January 2007 - Posts

Tuesday, January 30, 2007 10:52 PM

Jim Gray missing

This would be a real tragedy. Our thoughts and prays are with Jim and his family.

Posted by gsusx | with no comments
Monday, January 29, 2007 10:58 PM

Semantic Annotations for WSDL and Xml Schema

The W3C folks are not sleeping. The Semantic Annotations for WSDL and Xml Schema specification is now a W3C candidate recommendation!!

Posted by gsusx | with no comments
Filed under:
Wednesday, January 24, 2007 9:14 PM

W3C Publishes Eight New Standards in the XML Family

We have been waiting for this a few years now.

W3C has announced the release of eight (8) Recommendations, representing some eight years of work by members of the W3C XSL Working Group and XML Query Working Group, with widespread implementation experience and extensive feedback from users and vendors. These eight new standards in the XML Family support the ability to query, transform, and access XML data and documents. The primary specifications are "XQuery 1.0: An XML Query Language", "XSL Transformations (XSLT) 2.0", and XML Path Language (XPath) 2.0".

Now it is time for the different vendors to update the early implementations of XSLT 2.0, Xpath 2.0 and XQuery. Congratulations to the working groups!!

Posted by gsusx | with no comments
Filed under:
Monday, January 22, 2007 10:15 PM

Architecture Journal #10

The new issue of the Architecture Journal is available in PDF format. The topics: Composite applications. Happy reading!!

Posted by gsusx | with no comments
Filed under:
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 12:55 PM

Using the BizTalk Server R2 BAM interceptor for WF

For some time now I have been pushing the use of BizTalk BAM outside of BizTalk Server implementations. BizTalk BAM provides a generic interceptor framework to track relevant data on business processes. BizTalk Server is just one of the many products that can leverage that framework in order to add visibility into Business Processes. Finally, with the release of BizTalk R2, Microsoft provides BAM interceptor implementations for WCF and WF. Using those interceptors we can extend the classic BAM features like aggregation, tracking and alerting into generic foundations like WF and WCF.

To utilize BAM with WCF-WF we need to use two main components:

  • bm.exe, an enhanced version of the BAM deployment utility extended to modify interceptor configurations including add, remove, update, and list functionalities.
  • CommonInterceptorConfiguration.xsd, the Common Interceptor Foundation configuration XML schema. At minimum, all interceptor configurations must validate against this schema.

The WF BAM interceptor combines the above mentioned components with a custom tracking service that logs data to the BAMPrimaryImport database. Let’s explore a classic sample. I plan to explain the details of the different components of this example in following posts. Our workflow is a simple State Machine workflow that simulates a PO Process.

 

The observation model for this example was built using the Excel BAM plugin that ships with BizTalk Server. The model contains just one activity and a set of dimensions for further aggregation in the generated OLAP cubes.  The following is the XML generated by the Excel plugin.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>

<BAMDefinition xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/BizTalkServer/2004/10/BAM">

                    <Activity Name="POActivity" ID="IDD38284A4F64745409E88DC7BF608D414">

                                          <Checkpoint Name="Item" ID="IDF57663E311524757851437C1D9B8A183" DataType="NVARCHAR" DataLength="500"/>

                                          <Checkpoint Name="Quantity" ID="IDADEABF22B6C6416789C3ADF2D4CD2E59" DataType="INT"/>

                                          <Checkpoint Name="Received" ID="IDED14A7F26EC7477DA4ED63B8C08CBB86" DataType="DATETIME"/>

                                          <Checkpoint Name="Approved" ID="IDC1BADE06C3B04AC99BDDF544E84033BB" DataType="DATETIME"/>

                                          <Checkpoint Name="Shipped" ID="ID20C1465442184553929AB6B0EE49796C" DataType="DATETIME"/>

                                          <Checkpoint Name="Denied" ID="IDE88C30D7ADE5440B8F19191C288D6D74" DataType="DATETIME"/>

                    </Activity>

                    <View Name="POView" ID="IDDCA141B0E6E94D879B04CF6C4E8ED62A">

                                          <ActivityView Name="ViewPOActivity" ID="IDB0C4AA0BE204425590FB1704829D6E9F" ActivityRef="IDD38284A4F64745409E88DC7BF608D414">

                                                              <Alias Name="Approved" ID="ID6CF7A7B9BB4140218259616AA698587D">

                                                                                  <CheckpointRef>IDC1BADE06C3B04AC99BDDF544E84033BB</CheckpointRef>

                                                              </Alias>

                                                              <Alias Name="Denied" ID="ID4B6715A4FF434D61AD6B55B62DCE80EE">

                                                                                  <CheckpointRef>IDE88C30D7ADE5440B8F19191C288D6D74</CheckpointRef>

                                                              </Alias>

                                                              <Alias Name="Item" ID="IDAB2C1362300142B884A6F567D5AEEFDB">

                                                                                  <CheckpointRef>IDF57663E311524757851437C1D9B8A183</CheckpointRef>

                                                              </Alias>

                                                              <Alias Name="Quantity" ID="IDCE258F95A63B4177B383FC83F7923A1A">

                                                                                  <CheckpointRef>IDADEABF22B6C6416789C3ADF2D4CD2E59</CheckpointRef>

                                                              </Alias>

                                                              <Alias Name="Received" ID="ID6C75FDA099DE462EB145ABF00CA2AE4D">

                                                                                  <CheckpointRef>IDED14A7F26EC7477DA4ED63B8C08CBB86</CheckpointRef>

                                                              </Alias>

                                                              <Alias Name="Shipped" ID="IDE59DA0F05E7A428DA444CD2ACFA75ABE">

                                                                                  <CheckpointRef>ID20C1465442184553929AB6B0EE49796C</CheckpointRef>

                                                              </Alias>

                                          </ActivityView>

                    </View>

                    <Cube Name="POView" ID="ID1C2CF921025A47AC96A2F3382168FB08" CreateOlapCube="false" ActivityViewRef="IDB0C4AA0BE204425590FB1704829D6E9F">

