BizTalk Server 2010 - RTM

BizTalk Server 2010 has been released to manufacturing (RTM)and available for purchase from October 1^st, 2010.

This seventh major release of Microsoft’s enterprise integration product’s developer edition is free. So you can start develop BizTalk Server 2010 applications if you have Visual Studio and SQl Server licenses.

Details about its new features: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/biztalk_server_team_blog/archive/2010/09/22/biztalk-server-2010-released-for-manufacturing.aspx

The evaluation and free developer editions are now available for download from: http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/blogs.aspx

Which to use: BizTalk or SQL-Integration Service (SSIS) ?

I had a situation where I could have used any of these tools, but after some reading about the difference I have nailed down to use SSIS. So this blog is just a collection of my readings which helped me to differentiate and choose the product in my project.

BizTalk and SSIS are different tools and fit different scenarios.

SSIS is designed to move and manipulate very large amount of data over extremely high performance batch processing where BizTalk has been designed to move, process, validate, transform, and route low rate of transactions consisting of tiny amounts of business data

Use SSIS for:

Large ETL processes like de-batching the large CSV file into SQL database, or cleansing the large record before inserting in to database.

Batch Oriented Scenarios i.e. when the files need to be processed in specific time of the day as opposed to file needs to be processed as and when the files are available.

Use BizTalk:

When you have to do the Business Process Management (BPM). i.e. some business processes.

Near real-time scenarios i.e. as and when the files are available and it has to be processed.

SSIS and BizTalk can work together:

Though SSIS and BizTalk are used in different place depends on the scenario, it’s important to note that we can use SSIS with BizTalk. They can work together. For Example we have a project that would receive a batch of data once a day - containing 1000s of records. SSIS would receive the data, and then scrub the data (or validate the format). Once the data was acceptable, BizTalk would pick up each record and do the business processing.

BizTalk can do SQL-BULK insert but..

For bulk data processing we can use “SQL Bulk Load adapter ” available from http://www.biztalkgurus.com/blogs/biztalksyn/archive/2005/10/23/Processing-a-Large-Flat-File-Message-with-BizTalk-and-the-SqlBulkInsert-Adapter.aspx which can efficiently insert a large amount of data into SQL you are still stuck with the issues of transmitting the MessageBox database and the memory issues of dealing with really large messages.

Reference:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/biztalkgeneral/thread/745b3b31-a83a-4629-bec2-49800e266c7e/

http://geekswithblogs.net/wmichel/archive/2007/04/11/111470.aspx

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/biztalkgeneral/thread/745b3b31-a83a-4629-bec2-49800e266c7e/

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-us/biztalkgeneral/thread/261D0FBC-EE91-4211-B811-F1D29A4A38D4

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-GB/biztalkgeneral/thread/0338b17e-f9af-476c-984f-4982b65f230f

Installed BizTalk Server 2006 R2 – Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Installed the SP1 in our test server yesterday. It was pretty much a smooth ride with minor hurdles. I started off without reading the installation notes (as it’s in *.docx version and we still need to upgrade our MS-Word to latest version. We never felt the need of upgrading the MS-Word until now)

And these error messages didn’t provide much information to resolve. And same as the 13.6 MB log file.

Since our servers are not maintained properly in the recent time with regular reboots, I just rebooted the server and followed the instructions in the installation guide this time (Thought I would perform the installation properly this time, though the document doesn’t provide any clues for the above error).

I’ll emphasis on the followings to be considered before starting the installation:

• SP1-Updates the database schemas:
  • All BizTalk servers in a server farm or group should be updated with the service pack as this updates the database schemas.
  • Backing-up the BizTalk databases are important (as it’s the case for every service pack). If you want to uninstall the SP1 later for any reason, you must restore the BizTalk Server databases with your backup.
• I would always suggest to backup the master secret file.
• All BizTalk Server 2006 R2 hotfixes that are currently installed on the computer will be automatically removed by the service pack installation. Some of the hotfixes are part of the service pack, where some are not. So keep a note of all the BizTalk hotfixes in your server before the installation and compare it against the hotfixes which are part of this service pack(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974563). If any of your hotfixes are not part of this service pack, you can install the SP1-compatible version later..atleast your note will help you to double check later.

