What exactly are BizTalk’s adapters, and what do they do? For developers, I don’t think much time is spent thinking about these questions. The problem though is that other people hear that BizTalk has an adapter for something, for some odd reason they think they just have to install the adapter do a little configuration and everything just “works”.

In some cases this might be possible. However, I suspect that only occurs in really rare boring cases that I won’t ever see. A case where the two systems being integrated have been integrated so many times that everything has already been prepared ahead of time. All that is left is installation and a little bit of configuration.

For the rest, what is a BizTalk adapter and what does it do?

BizTalk adapters can be divided in to two groups – technology adapters and application adapters. In the case of technology adapters the adapter handles moving messages through the particular technology. For example – the BizTalk file adapter knows how to take a message out of the BizTalk message box and write as a file in a file system. The system administrator configures the adapter by specifying a path, filename and whether the adapter should create a new file each time or append to an existing file. Other adapters do similar things: the WCF adapter will take a message and send it to a WCF end point.

Application adapters are not much different from the technology adapters. They take messages and send them to applications. Applications can be trickier to communicate with though. In the case of CRM you have to talk to it’s web-services and it might require several round trips to finish processing the message. The SAP and Dynamics GP adapters are the same; they have well defined integration points that you must use in order to make your solution work. Applications typically have well defined integration points (web-services, APIs, integration files, etc) that you must conform to. The adapter hides those details so you can focus on other things.

In some cases even if the adapter is present the particular solution being built might be better off not using the adapter. Even in the case where the adapter is used it won’t turn the task in to a NOP (assembly language for NO OPERATION – 0 time to complete – go have a cup of tea). Custom solutions always require work. Adapters make that work possible, and the really good ones make the work a bit easier. But they do not do the work for you.

Where this becomes important is when you have to applications that are being integrated that were never meant to talk to each other. A customer might get the notion like “Look application XYZ has a BizTalk adapter! Cool! ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS PLUG IT IN RIGHT?”. Now prepare yourself for an hour or so of explanation about how it doesn’t work that way.

So as an integration architect working with business people who don’t have the time to know everything you do – be prepared to provide a clear and succinct explanation about this little detail.

So BizTalk 2009 has shipped and it is a great product. However, several really important (to me) adapters are missing! I need adapters for Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics GP! I’ve been told CRM will be available in June or July. No idea about GP sense I just started researching it.

I just upgraded BlogEngine.net to 1.5 to fix the “set publish date” feature.  This is a test post to make sure it is working.

Two weeks ago I ordered a GPS based lap timer from MAQDATA.  I went with their stand alone unit called the MQGPS-TRAQR (called 'tracker’) because I’m going to use it on a bike and can’t really carry a bunch of extra gear with me.

The unit is really small as the picture indicates:

Right now I’m running the software on my workstation.  Later I plan to see if I can get the Q setup too.  According to the web-site the Tracker uses bluetooth to download data.  If I can get it running I’d be able to review what I did using my cellphone.  Pretty cool.

Unfortunately my trackday got cancelled so I’ve not got any real data to play with yet.  To fix that and at least have something I ran over to the school parking lot and made like a NASCAR driver and went in circles a few times.  Here is what the data looks like:

the box looking squiggle around the middle of the chart is my line around the parking lot.  Not exactly like a race track and I did not take the time to throw out cones to make an autocross course.  However, now I know: IT WORKS!

I want to talk to the guys that made this.  Their application is primarily for cars, but it works with bikes.  I’d like to see if they’d let me see the data they are pulling from the unit to see if there is a way we can derive bike relevant information from it.  In particular, I’d like to know lean angle.  I don’t know if it is possible, but it would fun to try.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll get on the track soon so I’ll be able to get better data to play with.

Finally took the time to upgrade BlogEngine.net to 1.5. 

The upgrade was pretty straight forward.  The only issue is that I lost my user account during the move. But that was easy to fix.

The upgrade fixed the issue with setting the publish date.  I doubt I’ll bother doing anything else for a long time.  The only reason I did this is that I think having the ability to the publication date helps me.  I tend to work in bursts, so if I can cause my posts to be spaced out it looks like I’m more consistent.

Anyway, I’m going to get back to writing articles on a regular basis.  Go tell your friends to subscribe!  Please. ;)