BizTalk Build – unknown system exception

While there can probably be many reasons for this error, here’s one that I had: msgNew() = “http://MySite.com/MyApp/MyService.svc”; There was not value in the parentheses. For some reason, this does NOT put the red exclamation point on the Message Assignment shape.   I had been testing the following, then changed it, and forgot and left […]

Link to Streaming Archiving Pipeline Component

Pipeline components are an advanced aspect of BizTalk often overlooked or often implemented in a manner that breaks the careful streaming model of BizTalk Server.  Implementing pipeline components in a truly stream based way allows BizTalk to process messages of arbitrary and effectively unlimited size.  This example shows how to use a stream to archive received […]

Online XPath Tester

XpatherTester.com is the current “go to” tool I use when I want to test XPath (online and for free). I prefer the one built-in to Stylus Studio, but that’s a paid for product that I cannot install on each client’s computer. To actually learn XPath, I suggest the W3Schools site: http://www.w3schools.com/xsl/xpath_intro.asp To test the tool, […]

Parsing and Handling SoapFaults in a BizTalk Orchestration

One of the characteristics that separates the good from the great Biztalk developers and architects, is handling of errors, particularly SOAP errors.  This is often not tested sufficiently. This blog by Shashidharan Krishnan does a good job of explaining how to catch a SOAP error in a BizTalk Orchestration: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/biztalknotes/archive/2013/02/12/how-to-handle-fault-message-in-biztalk-server.aspx I’d like to throw in […]

C# Routine to Format “Pretty Print” XML for BizTalk

I created the routine below based on a StackOverflow that gave me the idea. In BizTalk Orchestrations, we often email out error to a distribution list, and it’s a lot easier on the eye when the request and response XML messages are nicely formatted. “Pretty Print” is a term used by several utilities like XML […]

How to specify “Last Day of the Month” on Windows 2003 Task Scheduler?

Yes, sadly I’m still using Windows 2003 task scheduler. I needed to set up a job for the last day of the month. Some brilliant blog shows how to do it the DOS Command Prompt, something like this: <pre> schtasks /create /tn MonthlyExtractLD /sc MONTHLY /M * /mo LASTDAY /ru "xxx\yyyy" /rp zzzzz /tr "C:\program […]

BizTalk Orchestration Error: Root element is missing

Error: Root Element is Missing <pre>InstanceId: d1c2f87c-825b-4c6e-b01c-c93e50d63502 Shape name: msgABCDetail ShapeId: 33d0d3ac-ae45-408c-8224-f42725877a2b Exception thrown from: segment 4, progress 22 Inner exception: Root element is missing. </pre> Explanation 1 This error occurs in an orchestration, typically after you have run a map, and the map doesn’t create any output. It basically means your message or map […]

Why BizTalk will not consume your file in a Receive Location?

This is a “back to the basics” post with a list of reasons BizTalk might not be processing (consuming) your file that you have placed (dropped) in a directory associated with a Receive Location. 1. Are the Host Instances started? (Specifically the Host Instance associated with the Receive Location).  Be sure and refresh (F5 or […]

Schema TypeName Types and RootNode TypeName – collides

I was getting this error first “namespace attribute of an import must not match the real value”. I had a group schema, that had a repeating record of a second schema. That second schema did not have any Target Namespace, to match what a trading partner had given us. This StackOverflow article reminded me that […]

Getting “Root element is missing” in a BizTalk Orchestration

I had this case again today, where I got “Root element is missing”. The code was working, I made some changes, and boom, an existing code path started blowing up. It was actually a trace routine, where I had the following code: <pre>    xmlDoc = msgWhatever;    //then I passed as a parameter:     […]