  

• Installing BizTalk Server 2006 R2 SP1 does not change the version number of your BizTalk Server installation. Ours is still “3.6.1404.0” after the service pack installation. (the service packs of previous versions of BizTalk server updates the product version number) So to identify its existence later, Go to “Add or Remove Programs” check the “Show updates” check box and look under “Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006 <<Developer Edition>>” 

GAC it

Have you ever come across this error; I had an orchestration and a new requirement to update the orchestration with the BRE came in. After developing the orchestration, built the solution and deployed it in the test server. But the new code (executing the rule through Call Rule shape) didn’t reflect in the output. When I opened the orchestration debugger, there was a strange behaviour of the control flow. The control flow just jumped over the new code –the Call Rules shape, as shown in the below picture.

I have checked everything, and then later found that it’s because of the build error. When creating the executable for the application in the BizTalk administrator console, I have not added the updated assemblies in the “Resources” folder. This caused the mismatch to the User interface (UI) of the orchestration to the code behind of the orchestration. UI had reflected the newer version of the code but not the code behind!!!

Then created a new build, by properly including the updated assemblies in the “Resources” folder and GACed the updated assemblies. It worked as expected. So lesson leant is, do the basic things properly -“GAC IT”.

Calling .NET assembly or any out-of-box static methods in BizTalk Rule Engine (BRE)

Calling .NET assembly or any out-of-box static methods (like System.String.Concat etc) in BizTalk Rule Engine (BRE) is a simple stuff; there is not much documentation available for beginners.

For example, if the rule is

If CustomerType = ‘new’

THEN

WelcomeMessage = String.Concat(“Hello”, CustomerName)

In the above example, I need to use the “System.String.Concat” method from out-of-box mscrolib assembly (or any of your custom method from your helper class).

Executing from Orchestration:

Option 1:

By default, the rule engine requires you to assert all the facts, before they ca be executed. So to execute the rule which contains the .NET assembly or any out-of-box static methods, we must create an instance of the helper class and pass it as a parameter to the rules engine in the Call Rules shape.

So for the above rule, in the Orchestration

• Create an instance variable of type “String” - since we are calling the String.Concat() ( or the type of your helper class if you want to call a .NET assembly in your case)

• Passing the instance type as the parameter: In the “CallRules Policy Configuration” window, select the above created variable in the “Parameter Name” column.

Option2:

Modify the BRE’s behaviour of expecting us to assert the facts by changing the value of the StaticSupport registry key as specified in MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/aa950269%28BTS.20%29.aspx).

Registry key for 32-bit OS: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\BusinessRules\3.0 ]

Registry key for 64-bit OS:[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Wow6432Node/Microsoft/BusinessRules/3.0]

For testing the rule in the BRE composer:

Follow: http://geekswithblogs.net/nsthompson/articles/ClassAndBusinessRulesEngineIntegration.aspx

I have not used the steps mentioned by Neil (in the referenced blog). I am not sure how we will use the fact retriever specific for “integrating the .NET” if you already using a fact retriever in your rule for some other purpose like caching the datatable/database connectionstring.

I have always used a test orchestration which invoked my rule. Yes, I have to deploy my rule before using the rule in the orchestration. That's the major downside of this method.

KB: Errors while configuring SQLXML

This post is just a knowledge base reference for me with the issues I have encountered while configuring the SQLXML.

We use SQLXML to execute the SQL query and display the xml document in the web browser.

