BizTalk 2010 Recipes : Messaging and Pipelines - Configuring Port Maps

1. Problem

Before receiving an XML message, you would like to transform a message into a predetermined XML format.

2. Solution

Within BizTalk, you can map source messages into a destination format. You can map with a receive port, an orchestration, or send port. Here, we will outline the steps for mapping in a receive port.

Figure 1. Selecting maps for port mapping

3. How It Works

This recipe's solution described how to configure a receive port to perform inbound mapping transformation. Remember that when you're using a receive port, the inbound message must be in an XML format. If inbound mapping is configured, the message must also conform to the schema of that specified in the inbound format of the map in question. If the message does not match, the message will fail in the map, and the message interchange will be marked for exception processing.

Another key concept to keep in mind when configuring receive port maps is that more than one map can be specified on a receive port. Multiple XML schemas can be accepted by the receive port; it is not tied to one specific schema. For example, if you have three purchase order document formats arriving from external entities, you could transform each format to a common (canonical) format via port maps on the receive port. This process is commonly referred to as document normalization. In this instance, you could have three maps to support each format and a single receive port to satisfy the solution. This scenario is demonstrated in Figure 2.

A key consideration when applying receive port maps is how you plan to handle exceptions, such as an XML message that does not conform to a map, invalid XML received, and data enrichment required during or before transformation. All of these exceptions could be handled within a port map or receive location, or with downstream BizTalk orchestration functionality.

Figure 2. Document normalization