Wow what a night planned!!! WF 101 (even good for managers! :)); BTS hosting WF and making it all happen under BizTalk Labs (that's next after R2)

Check it out and looking forward in seeing you there......

-------- Details ---------

Examine Windows Workflow talking to BizTalk R2 and BizTalk Labs.

Firstly a BIG thanks to those that enjoyed the exam cram we did last month (we had to order additional pizza!) and I’ve since heard that several of you have sat and passed the EXAM!!! Well done!!

With R2 just around the corner......I decided to tackle the Windows Workflow(WF) question.
The message is usually BTS vs WF, never BTS AND WF.

We’ll cover:

1.      Workflow 101 (you should be able to bring your manager along to this one J)

2.      Hosting Workflow’s within BizTalk with the new BizTalk extensions for WF SDK

3.      BizTalk Labs – life after R2....and where we are heading.....

Meeting details:

When: July 4th Food at 6pm, kick off 6.30pm. Finish up around 8pm.
Where: Microsoft
1 Epping Road
Riverside Corporate Park
North Ryde NSW 2113 Australia. (parking available)

WF Session Focus Details:
1.First up we will look at the fundamentals of Workflow; what makes them run; communications; and how do we host them.
(WF is the technology that is brightly coloured in VS.NET and comes with .NET 3.0) – you could even workflow your toaster if you wanted to.

2.Next – we’ll take a Workflow and use WCF under the covers to act as the communication medium between BTS R2 & WF. Very nice.
So now in BTS R2 we can host WF (through a small ‘Orchestration wrapper’) meaning that when BTS persists, WF does too – WF is now running inside BTSNTSvc.exe.
(cross off the list – ‘find a place for my WF’s to live’)

3.Thirdly – Imagine being able to call our creation from anywhere and behind umpteen firewalls between caller/sender.....enter into the ring
BizTalk Labs!!! Very exciting – labs.BizTalk.net.
(what communications do you think we use.......WCF......hmmm....seems to be a common thread here!)
So it’s a night on WF/R2 wrapped up in WCF – wow what a great set of technologies!!!!

See you there and let me know your coming
Mick Badran.
p.s. I’ve fallen in love with Microsoft Surface.......wow!!!

What a name....talk about the pinnacle of TLA's at the height of a great technology field.
Can you imagine being at work/meetings etc.
and say "Hold on, I've got to grab the WCF LOB Adapter SDK for my BTS Messaging Hub"
(at this point I'm sure it would clear the floor if you were at a party and people would be looking at each other thinking that someone hasn't taken their vitamin B12 this morning)

So we really do need to come up with a sexier name than this (when I was 4 my parents read me a great book about a kid called "Tikki-tikki-tembo-no-sarembo" and he fell into the well - you could say I was scared off long names as a kid)

What does this thing do for you? It will change the way you develop adapter for use with/without BTS. Sensational!!!

WCF LOB Adapter SDK

Enjoy!!!!

p.s. you don't necessarily need BizTalk to build adapters with this framework. There are BTS06 R2 'extensions' to this framework - the BTS 'strand' of this SDK is currently called the BizTalk .NET Adapter SDK

There's some very cool things ahead.....stay tuned......

MS have been busy in this space and we've now got the following (or soon will have :)

1. BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Evaluation Edition
2. BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Branch Edition
3. BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Developer Edition
4. BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Standard Edition
5. BizTalk Server 2006 R2 Enterprise Edition

Most are pretty self explanitory except for the Branch Edition (BE) - for those of you that remember the BTS Partner Edition (phased out with the introduction of BTS2006), BE is comparable with it.

There are some restrictions on this though (as currently determined by the powers to be...):
- the BE must connected to Enterprise Edition.
- two or more BE's can't talk directly to each other, must go through a Enterprise Edition

There's a document available that discusses upgrading to BTS06R2 - it's still a work in progress but it's a good start -
MS Upgrade Document

In particular there is a great image that gives a good outline of the dependencies (taken from the document):

Food for thought folks - there's some very exciting times ahead.

