Everything You Need to Know About Using the BizTalk Mapper Tool

Key Takeaways:

• Comprehensive overview of the BizTalk Mapper Tool, which is an integral component of Microsoft BizTalk Server.
• How the tool supports drag-and-drop mapping, functoids (predefined functions for data manipulation), and the use of scripting functoids for more complex transformations.
• Understanding the base functionalities like configuring source and destination schemas, creating and configuring maps, and connecting nodes to define data transformations. 
• Highlighting the importance of maintaining documentation, using naming conventions, and organizing functoids for better map readability.
• Provide a set of best practices and tips for using the BizTalk Mapper Tool effectively.

About BizTalk Mapper Tool?

BizTalk Mapper is a tool used in Microsoft BizTalk Server to create and edit maps. These maps are used to transform data between different formats. Like from an XML document to a flat file or from one XML schema to another. It also includes a scripting language for more advanced mapping logic.

The mapper is a visual tool that allows users to drag and drop elements from one schema onto another, and then define the rules for how the data should be transformed. This eliminates the need for manual coding of the data transformation. BizTalk Mapper also provides a variety of built-in functoids, which are pre-built functions for common data transformations.

Key Features

BizTalk Mapper allows users to create maps between different data formats. Here are some key features of BizTalk Mapper:

Visual Mapping Interface: It provides a visual interface that allows users to drag and drop source and destination schemas to create a mapping between them.

Support for Multiple Data Formats: Mapping between multiple data formats, such as XML, flat files, databases, and more, is supported.

Rich Functionality: Provides rich functionality for mapping data, including the ability to perform complex transformations, apply conditions, and use functoids.

Extensibility: Custom functoids and scripts can be used to extend it for performing custom transformations and actions.

Debugging: Mapper provides debugging support to identify and troubleshoot any mapping errors or issues.

Reusable maps: Maps created in BizTalk Mapper can be reused across different projects and integration scenarios.

Data validation: It can validate the data being transformed to ensure that it meets certain criteria.

Integration with BizTalk Server:

It is tightly integrated with BizTalk Server, which allows for easy deployment and management of maps within a BizTalk Server environment.

Benefits

BizTalk Mapper provides several benefits that can help organizations streamline their integration processes. Let’s take a look at a real-time example to understand these benefits:

Consider a scenario where an e-commerce company needs to integrate its sales orders from its online store with its back-end accounting system. The sales orders come in XML format and need to be transformed into the format required by the accounting system.

Here are some benefits of using BizTalk Mapper for this integration:

Faster Development: Mappings between the XML sales order format and the accounting system format can be quickly created by developers using the visual mapping interface of BizTalk Mapper, without the need for manual coding.

Easy Customization: Mappings can be easily updated in BizTalk Mapper without modifying the underlying code if the accounting system format changes.

Reusability: Once the mappings are created in BizTalk Mapper, they can be reused for future integrations, saving time and effort in the long run.

Error Handling: BizTalk Mapper provides debugging support and error-handling capabilities that enable developers to quickly identify and resolve any mapping issues.

Scalability: As the volume of sales orders increases, BizTalk Mapper can handle large amounts of data and perform complex transformations efficiently.

Best Practices for Implementing BizTalk Mapper

Here are some best practices for implementing BizTalk Mapper:

1. For implementing BizTalk Mapper, the data structures, data formats, and data mapping requirements should be planned and designed beforehand to ensure accuracy and efficiency.
2. Meaningful and consistent naming conventions should be used for source and destination schemas, maps, and functoids. This will make them easier to understand and maintain.
3. Proper data types should be used for the source and destination schemas to ensure correct data transformation and validation.
4. Custom XSLT code should be used sparingly in maps, as it can make them complex and difficult to maintain.
5. Maps should be thoroughly tested and validated to ensure that the data is transformed correctly and meets the expected results.
6. Standard mapping patterns such as looping, conditional statements, and copying data should be used instead of custom code. This will simplify the maps and make them more maintainable.
7. The maps, including the source and destination schemas, mapping requirements, and any custom code or functoids used, should be documented. This will help others understand and maintain them.

By following the above best practices, efficient, maintainable, and scalable maps can be created using BizTalk Mapper.

About BizTalk360

BizTalk360 is a complete platform for managing and monitoring Microsoft BizTalk Server environments. It provides a unified user interface that allows users to monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize their BizTalk Server environments.

In BizTalk360, you can use the Message Box viewer feature to correlate with the BizTalk Mapper tool. The Message Box viewer allows you to view the messages that are processed by BizTalk Server and track their progress. To trace the path of a message as it moves through different stages of processing, including when it is transformed using a map created in the BizTalk mapper tool.

This can help you identify any issues or errors that may be occurring during the message processing and mapping stages. Administrators can take appropriate action to resolve them in a timely manner. And also, If there are errors in your mapping, you can use BizTalk360 to view the detailed error messages and other relevant information to help troubleshoot the issue.

BizTalk360 version 10.5 is the latest release. This version includes several new features and improvements, designed to make it even easier for users to manage and monitor their Microsoft BizTalk Server environments.

Some of the key features of BizTalk360 include:

• Monitoring and alerting: The software provides real-time monitoring of BizTalk Server components and generates alerts when issues are detected.
• Administration and management: BizTalk360 allows administrators to manage and configure various aspects of the BizTalk Server environment, including applications, hosts, and artifacts.
• Analytics and reporting: The software provides a range of analytics and reporting features, including historical tracking of key metrics and customizable dashboards.
• Security and compliance: BizTalk360 includes a range of security and compliance features, including role-based access control, and auditing.

Try for free!