                                          <Measure Name="TotalReceived" ID="ID04E27CBA4B2F4813B45BA59C3EA0BC2D" AliasRef="IDCE258F95A63B4177B383FC83F7923A1A" AggregationFunction="Sum"/>

                                          <Measure Name="TotalApproved" ID="ID915659F57AB9462BAE0E037F76CF2DF6" AliasRef="IDCE258F95A63B4177B383FC83F7923A1A" AggregationFunction="Sum"/>

                                          <TimeDimension Name="ApprovedDim" ID="ID97905E2E89734CBCA0169AC06934BE1B" TimeStampAliasRef="ID6CF7A7B9BB4140218259616AA698587D">

                                                              <TimeLevel>Year</TimeLevel>

                                                              <TimeLevel>Quarter</TimeLevel>

                                                              <TimeLevel>Month</TimeLevel>

                                          </TimeDimension>

                                          <TimeDimension Name="ReceivedDim" ID="ID61B667B6CF9F4409900B4F49EC3B6033" TimeStampAliasRef="ID6C75FDA099DE462EB145ABF00CA2AE4D">

                                                              <TimeLevel>Year</TimeLevel>

                                                              <TimeLevel>Quarter</TimeLevel>

                                                              <TimeLevel>Month</TimeLevel>

                                          </TimeDimension>

                    </Cube>

                    <Extension>

                                          <OWC xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel">

                                                             

                                          </OWC>

                    </Extension>

</BAMDefinition>

After generating this XML file, the next step is to deploy the observation model using the following syntax:

< installation path >\Program Files\Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006\Tracking\BM.exe deploy-all -definitionfile:< definitionfile.xml >

Once the bm.exe is completed, we need to create the interceptor configuration file which states how to map specific Workflow events and properties to BAM activities. Watch for more details about WF interceptor files in future postings. The interceptor configuration file for our example looks like the following.

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

<ic:InterceptorConfiguration xmlns:ic="http://schemas.microsoft.com/BizTalkServer/2004/10/BAM/InterceptorConfiguration" xmlns:wf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/BizTalkServer/2004/10/BAM/WorkflowInterceptorConfiguration">

<ic:EventSource Name="Workflow1" Technology="WF" Manifest="StPO.Workflow1, StPO, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null"/>

                    <ic:BamActivity Name="POActivity">

                                          <!--Workflow Initiated-->

                                          <ic:OnEvent Name="MyWorkflowEvent" Source="Workflow1" IsBegin="true">

                                                              <ic:Filter>

                                                                                    <ic:Expression>

                                                                                                        <wf:Operation Name="GetWorkflowEvent" />

                                                                                                        <ic:Operation Name="Constant">

                                                                                                                              <ic:Argument>Created</ic:Argument>

                                                                                                        </ic:Operation>

                                                                                                        <ic:Operation Name="Equals" />

                                                                                    </ic:Expression>

                                                              </ic:Filter>

                                                              <ic:CorrelationID>

                                                                                    <ic:Expression>

                                                                                                        <wf:Operation Name="GetContextProperty">

                                                                                                                              <wf:Argument>InstanceId</wf:Argument>

                                                                                                        </wf:Operation>

                                                                                  </ic:Expression>

                                                              </ic:CorrelationID>

                                                              <ic:Update DataItemName="Received" Type="DATETIME">

                                                                                    <ic:Expression>

                                                                                                        <wf:Operation Name="GetContextProperty">

                                                                                                                              <wf:Argument>EventTime</wf:Argument>

                                                                                                        </wf:Operation>

                                                                                    </ic:Expression>

                                                              </ic:Update>

                                          </ic:OnEvent>

                                          <!--PO Received...-->

                                          <ic:OnEvent Name="POReceived"  Source="Workflow1">

                                                              <ic:Filter>

                                                                                    <ic:Expression>

                                                                                                        <wf:Operation Name="GetActivityName" />

                                                                                                        <ic:Operation Name="Constant">

                                                                                                                              <ic:Argument>OrderReceived</ic:Argument>

                                                                                                        </ic:Operation>

                                                                                                        <ic:Operation Name="Equals" />

                                                                                    </ic:Expression>

                                                              </ic:Filter>

                                                              <ic:CorrelationID>

                                                                                    <ic:Expression>

                                                                                                        <wf:Operation Name="GetContextProperty">

                                                                                                                              <wf:Argument>InstanceId</wf:Argument>

                                                                                                        </wf:Operation>

                                                                                    </ic:Expression>

                                                              </ic:CorrelationID>

                                                              <ic:Update DataItemName="Quantity" Type="INT">

                                                                                    <ic:Expression>

                                                                                                        <wf:Operation Name="GetWorkflowProperty">

                                                                                                                              <wf:Argument>Quantity</wf:Argument>

                                                                                                        </wf:Operation>

                                                                                    </ic:Expression>

                                                              </ic:Update>

                                                              <ic:Update DataItemName="Item" Type="NVARCHAR">

                                                                                    <ic:Expression>

                                                                                                        <wf:Operation Name="GetWorkflowProperty">

                                                                                                                              <wf:Argument>ItemName</wf:Argument>

                                                                                                        </wf:Operation>

                                                                                    </ic:Expression>

                                                              </ic:Update>

                                          </ic:OnEvent>

                                          <ic:OnEvent Name="POApproved"  Source="Workflow1">

                                                              <ic:Filter>

   &