Finally it's here - there was some talk internally within MS about an adapter being built to communicate to WF Runtime, thus allowing hosting of WF workflows within BizTalk.

At the moment we're at cross roads with BizTalk 2006, as the Orchestration/Business Process designers and technologies is built on a language called XLANG which is compiled into C# and executed.

On the other side, we have WF workflows, XAML, XML, .NET based, extensible and looking good.....but it needs to find a home. It's homeless but always keen to meet up with a host. The question of hosting WF Workflows is not taken lightly as scalability, availability, durability etc all come into the equation (the 'hello world' WF console application just doesnt cut it :) )

So let's get the best of both worlds - I previously did a MSDN webcast on this around the time when the message from MS was "for small stuff - use WF. For bigger things use BTS" - but why cant the 2 worlds live together?

Now - they can!!!!

Microsoft WF Team have released 'BTS Extension for WF' where there is 'no BizTalk code required' (hmmm....maybe I should stop my mission of finding BizTalk people and look at WF people).

Go and register on the connect site/fill in a quick survey and get downloading!!!!

Grab the BTS Extensions for WF here

Happy playing........it's wabbit season...no duck season....no wabbit season....

I'll post more details very soon, but for this session

I will be covering

Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) - 101 basics all you need to know

BizTalk meet Workflow, Workflow meet BizTalk - Hosting WF Workflows within BizTalk 2006 R2!!! (how good is that!!!)
(persistence/tracking etc etc all taken care of - a wizard comes to the rescue)

Stay tuned for a full update.

July 6th 4TH is our next meeting (I had to move it till next Wednesday) (thanks Bill)

It's great to see, for some time now I've been a huge advocate of how BizTalk and WF *can* work together.

In the past the message that has been sent by MS has been an either/or message - never together. (e.g. small things WF....enterprise SAP/Siebel etc. = BizTalk)

Well my good friend Paul Andrew is all over this with the release of a BTS WF Host Tool that:

1. Takes a WF Workflow

2. WCF is used for the underlying communications between BTS and WF - seeing that BTS06 R2 is now WCF capable, it's a perfect synergy!!

3. WCF Message Contracts defined in the WF Workflow

4. The tool runs over the WF workflow to produce the 'stub/proxy' Wrapper Orchestration so that (and this is the most exciting piece of news) BizTalk will serialise the idle executing Workflows when needed AND the wrapper orchestration automatically handles all the correlation to locate the appropriate WF within the WF Runtime, via a WF Host class called _WFHost (also automagically generated)

For me the most exciting thing is that - now you dont need to write wrapper Orchestrations etc. and do a bunch of work within BizTalk to get the communications to happen.

We can use CBR to route to our Workflows etc.....very very coool

Available to the public BY THE END OF THIS MONTH :)

------------------ FROM PAUL ANDREW's BLOG -------------------------
(bless his cotton socks :)

BizTalk Adapter for Windows Workflow Foundation sample (June 2007 CTP)

Just announced today at TechEd 2007 in Orlando Florida. We are developing a new SDK Sample that lets software developers build workflow models in Windows Workflow Foundation and then host then in BizTalk Server 2006.

The BizTalk Adapter for Windows Workflow Foundation SDK Sample (June 2007 CTP) is a preview of some new technology for business logic and process developers. It provides for workflow models developed using Windows Workflow Foundation from the .NET Framework 3.0 to be hosted in BizTalk Server 2006. By doing this the workflow gains access to services from BizTalk Server 2006 including scalability, reliability, manageability, and access to messaging with BizTalk Server ports. The next major version of BizTalk Server is planned to be built on Windows Workflow Foundation and this CTP provides an option for customers to do this with current technologies. A release date has not yet been planned and will depend on customer feedback and the sample is currently not planned to be Microsoft supported. The CTP is suitable for software developers familiar with Windows Workflow Foundation and is provided as an SDK sample with source code.

The sample provides a tool that evaluates an existing WF workflow model and creates a BizTalk orchestration project as a proxy for that WF workflow model. The orchestration can then be deployed to BizTalk Server and the WF model is used.