(As part of the BizTalk BAM portal, users can see the actual message being processed by BizTalk. For example on clicking a link “Original message” in BAM portal, the actual message which is being processed by BizTalk to track the data for BAM has to be shown in the portal. This message(XML) can be retrieved from BAMPrimaryImport database. On clicking the link(Original message) we post the URL (“http://webserver/MsgView?sql=select%20LongReferenceData%20from%20dbo.bam_HireExtension_AllRelationships%20where%20ActivityID='18271dc1-6cd6-4b44-a2db-0bc37b2926c1'%20and%20ReferenceType='Message” ) which executes the SQL query contained in it as part of the querystring. Though this approach is prone to SQL injections, this is just a quick and dirty way to get the work done-The above description may be irrelevant to others, but will remind me the scenario where I have used SQLXML)

To setup the SQLXML, follow the instructions as in:http://sqlxml.org/faqs.aspx?faq=97

The steps in the above URL create a virtual directory in IIS. The only configuration change it performs to the default virtual directory is, mapping to the “sqlis3.dll” from C:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Ole DB directory.

Apparently it just performs simple steps with the virtual directory setting. But it is strictly suggested not to create the above using the IIS wizard, rather do it using the SQLXML wizard.

After configuring the virtual directory, when I executed the above query in the web browser, I received the following errors.

Error 1:

HResult: 0x80046000
Source: Microsoft SQL isapi extension
Description: Invalid connection settings: access denied

This error is due to the invalid SQL user credentials supplied when executing the query by using the virtual directory configured in the above steps.

Follow the instructions from Microsoft to solve the issue: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/820874/en-us

What I did was, created a separate login in SQL Server (Under Security à Logins) and provided this newly created SQL-User in the SQLXML configuration as specified in the article.

After the above, I received the

Error 2:

“Login failed for user ‘UserNameJustCreated’. The password of the account must be changed.”

Then I executed the following query

ALTER LOGIN UserNameJustCreated

WITH PASSWORD = 'password123',

CHECK_POLICY = OFF,

CHECK_EXPIRATION = OFF

Then I had the following error

Error 3:

The CHECK_POLICY and CHECK_EXPIRATION options cannot be turned OFF when MUST_CHANGE is ON

Executed the following to solve this error

ALTER LOGIN UserNameJustCreated WITH PASSWORD = 'password123'

GO

ALTER LOGIN UserNameJustCreated WITH

      CHECK_POLICY = OFF,

      CHECK_EXPIRATION = OFF;

(So I should have not executed the query as specified in the Error-2 section)

Then when I executed the SQL query hoping it would work, but I received another error

Error 4:

XML document must have a top level element. Error processing resource 'http://nfp-util01/MsgView?sql=select%20LongReference...

To know the exact error, select “View Source”  option and following is the error:

<?MSSQLError HResult="0x80040e09" Source="Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server" Description="The SELECT permission was denied on the object 'bam_HireExtension_AllRelationships', database 'BAMPrimaryImport', schema 'dbo'."?>

So the error was, it required the execute permission for the SQL-user (UserNameJustCreated) I have created in the one of the above step. Gave the execute permission, then I can see the XML in the browser as a sweety J

Error: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation

In our BizTalk project, I have used a C# helper class, whose method uses Microsoft’s Enterprise Library to invoke a SQL-stored procedure. The SQL stored procedure does some data validation and raises errors for business validation errors using its RAISERROR keyword.

When our tester was testing the above application, they had this strange error

System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation. ---> <<SQL Server’s error message>>

But the expected error is the <<SQL Server’s error message>> only  which has been appended wrongly with the strange error “System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Exception has been thrown by the target of an invocation”

After spending sometime, I found out that the problem could be due to “Instrumentation” in Enterprise Library. So I installed the “Instrumentation” from

Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft pattern & practices -> Enterprise Library 3.1 – May 2007-> Install Instrumentation

It solved the issue.

Resources on testing with BizTalk Server

Michael Stephenson has shared his resources and reference on testing with BizTalk Server.

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/BTSTestGuide

Thanks Michael.

Cheers

Powershell providers for BizTalk Server

I was reading the latest edition of BizTalk Hotrod magazine, one interesting article which captured my eye was PowerShell provider for BizTalk developed by Maxime Labelle, Michel Hubert and Randal van Splunteren.(Page 42 onwards: http://biztalkhotrod.com/Documents/Issue8_Q4_2009.pdf)

Microsoft also announced its out of box support to PowerShell for management tasks in its BizTalk Server 2009 R2 release which is expected this year. (http://www.microsoft.com/biztalk/en/us/roadmap.aspx#2009r2)

Interesting to see Microsoft’s effort to next generation technologies to replace scripting languages and batch files for the management task. The obvious benefits of PowerShell over the scripts and batch file is object oriented programming model and much better debugging facilities.

