Tip - Missing Add Service Reference in Visual Studio 2008(and above)??

If we choose any Framework earlier than .NET Framework 3.0 while creating project or migrate an existing project from older version of Visual Studio, we might not find Add Service Reference in the context menu when you right click on the project. Here is a way to update to the framework version of the project and get Add Service Reference option in the context menu (Project should be saved before doing this) ,

Right click on the project and navigate to the following path,

Compile->AdvancedCompileOptions(button)->TargetFramework(dropdown)

Change the Framework version to .NET Framework 3.0 (or above)

Now we should be able to see Add Service Reference option!!!!!!

HTH..

Exception Caught: Cannot load source/destination schema: .

Issue: Ever got the following exception while trying to build BizTalk map project?
Exception Caught: Cannot load source/destination schema:. .. Either the file/type does not exist, or if a project dependency exists, the dependent project is not built.

Cause: You might probably have an empty namespace for schema file(not schema node) shown in the error above. Usually when we create a schema,respective project name is assigned as namespace by default. But when we add any existing schema which does not have namespace(most likely received from third parties), this issue might occur.

Fix: Easy..Just provide a valid value to namespace property of schema file , build schemas project(if you have seperate project for Schemas which is a good practice indeed) and build map project now.

HTH

Tip - Solution name is invisible in solution explorer!!!!

Ever wondered why you are not able to see the solution name in order to add more projects after adding first project to the solution ?? Show All files also doesnt get the Solution back..Here is a tip to get it back...


Go to Tools->Options ->Projects and Solutions ->General and select Always show solution checkbox ..thats it!! any guess, why would this not be a default setting for VisualStudio??


Anyways, go ahead and explore all the Visual Studio menu items once to get to know more of such environment settings.

HTH

Installed BizTalk Server 2006 or BizTalk Server 2006 R2?

It is very easy to differentiate between most of the Biztalk Server versions by just looking at the Start Menu Program list or Administration Console etc. But things are not very straightforward when it comes to differentiate between Biztalk Server 2006 and 2006 R2. As BizTalk Server name on Start menu and Help->About <> on Administration Console do not clearly show whether current Biztalk Server installation is 2006 or 2006 R2 descriptively(rather Product version is mentioned which is not very intuitive). So I just thought of listing some quick ways to easily find it here,

• While loading Visual Studio, Biztalk Server 2006 or Biztalk Server 2006 R2 is shown as one of the installed project templates in splash popup like window
• WCF Adapters stack are shown under Platform Settings->Adapters in Admin Console only for Biztalk Server 2006 R2
• Respective Product Version(3.5.1602.0 for BizTalk Server 2006 and 3.6.1404.0 for R2) is shown at following places,
• Help->About<> in any BizTalk Server's MMC
• Value of ProductVersion Key at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\BizTalk Server\3.0 in the registry
• Biztalkdbversion table in BizTalkMsgBoxDb

I am sure, there may be some more ways to find the same. Here is another informative blog about easily finding Biztalk Server versions.

HTH

Some random BizTalk Server facts!!!

Here is an attempt to compile some vital information related to BizTalk server that might be useful to be aware of. I will keep updating this post as I find more interesting facts to share with. Also please feel free to let me know, if there are any corrections to the facts listed below or other useful facts.

• Default number of Retry's that an atomic shape in an orchestration has (not sure yet, if this can be reset to different value) : 20
• Number of levels that scopes can be nested within an orchestration: 44
• Default Isolation Level for Atomic Transaction Type: ReadCommitted
• Two of the ACID properties that may not be guaranteed by Long Running Transaction are: Atomicity and Isolation
• Only called orchestrations may have Compensation. Any compensation on top-level orchestration will be ignored by Runtime engine.
• out and reference parameters can not be passed with Start Orchestration shape (may be due to asynchronous nature of Start shape)

HTH