Install a Data Integration Development Environment on VirtualBox – Part Two

Posted 5 days ago by Rich Wallace

BizTalk on Virtual BoxIf you’ve landed here looking to learn how to create a new virtual machine with VirtualBox, I’d recommend reading the first post of the series, “Install a Data Integration Development Environment on VirtualBox“.

Continuing on with my series of installing a data integration development environment on VirtualBox, I’ll cover how to assign a DVD image to the virtual IDE controller that will act as a CD/DVD drive.

As I mentioned in the first post, I’m planning out the new virtual machine to support several different installations such as the operating system, server platforms and development tools .  I have a subscription to MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) where I have access to the software that I use in my work and I’ve already downloaded the DVD images.  VirtualBox supports loading these DVD images as physical DVDs, so I’m ready to run.

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Install a Data Integration Development Environment on VirtualBox – Part One

Posted 5 days ago by Rich Wallace

BizTalk on Virtual BoxOne of the many tasks that I have as an application/data integration developer is to maintain flexibility when it comes to developing different solutions.  I have a single “master” laptop that I use to do all of my work on, however, the laptop itself is configured to run using a single operating system with my base programs installed – many having nothing to do with development work.

I could configure the laptop to support a multi-boot environment, with different operating systems and such, but to me, that just feels…messy.

What I opt to do, is use a virtual operating system software package that allows me to create, literally, virtual system installation on my single laptop.  This way, if I’m working on different projects for different clients, I haven’t tied myself down to a single laptop with potentially damaging installs of different versions of software, or worse yet, multiple laptops with their own unique configurations.

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Manage Outlook Appointments with Exchange Web Services

Posted 6 days ago by Rich Wallace

Retrieving Outlook Appointments with EWSThe business here is currently running Exchange 2003 with upcoming plans to migrate over to Exchange 2010.  There are several user applications that interface with Exchange via a custom, homegrown web service that uses what seems to be a very common third-party solution for Exchange 2003 communication, called Independentsoft WebDAV.

Using WebDAV, the application uses a URL as a resource identifier to locate or manage an appointment item in Exchange 2003.  With the evolution of Exchange 2010, the ability to use WebDAV was depreciated and rather than relying on another third-party solution, the higher-ups asked if I could develop a replacement using Exchange Web Services.

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Filter Records from Target Message in BizTalk Mapper

Posted 12 days ago by Rich Wallace

Filtering Records in BizTalk MapperFor countless reasons, integration developers may need to apply a filter within their business processing logic where target records are not required to be sent based on some type of condition.

I’ve run into many situations where the developers allow the actual target system to perform the filter and I can understand why that was the chosen path, but I try to think deeper and I see that useless data sent across the wire is just more noise and traffic to contend with.

incidentally, my network admins love the fact that I see things this way…

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Posted in BizTalk Server | 1 Comment

Loop Through a Table Variable Using T-SQL

Posted 15 days ago by Rich Wallace

Looping Through SQL Table VariableDuring a project where I am to integrate a home construction scheduling application with a Microsoft SQL Server Operational Data Store, I found that the source XML messages that are to be published for integration contain two fields that are both used as key identifiers within the target databases.

The previous scheduling application had the smarts enough to create a child record within the master XML that allowed for one-or-many related records that contained the required fields for the downstream systems.

This way, I would receive a single transaction and create a BizTalk Map that would simply loop on the child records and transform the data to the expected target format very easily.

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Posted in BizTalk Server, Code Construction, SQL Server | 1 Comment

Error When Configuring BizTalk Server Group

Posted 26 days ago by Rich Wallace

During my BizTalk journey, I’ve gone through several new installations of the framework as well as upgrading to newer versions of server software.  One of the most common scenarios that pop up when performing a new installation of BizTalk Server that seems to frustrate newer shops or developers/admins is when the BizTalk installation or configuration process errors out for seemingly no reason.

Typically, the actual installation goes through smoothly and once the base product is laid down, all is well until the BizTalk configuration wizard tries to perform it’s final steps.  Just to keep things in perspective, here are the typical steps taken in configuring a new installation of BizTalk Server leading up to the error.

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