BizTalk 2009 Beta download

BTS 2009 Beta is ready for public download: https://connect.microsoft.com/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?SiteID=218&DownloadID=15397

Do not generate empty node

problem:

the source nodes are always created, even though the node has no value.

the destination node has not to be created for these empty nodes.

solution:

check for logical string existence and use value map (flattening) like these screenshot.

Failed to load source schema

in some cases when i tried to open a biztalk map the error "Failed to load source schema" occured. I installed the hotfix described in KB 926344 and everything works fine again...

[Windows Server 2008, VS.NET 2005 and BTS 2006 R2]

CMIS - Microsoft and partners for new CMS standard

About 4 weeks ago microsoft released Content Management Interoperability Services.

This standard (submitted to OASIS) could (is) a new highlight in MOSS connectivty to other CMS/DMS.

The realy interesting thing on this is, that SAP, IBM and of course MS worked together on this project (and some smaller companies, too). I am so euphoric about that... :-)

You can download the spec (draft) here .

BizTalk 2006 FTP Adapter and firewall settings

My system has to send to an external FTP server behind a firewall.
I decided to use the standard FTP adapter. There you can fill in the settings for the firewall authorization. My firewall is nor SOCKS 4 or SOCKS 5 so i choose the type NONE.

After enabling the port i saw that the credentials of the firewall settings were not used at the firewall. The credentials and servernam for the external FTP server were used to authenticate at the firewall... and of course.... unsuccessfully... *gr*

BUT when i use a tool like the Total Commander... it works... so it should be the FTP adapter... the component that did not work correctly (with our type of firewall)...

I had no more time because my customer wants to go live with his trading partner so i have three choices... First: A MS support call... too long... Second: Develop a custom FTP adapter to fire custom commands.... OR... and that was the fastest method, that is working for me (temporary)...

1. Let the firewall settings empty...
2. Fill the firewall connection data instead of the FTP server data (Server, Username, etc.)
3. Fill in the name of the file to put to the external server.
3. In the line BEFORE PUT fill: USER youraccount@externalftpserver;PASS yourpassword;cwd yourdirectory;PASV

That works for me... ;-)

BizTalk 2009 Roadmap

Here is the microsoft roadmap for BizTalk 2009... It's so exciting... I think i could use the WebSphere Adapter in further projects... :-) CLICK

Visit NYC

Hi (again),

from 27th - 30th November 2008 i visit New York. If you want to talk with me about all the MS MOSS or BizTalk Stuff... just let me know... i will see if we can organize a meeting... :-)

Some more MOSS adventures

hi,

long time ago after my last blogging... i had too much to fight with/against my loveley MOSS.. :-)
Here are some of my experiences in the last weeks/months:

1. Developing online market place for an intranet

I developed an online market place (release 1) where employees of a global company can buy or sell items.

I developed this cool tool as single webpart for sharepoint 2007. There is a filter, you cann add images to your announcement, you can edit your profile and of course your items...

The solution is a standalone solution, so the user of this market place are stored in another databse then the "normal" sharepoint users.

Cool design feature... This market place is also available (with the same code) for ASP.NET applications.

I use asp.net control loading and session state in this webpart. If you are interested in some screenshots or code... come back later... i will populate some features with screenshots and code in a few days... (without guarantee) :-)

Did you ever need to use the asp.net event handling in MOSS? No? You are are a lucky guy (or girl)... *g

2. Develop custom content webpart

I developed a custom webpart which uses the MOSS HTML editor and some custom properties. Now my customer is able to save different content in his own database and can decide which content he will show the users. Very nice...

so... what is next in my project plan... let's have a look:

... there will be some projects to use the BDC of MOSS and SAP or ACCESS... (yes... this little MS db office tool... and no... it's not dead... :-))
... some cool BizTalk R2 mappings and orchs to generate flatfiles and connect to SAP HR...
... and of course a lot of documentation... puhhh... i really will try to blog...

MOSS 2007: France without KPI

In a multi language moss project i was unable to add the kpi webpart of moss.

After doing some "google"ing I found the solution here:

http://kbalertz.com/949606/Error-message-French-version-SharePoint-Server-French-version-Windows-SharePoint-Services-selected.aspx

MOSS and Business Score Card Manager 2005

It is possible to use the Microsoft Office Business Score Card Manager with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007... but you need the compatible version of BSCM 2005 and it works only on 32-Bit systems..

PDC Registration is online!

