BizTalk Deployment Framework for BizTalk 2010 Walkthrough
Since it’s really hard to find a simple instruction on how to use the BizTalk Deployment Framework (BTDF) i come up with compiled simplified instruction to get you started.
BTDF Files
When you add the BizTalk Deployment Framework in your project these are the important files that you need to take note of:
– Deployment.btdfproj – this is the main file that contains the configuration on how your installer will behave.
– SettingsFileGenerator.xml – this is an excel template that you can open using Excel in which you will map the settings (binding information) per environment. These files: Exported_DevSettings.xml, Exported_LocalSettings.xml, Exported_ProdSettings.xml, Exported_TestSettings.xml will be automatically generated by BTDF during installation.
Update Deployment.btdfproj
Double click Deployment.btdfproj to open.
The first part is pretty much self-explanatory:
Debug x86 1.0 MyTest 1.0 True False True True True False False True True True
Take note of the the last 3 settings, I set SkipIISReset since I’m not deploying anything on IIS and UsingMasterBindings(set to false initially, will be set to true later on) since I want to use a single binding file for all environments. How is it possible? Basically I would first manually configure the bt application (receive location/send ports) then I will export the binding (MasterBinding) and I will add place holders inside it so that the XmlPreProcessor (Part of BTDF) will substitute during installation. Pretty cool huh?
Lets go to the last part:
..\..\$(ProjectName)\Shared Assemblies ..\..\$(ProjectName)\Shared Assemblies ..\..\$(ProjectName)\Source\MyTest.Schemas\bin\$(Configuration) ..\..\$(ProjectName)\Source\MyTest.Transforms\bin\$(Configuration) ..\..\$(ProjectName)\Source\MyTest.Orchestrations\bin\$(Configuration)
This means that I would like to
– Restart the BizTalk Host: SSO_Host and Sending_Host after the installation
– I have a common .NET component named CommonComponent.dll and common schema named CommonSchema.dll both on Shared Assemblies folder.
– I have Schema, Orchestration and a Map. I changed the name because normally for big solution you don’t want to put all schemas in the schemas project and so on. Sometimes it’s better to split it functionally, this example configuration show you how you can do that.
Next Steps
1. Deploy the solution manually or create a dummy PortBindings.xml (must be valid) to deploy using BTDF then click Tools -> Deployment Framework for BizTalk -> Deploy BizTalk Solution
2. Manually configure the receive ports, send ports, orchestration bindings.
3. Export the bindings and named it as PortBindingsKnownGood.xml
4. Run ElementTunnel.exe /i:PortBindingsKnownGood.xml /x:adapterXPaths.txt /o:PortBindingsMaster.xml /decodeBoth (ElementTunnel and adapterXPaths.txt) can be found under
The generated PortBindingsMaster.xml now has selected nested XML fragments decoded into plain, unencoded XML, controlled by the XPath statements in AdapterXPaths.txt. (see BTDF FAQ)
5. Add the the generated binding file: PortBindingsMaster.xml to the solution.
Configure PortBindingsMaster.xml
1. Double click PortBindingsMaster.xml to open.
2. Now go to the Address section of ReceivePort or SendPort and add a placeholder on the place you want to substitute during installation. Here I want the ${BackupOrderPath} substituted during installation.
${BackupOrderPath}
C:\Orders\Backup\%MessageID%.xml
Configure SettingsFileGenerator.xml
Right click SettingsFileGenerator.xml -> open with MS Excel.
This is how it should look like:
Deployment
1. Open Deployment.btdfproj and update both UsingMasterBindings and ApplyXmlEscape to True
2. Click Tools-> Deployment Framework for BizTalk -> Build Server Deploy MSI. This will generate an MSI file under the Project Folder\Deployment\bin folder.
3. Double click the MSI to install.
4. In the Step asking for XML File click Elipsis and select the correct settings file under EnvironmentSettings folder. Then click next.
5. BizTalk Application installed.!!