(ebz239) building and mapping xml schemas using microsoft® biztalk® server 2004 michael woods...
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(EBZ239)Building and Mapping XML Schemas Using Microsoft® BizTalk® Server 2004
Michael [email protected]. Technical Product ManagereBusiness Server Group
Agenda
Session goals
XML and schema languages
BizTalk Server 2004 and schemas
Tools User Experience and Features
Demo (most of our time spent here)
Discussion, feedback, heckling, etc.
Session Goals
Provide background on schemas and their effect on tools
Introduce you to the newest Editor and Mapper, hosted in Visual Studio
Non-goalTeach XSD, XSLT (for that, go to… http://www.w3c.org/XML)
XML And XML Schema
XML Is Just XML, Right?
BizTalk Server 2004:XSD complete
BizTalk Server has always been XML centric, and can certainly process XML data streams
XML is described by a schema
The various schema languages have conceptual intersections
Other Schema Languages
DTD (Document Type Definitions)Pro: Came first; Cons: Non-XML syntax; not strongly typed
XDR (XML Data Reduced)Pros: XML syntax; XSD subset; Cons: Not W3C rec; global typedef scope
XSD (XML Schema)Pros: W3C rec; powerful OM alignment; Cons: Newer; business applicability?
BizTalk Server 2004And XML Schema
BizTalk Schema Support
XSD (XML Schema)Tools, Engine, OM, and Data: Namespaces, element groups, inheritance, scoping, run-time type overrides, the works
Other Supported SchemaXSD generators for DTD, XDR, and well-formed XML instance data
Schema And Tools Design
Tree-based instance view great fit for describing business messages
Common terminology like “record” and “field” can appeal to the broadest selection of disciplines
Challenge: XSD shows throughAttributes, elements, element groups
Tree limitation: Hard to show some intra-schema relationships (e.g., keys)
Editor And XSD And Demo
<Schema> node as container now supports many root nodes
Omnipresent <sequence> group hidden for the most part
Complex concepts like equivalence (e.g., inheritance) show through
No editing capability for key/keyref and substitution groups
XSD commonality with Visual Studio .NET
Mapper And XSD And Demo
Underlying schema less of a concern to many mapping scenarios
Mapper aware of some XSD (e.g., <choice> only has 1 child)
Wildcard structures like <any> and <anyAttribute> have limitations
Tool does not care where the XSD came from
XML Tools User Experience
Development Environment
XML Tools (and all BizTalk dev tools) hosted in Visual Studio IDE
Great integration withProject system – file properties and source control
Property Browser – better at-a-glance, multi-selection intersect, extensibility
Toolbox – Mapper Functoid container
Output Window, Task List, etc.
More On Project System
All file-level tasks managed hereSchema Editor edits *.xsd
Mapper edits *.btm (BizTalk Map)
Create new and open existing schemas and maps by adding files to a project
Access schema generators
Generate, validate, and test instance data against schemas and maps
2004 Versus 2002 And Older
More windows in Visual Studio
Schema and map properties relocated
Many features reorganized for better fit to Visual Studio experience
More schema and map connectednessBetter reuse = rapid development
Some risk of unintended side-effects
Stability Amid The Changes
All the old features are still there
EditorStill about defining structure using an instance-based tree view
MapperStill about defining transformations using graphical links, and “Functoids”
Great support for migration (maps and schemas) from earlier versions
Usability Feedback Cycle
Extensive usability studies already added many features, refined others
Better recognition of the “personas” or customer roles and responsibilities
Technical preview and several training events in the last 6 months
General Beta announced in June!
Participate at http://www.microsoft.com/BizTalk/Beta
Editor Focus And Features
Editor Focus
Support XML Schema (XSD) while also abstracting it
Integrate with Visual Studio .NET
Enable rapid schema developmentType reuse
Multi-selection: Eliminate steps
Make Tool ExtensibleAPI for custom schema generators
API for custom annotations and views
Editor Feature Highlights
Easy-to-use XSD support
Schema generators and migration for jumpstarting development
More visual cues (icons), at-a-glance features, and Search
Interactive schema views for learning XSD, sight debugging, etc.
Problem abstraction: One tool to model any kind of data
Editor And Non-XML
“Flat file” support spun off to extension module: only see it when you need it
Several improvements to support for data-level issues
Nested positional records
Multi-character delimiters
Unlimited delimiter depth
Variable ambiguity resolution control
Mapper Focus And Features
Mapper Focus
Left-to-right (source-to-target) mapping metaphor continued
Functoid architectureUse W3C-approved mechanism for XSLT call-out (i.e., the Functoids)
Give user control over multiple implementation options (.NET, script)
Buffer users from XSLT 98% of the time
Mapper Feature Highlights
XSD support (incidental)
Compiler improvements (other than XSD-related)
Integrated testing, errors and warnings, task list management
More ways to reuse Scriptor Functoid implementation
Mapper Feature Highlights
Power user: Can write inline XSLT
Map development accelerantsAuto-map
New Functoid: Bulk Copy Functoid (required to map <any>)
The other new Functoid: Table Looping Functoid – targets hard-coded output looping
demodemo
Actual Demo:The Award-Winning XML Tools!
More BizTalk Server 2004 Sessions
EBZ302 OrchestrationEBZ303 Human Workflow Services EBZ304 Admin, Deploy, and SecureEBZ306 Advanced OrchestrationEBZ327 InfoPath & BizTalk ServerEBZ329 XML ToolsEBZ330 EAI End-to-End SampleEBZ342 Rules EngineEBZ343 Business Activity Monitoring
Community ResourcesCommunity Resources
http://www.microsoft.com/BizTalk/community
BizTalk Server 2002 Newsgroupshttp://www.microsoft.com/BizTalk/community/newsgroups
BizTalk Server 2004 Beta Newsgroupshttp://www.microsoft.com/BizTalk/Beta
User Groups: http://www.biztalkug.com/
Sites of Interesthttp://www.topxml.com/b2b/
http://www.gotdotnet.com/team/entservers/
Ask The ExpertsGet Your Questions Answered
I will be at the booth: directly after this sessionvarious other times during the week
If you:miss me at the booth,want to set a time to meet,or just want to keep in touch… :^)
evaluationsevaluations
© 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.© 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.This presentation is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.This presentation is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.