BizTalk FTP Adapter raises mystic error

"A failure occurred when parsing the remote folder listing"... just switch to passive mode.... :-)

HowTo use dynamic SAP Send Port with SAP Adapter 2.0

as described in the linked ms article above you can set the SAP URI dynamically. But the most problem you have is to install the SAP Adpter 2.0 on a Windows Vista Client... SAP Connector... VS.NET 2003... and all these stupid stuff....

Main problem is to set the username and password on runtime. You have to address the SAP Adapter properties in the header of the message send to the SAP system. You need to reference th Microsoft.BizTalk.SAPAdapterProperties.dll into your VS.NET Solution and you are now able to set the user credientials at runtime.

Uninitializes dynamic send port :-)

ok ok...

some kind of stupid stuff...
i was searching to resolve the error while compiling an orchestration... this error is normally thrown when you have no address registered for a dynamic send port...
BUT i had set this property... äääääähhhmmm... but not in the correct order...

this is the BAD expression in the shape:

Port_DynamicSAP(Microsoft.XLANGs.BaseTypes.TransportType) = "SAP";
Port_DynamicSAP(Microsoft.XLANGs.BaseTypes.Address) = SOMESTRING;

and this is the GOOD expression in the shape:

Port_DynamicSAP(Microsoft.XLANGs.BaseTypes.Address) = SOMESTRING;
Port_DynamicSAP(Microsoft.XLANGs.BaseTypes.TransportType) = "SAP";

*g*... errare humanum est....

MOSS Profile Import works only with one DC

If you want to import profiles in MOSS, you have to use only one domain controller for a LDAP query. this is by design... i have this situation:

three import sources and two domain controllers in "cluster mode". the first two import sources will work, but the third fails....

there is a workaround for this: just do an OR and use only two LDAP sources... or (of course) do an OR and use only ONE LDAP query... i will write some more lines about this tomorrow...

E-AI

in honor of my/our job.... all our cars have now the licence number schema E-AI XXX :-)

Starting book project "SAP Integration"

Today is kickoff for my new book project about "Consulting in integration projects".

I have 2 co-authors (both cutomers with integration skills) and will write about our experiences in this kinds of projects.

The book will release at the end of 2008. I will post a lot of experiences about this stuff while i'm writing the book... :-)

HTTP Error 411 ---- BizTalk HTTP Send Adapter

Some servers will throw an HTTP Error 411, when you send an message via BizTalk HTTP Send Adapter.... then there is only one way to go.... disable the chunked encoding....

BizTalk Server 2006 R3 announced

BTS R3 is in production... see Steve Martin`s Blog...

WarmUp the MOSS

if you have some performance problems with your MOSS 2007 because of the page load is very slow... just try the WarmUp scripts from here.

The script call the configured MOSS site(s) and fill the cache... no longer waiting... works fine for me...

BUT... the scripts have to run under an account that has permissions to watch the configured site...

Ladies and gentlemen.... please start your engine....

SQL Server advice for migration projects in MOSS 2007

ok... if you do some work to migrate content from sharepoint 2003 to MOSS 2007 you will inform the users about that.

all users have to stop working with the old system that you will be able to migrate ALL content.... maybe... well... some users will ignore your mails, phone calls, etc...

my advise when you use the database migration method....

SET THE CONTENT DATABASE OF THE SPS 2003 TO READ ONLY!!! :-) *aaarrrggggh*

Adding SAP XI/PI to portfolio

because everyone has to look at other software giants, other languages and systems i learn the SAP PI (XI) system and configuration features for my own knowledge.

if you are interested how SAP's solution for EAI/SOA and BPM looks like... here is a good demo video.

I played with SAP XI/PI for some testing scenarios... but i do not like the complicated configuration features and the terrible UI.... the mapping feature and UI of biztalk is unbeaten... :-)

Where are all the BizTalk shapes?

...in Microsoft.BizTalk.ObjectModel.dll...

Creating Simple BAM

for legal reasons i had time for the last 2 month to develop my own BAM tool to simple create a tracking monitor...
legal reasons? i will explain to you in may... :-)

simple to install... simple to use... not a large solution with wss and all the other stuff from biztalk 2006 r2.... *g

i developed a custom biztalk activity to write tracking information in my own tracking db... now i setup a small web site fitted with customer needs... small.... simple and a fast overview...
i will write some snippets and show some screenshots soon.... stay tuned... :-)

Now using NHibernate

some time ago and for some reasons i used stored procedures and the ADO.NET to communicate with the database. this is very fast and performant but in some cases like filling SAP properties too much coding work because of the multiplicity of properties. for this case i use NHibernate now and it works fine and simple. Give it a try...