BizTalk Adapters Make Interoperability a Reality

Adapters send and receive messages going to and from the BizTalk server to particular applications. They are the fundamental building blocks BizTalk Microsoft uses to communicate between different applications.

A BizTalk adapter has to know how to communicate in a way the other application will understand it – whether it is sending or receiving a message. When an adapter receives a message, it must know what it is for the BizTalk orchestration process to take place.

BizTalk developers choose the adapter type based on the application BizTalk server needs to communicate with. BizTalk Microsoft comes with several adapters, or they can come from third party sources or be custom made.

A new, more streamlined way to create adapters from BizTalk Microsoft

Unlike previous BizTalk server versions that used an adapter framework, the newest version builds adapters as WCF channels...adapters provided by BizTalk Microsoft are compatible with SOAP and SOAP with WS– technologies.

Or, BizTalk developers can easily create an adapter using an existing WCF channel or create an entirely new one for a specific purpose.

Created by the WCF LOB Adapter SDK, Microsoft also provides a BizTalk adapter pack for different line-of-business (LOB) applications like SAP, Siebel and Oracle databases that are WCF-based – this generic framework is used to create adapters for LOB applications. These adapters can also be used with any .NET Framework application, even without the BizTalk server.

Another BizTalk adapter, the MSMQ, allows the trading of messages using Microsoft Messaging Queuing. The same kind of adapter, the WebSphere MQ, provides the same for IBM’s WebSphere Message Queuing.

The file adapter is another BizTalk adapter that allows for interaction among file storage mechanisms, providing the ability to read and write files in the Windows file system. Exchanging messages through files is an easier option much of the time since many business process applications can simply access the same file system. Other adapters in this category are also available for databases like Sharepoint, IBM and Oracle.

Another important category of BizTalk adapters connects commonly used business applications like Peoplesoft, SAP R/3, Siebel e-business application, JD Edwards One World and others.

Bookmark and check Carnal Software often for further information on all the components of the Microsoft BizTalk Server that work together to streamline business processes and maximize efficiency in an organization.