Watch a Demo Video

Jon Flanders has recorded a 45 minute video demo of using the CTP to host a WF workflow model in BizTalk Server 2006 and he shows it running. Watch here.

Sometimes when you have a published WCF Service, you may just want to allow that service to provide a description about itself - rather than go through yet another wizard (re-run the WCF Publishing wizard) to expose out some metadata.

I've been doing alot of R2 lately and this exact problem came up. Fortunately I found a quick and easy way.

Simply add the following lines to your Web.Config before the </Configuration> tag
(take it out when you're finished)

<system.serviceModel>
<behaviors>
<serviceBehaviors>
<behavior name="ServiceBehaviorConfiguration">
<serviceDebug httpHelpPageEnabled="true" httpsHelpPageEnabled="false" includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
<serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" httpsGetEnabled="false" />
</behavior>
</serviceBehaviors>
</behaviors>
<services>
<!-- Note: the service name must match the configuration name for the service implementation. -->
<service name="Microsoft.BizTalk.Adapter.Wcf.Runtime.BizTalkServiceInstance" behaviorConfiguration="ServiceBehaviorConfiguration">
<endpoint name="HttpMexEndpoint" address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="" contract="IMetadataExchange" />
<!--<endpoint name="HttpsMexEndpoint" address="mex" binding="mexHttpsBinding" bindingConfiguration="" contract="IMetadataExchange" />-->
</service>
</services>
</system.serviceModel>

It doesn't get easier - enjoy!

Currently I'm setting up a system and found an interesting 'challenge'. After some sweat and tears I stumbled upon this Microsoft article.

In the article it appears that running IIS 6.0 on a 64-bit box is cool. (obviously or there'd be trouble)

It's also cool to run 32-bit ASP.NET apps in 1.1/2.0

It is not cool to run a mix of 32- and 64-bit in the same IIS.

Thought I'd save you my pain!

I could talk about it........I soooo wouldnt do it justice........forget the pacman cocktail machine.

See MS Surface

Here’s a Microsoft Surface demo:

Sensational Sonu has a great article on her blog about how we develop custom WCF Adapters for use with BizTalk R2.

She mentions:

1. BizTalk will always call the Adapter custom channel via a 'Request/Response' mechanism - this means for:

• Custom WCF Send Adapters - BTS will *always* call IRequestChannel (two-way) (WCF also supports IOutputChannel - oneway)
• Custom WCF Receive Adapters - BTS will *always* call IReplyChannel(two way) (WCF also supports IInputChannel - oneway)

So in short - BTS will always call a 'two-way' method of a custom WCF Adapter.

In terms of 'Fire and Forget' one way WCF Services, we still need to call the Two-Way interface and just pass back a null response message.

Or you could use your own custom component - said like a true developer!

Cheers,

Mick.

I'm pretty excited about this one! BI - Business Intelligence. It usually comes up towards the end of my project (especially BizTalk ones), what do we now do with our information within our SQL Cubes?? I find that the subject of BI is never properly addressed - whitepapers etc etc. How do you set this up, more importantly - how can you make it effective and meaningful for your Organisation.

*Good question I think* - I know SQL 2005 has a whole bunch of prediction models etc etc....once I get my winning lotto numbers out of it....this blog will be just cease.....till then :)

So what's cooking (the paperback version) of this offering:

• 5 days - get comprehensive and specific expert knowledge for 5 days. (Could be some of the most fruitful 5 days you spend!)
• Our instructors have worked with Microsoft Corp in creating and delivering the Microsoft BI Official Curriculum - they definitely know their stuff
  (we know your time is precious - we aim for our offerings to be pinpoint and as effective as possible for you)
• Learn out the new Microsoft BI Platform- Sharepoint 2007 Portal Dashboards, Performance Point, Proclarity, OLAP Cubes and more
• I'm someone that learns by doing.....so 40% of the course is interactive hands-on labs!
• We've partnered with DDLS (this allows us to focus on what we do best together) - to bring you the best possible learning experience.
• (I'm wanting to get on the course!!!! Brilliant....delivered to your city....you dont have to travel to the heights of Mt. Everest to find someone that knows about BI :))

More Information, Course Details - HERE

Book on the Course HERE

Hope to see you there!! :)

Thought I'd collect a few resources to help you guys along the way with some great articles from Sonu(PM for the .NET Adapter Framework) :
Well worth a read.