I am going to try the PowerShell provider for my BizTalk Server 2006 projects before Microsoft’s PowerShell providers in 2009 R2.

BizTalk (BRE)Business Rules Engine “Failed to Load” error

One of the common error, we would encounter while working with BRE –Business Rules Engine is “Failed to Load”. Most possible cause for this error is the reference assembly is missing in GAC. It’s obvious to identify this cause, as the reason is given very descriptive as shown.

I had this same issue, so GACed the missed the assembly, then reloaded the policy (either by pressing F5 or by physically re-loading the policy). But the error still persisted. Then it reminded me the IDE cache error we all would have encountered during the pipeline development. So the solution is “Just close and open the IDE-Visual Studio again”

I am sure this no-blogging error, but for me. As I have mentioned in my profile, this blog is a knowledge base repository for me, where I store all the things I learn at work so that I can reference latest. If its useful for you as well, I am happy otherwise you have the whole world of web to spend.

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2009 released

Microsoft officially released the BizTalk Server 2009 for public.

Offical Press Release

New Features

Free ASP.NET MVC eBook Tutorial from ScottGuthrie

If you're interested to learn about the Microsoft's new ASP.NET MVC framework, this ebook is for you and its completely FREE (legal also). This is the first chapter to the Professional ASP.NET MVC 1.0 book from Wrox. The 185 pager guides you to create a simple, but complete ASP.NET MVC application from scratch. I have just started to read this ebook, I should say that this is an excellent ebook which I have read in the recent time. Not only ASP.NET MVC framework, even If you're new to

• Using Visual Studio 2008
• LINQ to SQL

This step-by-step ebook is a must read for people who want to start learn ASP.NET MVC framework. At the end of this ebook I am sure to get satisfaction of complete ene-to-end learning experience for a new concept. Excellent work Scott and Wrox for sharing with all of us for FREE.

eBook: http://aspnetmvcbook.s3.amazonaws.com/aspnetmvc-nerdinner_v1.pdf
Details from Scott's Blog: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2009/03/10/free-asp-net-mvc-ebook-tutorial.aspx

Cheers

UK SOA/BPM User Group Meeting - 26th May 2009, London

The UK SOA/BPM User Group Meeting has been announced which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, 26th May 2009 at Microsoft’s London office between 6pm - 9pm.

Date & Time: 26th May 2009, 6PM - 9PM
Agenda: 6:00 - 6.10 Introduction
A quick catchup on user group related things.
6:15-7:10 Welcome to Ascentn
Ascentn will be introducing their ISV offering and what it offers UK Professionals in the development of BPM Solutions.
7:30 - 8.30: Still open for volunteers, interested people can contact Mick
Registration: http://sbug20090526.eventbrite.com/
Details: http://sbug.org.uk/forums/p/122/174.aspx#174

I have registered a place there, meet you there..

Thanks Nick for sharing this info, I have found it in your blog.

C# Generics works with BizTalk Server 2009 (Beta) :)

I have tried yesterday and it worked.  I am really one of the happiest persons to have C# Generics support in BizTalk.

Though Generics was introduced in Version 2.0 of C# and CLR, BizTalk till its version 2006 R2 doesn't support it. But now the story has changed. Yes, BizTalk Server 2009-Beta can support C# helper class with typed parameters i.e. Generics.

In the BizTalk Server version till 2006 R2, though we can't use the C# helper class which has Generics defined in it, we can utilise them indirectly by creating a wrapper class around them. By making this way, we can still abide the rules of BizTalk Server i.e. of not exposing the class with Generics in it directly. But now in BizTalk Server 2009 Beta, we don't have to search for any workaround for using Generics.

