Professional Biztalk (Programmer to Programmer) [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Scott Woodgate (Author), Stephen T Mohr (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 facilitates the exchange of information between business partners in more or less nonproprietary formats based on XML (extensible markup language). Professional BizTalk documents the software and its related technologies for systems administrators and consultants. That's a fairly bleeding-edge thing to be doing, and in some ways this book reflects the authors' necessarily limited experience with real-life BizTalk implementation work. Still, they know the product well (one of them helped develop it), and the material in the book will be useful to anyone who needs to figure out how to make BizTalk work.

The approach in BizTalk is typically Wroxian in the sense that the presentation consists mainly of text, punctuated by lots of code listings and conceptual diagrams. A fictional case study threads throughout; Bob's Bolts serves as a recurring illustrative tool, providing a framework for specific instructions on what to do (in terms of interface manipulation and coding) to meet various requirements. The book emphasizes that BizTalk is a tool for facilitating commerce, and business considerations are thoroughly discussed as engineering decisions are explained. It's the sort of reasoning that real-world BizTalk consultants will have to keep in mind. --David Wall

Topics covered:

• Microsoft BizTalk Server 2000 and its related technologies
• XML
• Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
• Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ)
• The XLANG scheduling language
• Messaging
• Field mapping
• Functoid creation
• Application integration
• The routing and tracking of messages

Product Description
The BizTalk(tm) Framework is an XML framework for application integration and electronic commerce. Microsoft's BizTalk Server 2000 runs on Windows 2000 Server and is capable of integrating with delimited and positional flat file formats, EDI documents, and XML. It allows you to perform the three tasks critical in enterprise application integration: design the flow of information through a system, use BizTalk and its interfaces as the glue to perform the actual integration, then track the flow of information through the resulting system. It does this by providing the integration code in a central server, removing the need for writing integration code into programs, and does much of this by configuration of the server, reducing the amount of time you need to spend programming the integration code.

This book teaches you how to use BizTalk Server as an Enterprise Application Integration tool, to integrate applications into co-operating systems. It is especially suited to rapid deployment B2B and B2C e-commerce applications, where you need to integrate with legacy applications.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 800 pages
• Publisher: Wrox Press; 1st edition (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861003293
• ISBN-13: 978-1861003294
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,314,609 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As good as there is, February 6, 2002

By A Customer

I read this book as soon as it was published. Didn't cross my mind to review it until I read the other reviews.

Let's face it -- there isn't a lot of material available on this topic. At least one of the co-authors is from MS. In order to get anything out of this book after chapter 5, though, you must take the time to work through their examples (which can be tedious and wordy) and do the exercises (which have mistakes and skip steps). You also must accept that BizTalk is a big product that you have to work with a long time to get the big picture -- and then once you get the big picture, you have to work out the little details. That's what this book does.

If you are looking for a simple how-to guide, or a quick read, run away. If you are looking for a book that will guide you through a path of BizTalk self-discovery AND you are willing to put out a rather hefty effort, this book will reward you in the end.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must - Have for Biztalk developer, March 24, 2001

By	Stanley (LA) - See all my reviews

This book is very informative, and complete on most core and advanced features offered by Biztalk. The sample codes work, and provide a very good guide to start on your own.

The contents may not be very well organized, that's the only weakness I can think of. but, you really want this book for its information.

By the way, currently that's the only Biztalk book that cover Orchestration.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing; most Wrox books get 5 stars, February 7, 2001

By A Customer

This book is much better than the Microsoft documentation, but that isn't saying much. The book seems to have the information I need, but the authors don't seem to understand I do not wish to read hundreds of pages in order to obtain that information. The book is written like a novel: in order to understand any one chapter, you must read all preceeding chapters. Much of the book is overly verbose. I would have preferred the book be written more in a reference and task oriented style. Still, given the options (or lack thereof), you better get this book.