Here is additional information on creating custom adapters using BizTalk Adapter Framework-
Developing Adapters Using the Adapter Framework
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms944509.aspx
Developing Custom Adapters
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa559841.aspx
Writing Effective BizTalk Server Adapters
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms942193.aspx

Hey guys, I've got a couple of seats left for some MOSS 2007 training at the end of this month.

If you're wondering what all this WSS/MOSS stuff is all about, I'll be running an equally focused MOSS developer and administration course very soon :)

What do I need to say about moss? (if you're using/developing/designing and implementing - come along and fine out what works and what doesnt. Save you a whole lot of head banging later - unless you're at AC/DC :)

Who should go:
- If you have a SPS V2 site you're thinking of upgrading, deployment, farms structures and capacity planning.

- developers - if you're currently building/designing Web based solutions, spend a couple of days looking at what WSS gives you for free! (it's just like another framework within the .NET System space - use what ever parts you want)

- you're curious about what is WSS V3/MOSS/FormsServices/Excel/Infopath web based solutions and must be fluent in 3 languages (that part I made up :) - reminded me of a job description I saw one day)

Check it out - I've managed to reserve a couple of seats.

Course details:
When: Jun 25th - Jun 28th
Where: Sydney

Further Details
http://www.breezetraining.com.au/site/Default.aspx?tabid=49

p.s. we run the course in conjunction with Dimension Data Learning Solutions to give you the best experience possible.

Is it snowing? Is it cyclonic rain in Sydney :)- Microsoft have planned a fantastic 4 day course.
Are you looking for developing in Sharepoint/WSS V3.0?
I'm sure you'll be spending around 60% of your efforts finding and optimal deployment path.....let's sort that one out.

Jump onto this offer and register while you can - coming up in a few weeks.

For those of you that are coming - save your questions and let's get cracking.

Microsoft Readiness for Partners!!!

MOSS 2007 Developer Intensive – including ECM & WCM

This 4 day intensive workshop gives hands-on solution development with the 2007 Microsoft® Office System including Customizing and Extending Enterprise Content Management Solutions.

This course will teach you:
- how to brand sites WSS sites,
- well as how to extend them with collaboration services, Web Parts, Content Types, and custom workflows.
- The course will also show you how use and extend other server side components, such as the Business Data Catalog, Forms Services, Excel Server, and Report Center.
-The goal is to give you an in-depth look and hands-on experience of WCM capabilities now integrated into Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 from a developer perspective.

Course Level: 300/400
Location: Sydney - 16 Jul 2007 to 19 Jul 2007
Cost: $715 AUD inc GST (this has been subsidised by MS
Register now: https://www.local.microsoft.com.au/australia/events/register/home.aspx?levent=783945&linvitation

stsadm -o setproperty -pn max-template-document-size -pv 3000000

where PV is the size in KB.

I came across a good explaination recently from Joel.
Snip....(from Joel's blog - see his for more details)

 Next, what prescan is looking for... 

• Customized site templates - You need to know which site templates have been customized for a particular site so you can verify the customizations again after the upgrade. Check out the site template upgrade kit for details on these.
• Sites based on custom site definitions (if you don’t run the correct command for SPS 2003, you’ll see all your areas)
• Unghosted pages - with URL so you know which sites to focus on (it won't fail if you have these, just report them.)
• Orphaned objects   Objects such as list items, lists, documents, Web sites, and site collections that have been orphaned.  Correct these before upgrading.
• Custom Web Parts   Report the existence of custom Web Parts to the appropriate site administrator or developer before upgrading, to give the administrator or developer time to investigate.  
• Sites that are based on languages or that use controls that are not installed, note these will result in failures if you try to ignore.