Lets see a real time example where we will use C# Generics with BizTalk. I have a database table called "Employee" which contains Employee details (obviously). And as part of the message processing in BizTalk I have to retrieve the Employee name for the given Employee ID. So I'll use a C# helper class to retrieve the EmployeeName for the EmployeeID which will be passed in as a input parameter to a method in it. I have to design the C# helper project in a object-oriented way something like

In the EmployeesDataProvider class, I have defined the Generics as..

public  List<Employee> employeeList = new List<Employee>();

to populate it with the result of "select * from Employee" then I'll add this to cache. So next time I'll populate the "employeeList" only if the cache is NULL. Thus avoids the database trips. And use Generics search functionality to get the result from the "employeeList" collection as..

Employee cusTemp = employeeList.Find(delegate(Employee _cus)
           {
               if (_cus.EmployeeID == strEmployeeID)
               {
                   return true;

               }
               return false;
           });

           if (cusTemp != null)
           {
               ret = cusTemp.EmployeeName.ToString();
           }

So the functionality of my helper class is:

Build the EmployeesList (typed class with Generics)from database if its not in the cache / other wise use the cached employee list and use the Generics's Find method to get the EmployeeName for the given EmployeeID.

Now in to BizTalk Server (till 2006 R2), inside the Orchestration's expression shape you may not be able to initiate the EmployeesDataProvider class. Reason being, this class has got the "Generics" type declaration. But now, the same works in BizTalk Sever 2009. Here you can see in BizTalk Server 2009-Beta, the class containing Generics recognised.

Download source code for "Generics in BizTalk Server 2009": http://cid-01845bf64da73117.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/INDWAY-Integration%20Services/TryGenerics.zip

Thanks to Connected Systems for providing us this feature.

 

Cheers

M.R.ASHWINPRABHU

BizTalk poster updated for BizTalk Server 2009

Microsoft technical editors have updated the BizTalk Server poster for their new BizTalk Server 2009.

http://blogs.msdn.com/nabeelp/archive/2009/02/04/biztalk-posters-updated-for-biztalk-2009.aspx

BizTalk Server 2004: Mainstream support expires soon

Microsoft's mainstream support for BizTalk Server 2004 applications is expiring on 14/07/2009. But the extended support is available till 08/07/2014. In the extended support phase

• Microsoft will not provide new non-security hotfixes.For those who require new non-security hotfixes during the Extended Support phase, they have to enrol themselves to the Extended Hotfix Support (EHS).
• “No-charge” support options are no longer available.This means that customers will need to open paid support cases (such as Premier, Pro or Pay Per Incident cases) to obtain support for their product.For Premier and Pro customers who already open paid cases with Microsoft will notice little difference in the support during extended support phase.

Support Provided	Till 14/07/2009(Mainstream support)	Till 08/07/2014(Extended Support )
Paid support (per-incident, per hour, and others)	Yes	Yes
Security update support	Yes	Yes
Non-security hotfix support	Yes	Requires extended hotfix agreement, purchased within 90 days of mainstream support ending.
No-charge incident support	Yes	No
Warranty claims	Yes	No
Design changes and feature requests	Yes	No
Product-specific information that is available by using the online Microsoft Knowledge Base	Yes	Yes
Product-specific information that is available by using the Support site at Microsoft Help and Support to find answers to technical questions	Yes	Yes

BizTalk Server - Product Life cycle: http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/search/default.aspx?sort=PN&alpha=BizTalk+Server+2004&Filter=FilterNO

Microsoft is scheduled to release BizTalk Server 2009 by later this year (Its beta is already available for public:http://indway-is.blogspot.com/2008/12/biztalk-server-2009-beta-for-public.html). So if you plan to migrate your BizTalk server 2004 application, its advisable to wait for some time till the release of 2009 and migrate to 2009 to utilise the longer Microsoft support. And there is no direct upgrade path from BizTalk Server 2004 to BizTalk Server 2009. BizTalk server 2009 supports direct upgrade only from 2006 or 2006 R2.

Cheers

M.R.ASHWINPRABHU