Book Image

Microsoft BizTalk 2010: Line of Business Systems Integration

Book Image

Microsoft BizTalk 2010: Line of Business Systems Integration

Overview of this book

Microsoft BizTalk is an integration and connectivity server solution that allows businesses to connect disparate systems easily. In today’s business climate of mergers and acquisitions, more and more enterprises are forced to exchange data across disparate Line of Business systems using integration brokers like BizTalk Server 2010. What is often overlooked when integrating these systems is the pre-requisite knowledge that ERP and CRM systems demand in order to effectively integrate them. No longer is this knowledge locked up in the heads of expensive consultants. Gain an edge within your organization by developing valuable skills in the area of Line of Business integration from this book.This book will show you how to integrate BizTalk with Line of Business systems using practical scenarios. Each chapter will take a Line of Business system, introduce some pre-requisite knowledge and demonstrate how you can integrate BizTalk with that Line of Business system, and then provide guidance based upon real world experience, taking your BizTalk knowledge further.This book will enable you to master how to integrate BizTalk with Line of Business systems effectively. The book starts by highlighting the technical foundation of WCF-LOB adapters and the common steps and important properties pertaining to popular WCF-LOB adapters. You will then move on to an overview of how to integrate with Microsoft SQL Server using the WCF based SQL Server adapter. The book then dives into topics such as integrating BizTalk Server with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, building BizTalk/SAP integrated solutions using IDocs, the differences between IDocs and RFCs/BAPIs, and integrating BizTalk with Windows Azure AppFabric Service Bus amongst others.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Microsoft BizTalk 2010: Line of Business Systems Integration
Credits
Foreword
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Schema generation


If you have read some of the previous chapters, you have become very familiar with the Consume Adapter Service Wizard. With this in mind, we will briefly review this wizard in order to cover the RFC/BAPI material.

Outbound operations

When performing Client Outbound operations (from BizTalk), we have the ability to select the following contract types:

  • BAPI

  • IDOC

  • RFC

  • TRFC

If we expand the BAPI node, we will discover that our schemas are sorted based upon their functional role in the SAP system.

Inbound Operations

When performing Service Inbound Operations (to BizTalk), we have the ability to select the following contract types:

  • IDOC

  • RFC

  • TRFC

Calling RFCs/tRFCs hosted in BizTalk

If you recall, one of the key differences between RFCs and BAPIs is the Business Object Repository. BizTalk does not store these Business Objects anywhere so it is not possible for BizTalk to host a BAPI as the underlying function module will not be available.

What is interesting about BizTalk hosting an RFC is...