Foundations of BizTalk Server 2006 (Expert's Voice) [Paperback]

Daniel Woolston (Author)

Book Description

Series: Expert's Voice | Publication Date: January 31, 2007

Upon the release of BizTalk Server 2006 Microsoft launched an impressive marketing campaign, beginning with the massive launch events of 2005/2006 urging more corporations to take a look another BizTalk. It seems that Microsoft’s efforts are beginning to pay off. The adoption rate for the product builds steadily almost daily. Companies are beginning to see the significant value in the product. However, there’s a serious hiccup in the adoption process: finding knowledgeable developers who can implement the product! Many consulting companies must turn away BizTalk development work, simply because there are no resources available.

One contributing factor to the limited amount of able BizTalk developers is that many have misconceptions about the product itself. Either they don’t know what the product can do or they’ve had limited access to individual portions of the package and can’t see the power of the application as a whole. Another limiting factor is the trivial amount of printed books on the subject. Our book rectifies the situation on two fronts: providing accurate documentation, demystifying the product, and launching a new wave of business integration by fitting in with our other BizTalk books forthcoming.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Daniel Woolston is a software developer from the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area. He’s currently working with Nusoft Solutions, a Microsoft Gold Partner, on an Ajax.Net implementation for an upcoming site release. Daniel’s software journey began in the late 1980s with the infamous Sinclair ZX80. He aspires to develop the next generation of .NET web applications utilizing the latest technologies.

His work efforts have ranged from Fortune 500 enterprise application development to pattern-driven project implementations on various corporate levels. He has years of experience designing and distributing JavaScript/.NET components as well as numerous VB/VB .NET/C# development projects. When he’s not cutting through code, he can usually be found in his make-shift "mad scientist" basement lab, building robots. One of these robots was recently featured in a national robotics magazine. Check out Daniel’s site at www.danwoolston.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (January 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590597753
• ISBN-13: 978-1590597750
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #823,046 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been involved with programming, professionally or otherwise since 1984 or so. I first began coding with a Sinclair ZX80 and moved on from there.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent start to BizTalk, July 7, 2007

By 

Ravi (Centreville, VA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Foundations of BizTalk Server 2006 (Expert's Voice) (Paperback)

When I was between projects I attented a BizTalk 2006 deep dive (a week long) training session. The training session was for intermediate to advanced users. I had no experience with BizTalk. Before the class I got this book on the weekend and did all the exercises in the book. 2 days were enough to go through this book and it gave me a solid understanding of BizTalk. The training session made so much sense to me because I read this book. Had I not read this book I would have not understood any of the training that assumed that everybody in the class know orchestrations well.
I highly recommend this as the first BizTalk book. This book will make you ready for the advanced level books.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Elementary but useful, February 2, 2007

By 

Samael (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Foundations of BizTalk Server 2006 (Expert's Voice) (Paperback)

If you don't know anything about BizTalk, this is a good starting point. The author's examples are clear, very easy to follow and, most importantly, they all work. But then again they're really simple and never go into anything complex. The book is also well organized: each new concept is introduced only at the point where it makes sense, and that's a very rare quality in programming books. If you are thrown into a BizTalk project without knowing anything about it this book will be a lifesaver, it will get you up to speed very quickly and I highly recommend it.

Be aware that the book is VERY elementary. If you've been "playing" with Biztalk for more than a month, you may already know more than half of the content. That of course depends on how fast you can learn a new tool. In my case, I started learning BizTalk by going over the Microsoft tutorials and reading a few blogs. Unfortunately, the tutorials only explain the how, not the why of things, and the blogs already assume you know the basics. A couple of weeks into this process this book was released and I ordered it with next day delivery, I was that desperate. I was able to go over the first half (about 120 pages) very quickly, as I already knew most of it (but I still worked the examples to make sure I had the concepts right). I found the material on the second half a lot more interesting, specially the chapters on Advanced Orchestrations and Business Rules, where the author did a great job explaining correlations, handling of failed messages and the mysterious Business Rule Engine. This is all good, but....

On the negative side (and the reason for the 3 star review), there is a very misleading statement on the back cover, where the author writes: "If you are like most developers, you enjoy learning by getting knee-deep in code and making things happen. And this book is geared for that style of instruction...". Imagine my disappointment when I opened the book and found that the number of "code pages" was exactly....zero. Yes, you read that right. No code at all, all the examples consists of creating an xml file or two (that's NOT code) and clicking through Visual Studio and some Biztalk utilities to set up and test toy applications. It's not like including some code would have made the book a lot more complicated, it's just too bad the author decided to stay clear of the one topic where the BizTalk documentation is severely lacking.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice book, April 12, 2007

By 

L. Koewing (Pompano Beach, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Foundations of BizTalk Server 2006 (Expert's Voice) (Paperback)

There isn't a lot of BizTalk 2006 litarature out there for beginners, this is the one to start with. I attended the MS BizTalk 2006 seminar as well, and still had no clue how it works. We were rushed through the labs with only a little time. Granted, you need to know XML (at least a little), SQL doesn't hurt, Web Services, SOAP, VB or C#...
This book opened my eyes and made me understand BizTalk a lot better. Don't look at the other BizTalk books without reading this one first if you are new to BizTalk 2006.