1. Problem
You have a document that you would like to send to a downstream application, partner, or process.
2. Solution
You use a send port to send
documents from the BizTalk Server platform to other applications,
partners, or processes. Send ports are configured using the BizTalk
Administration Console and can be used in a pure messaging scenario (no
orchestration) or from an orchestration.
NOTE
The ability to
configure BizTalk artifacts via the BizTalk Explorer in Visual Studio is
no longer available in BizTalk Server 2010.
The steps for creating and configuring a send port are as follows:
From the BizTalk Administration Console, right-click Send Ports, and select New => Static One-way Send Port. The details behind the types of send ports are as follows:
Static one-way port: Static indicates that the properties are fixed and set at design time. One-way indicates that there will be no response back to BizTalk after the message is sent.
Static solicit-response port: Static indicates that the properties are fixed and set at design time. Solicit-response indicates that there will be a response back to BizTalk after the message is sent
Dynamic one-way port: Dynamic indicates that properties will be set at runtime to define the ultimate destination of the message. One-way indicates that there will be no response back to BizTalk after the message is sent.
Dynamic solicit-response port: Dynamic indicates that properties will be set at runtime to define the ultimate destination of the message. Solicit-response indicates that there will be a response back to BizTalk after the message is sent.
The
Send Port Properties dialog box will appear. Send port configurations
are divided into these categories: General, Transport, Maps, Filters,
Certificates, and Tracking properties. Set the properties as required
(see the "How It Works" section). Then, click OK to save the configurations and create the send port.
3. How It Works
Send ports are one of the
fundamental BizTalk artifacts and are used to send any types of messages
or data from the BizTalk platform to physical locations, systems, or
processes. Determining the type of send port to create is important when
constructing a solution. You may use send ports in pure messaging or
orchestration-based solutions.
You can configure
various properties for send ports. Transport properties are available
only for static port types (one-way or solicit-response). Both a primary
and a secondary transport can be defined. The secondary transport will
take effect if an error is encountered sending to the primary transport
and all retries as defined by the primary transport Retry Count setting were also attempted. Table 1 describes the Transport properties.
Table 1. Send Port Transport Properties
| Property | Description |
|---|
| Transport Type | The
type of adapter. If you chose a solicit-response port type, only those
adapters that support solicit-response, such as HTTP and SOAP, will be
available in the drop-down list. |
| Address (URI) | Click
the Configure button to launch a window for configuring the properties
specific to the adapter chosen as the transport type. |
| Retry Count | Represents the number of times BizTalk Server will retry sending the message if there is a problem during transmission. |
| Retry Interval | Represents the number of minutes between retry intervals. |
| Ordered Delivery | When set to True, BizTalk will guarantee the ordered delivery of messages. |
| Enable Routing for Failed Messages | With
this checked, failed messages will have certain context properties
promoted so that they can be routed to orchestrations or send ports. |
| Enable the Service Window | When set to False, BizTalk will send messages at any time of day. When set to True, BizTalk will send messages only within the Start Time and Stop Time settings. |
| Start Time | Indicates when BizTalk will start sending messages if Enable the Service Window is set to True. Time is represented as HH:MM AM/PM. |
| Stop Time | Indicates when BizTalk will stop sending messages if Enable the Service Window is set to True. Time is represented as HH:MM AM/PM. |
Send properties are the general properties that apply to all send ports. Table 2 describes the send properties.
Table 2. Send Port Send Properties
| Property | Description |
|---|
| Tracking | Sets
how messages will be tracked. There are a number of options around
tracking message bodies and message properties.These can be invaluable
in troubleshooting or accessing failed documents. |
| Certificate Name | A drop-down list of all certificates installed and available for use on the send port. |
| Thumbprint | The certificate's thumbprint, which will fill in automatically if a certificate name is selected. |
| Send Pipeline | A drop-down list of the send pipelines available. You can select a pipeline for processing messages sent over this send port. |
| Receive Pipeline | A
drop-down list of the receive pipelines available. For solicit-response
send ports, you can select a pipeline for processing the responses
received over this port. |
Filters are used
to create subscriptions when orchestrations are not part of the
scenario. From the Filters dialog box, you can create one or more filter
expressions, which are used to filter messages to the send port. There
is a set of BizTalk properties for use in filtering, and promoted
message properties can be used for filtering as well. If you bind a send
port directly to an orchestration port, the filters do not apply. Maps
are used to transform the document being sent. You may edit one or more
maps to the collection, but there may only be one map with a given
source schema. Only maps deployed in assemblies are available for
selection.
Send ports have few
requirements for basic operation. For example, you must specify the
transport mechanism, the transport location (such as the HTTP URL), and
the BizTalk pipeline that will process the message outbound from
BizTalk.
