I recently (10 October 2008) posted a solution to this problem at the

 

It has saved my day again.

BizTalk WSS Adapter is returning empty strings when using the XPath values as referenced in the documentation at Windows SharePoint Services Adapter Expressions

The document recommends use of syntax as in "PurchaseOrder2 %XPATH=//pons:PurchaseOrder/pons:PurchaseOrderID%.xml". I think the document should clarify that the XPath syntax is valid where element names are "qualified" :)

For example, if you follow the walkthrough modules for the WSS adapter the following expression will work:

"PurchaseOrder2 %XPATH=//pons:PurchaseOrder/PurchaseOrderID%.xml"

Hope this helps

There are two Oracle adapters:

1. LOB Oracle DB adapter released as part of R1 - This adapter only works with Tables and has very limited stored procedures execution capability, i.e. stored procedures returning or accepting row sets do not generate valid schemas.
2. The BizTalk Adapter Pack based on WCF LOB Adapter SDK using WCF is supposed to overcome those limitations.

Note: Both adapters use ODBC data source to connect to Oracle database.

Installing Oracle WCF Adapter from the BizTalk Adapter Pack

Please check the BizTalk Adapter Pack to ensure that you have a compatible version of database and Oracle client installed.

Configuration details for the Oracle WCF Adapter

Sujan's article on Configuring WCF-Custom Adapter for Oracle databases describes the installation process with links to all required components.

Troubleshooting the Oracle WCF Adapter connectivity

After the installation, the key points to get the WCF Oracle adapter working are:

1. I have used the http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc185273.aspx as guidance to resolve:

"Connecting to the system LOB failed. Could not load file or assembly 'Oracle.DataAccess' Version=2.102.2.20, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=<token>' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified."

 By default, Oracle Policy files ensure the use of latest versions of the Oracle.DataAccess.dll.

I had Policy files 1.102 (v1.102.4.0), 10.1(v1.102.2.20) and 10.2 (v1.102.2.20) installed in GAC. Removing the Oracle Policy registrations from GAC resolved error.

2. Manually register the Oracle.DataAccess.dll. As it is already registered - unregister it first and register it using the gacutil. This step ensures you can connect successfully to Oracle database.
3. If you get the following error: "Connecting to the LOB system has failed. ORA-12154: TNS:could not resolve the connect identifier specified." Make sure that the ODBC data source name is same as the alias Oracle expects, otherwise it will result in this error and will not connect to Oracle via WCF LOB Oracle adapter.
4. The username and password are both case sensitive for Oracle DB. Although from ODBC you can use lowercase username to connect to Oracle via ODBC test and Toad, in WCF LOB Oracle adapter, the same was required in uppercase - I have no explanation for this
5. If you get error about adapter being incompatible with the Oracle client, remove the Oracle client and install the versions as recommended in BizTalk Adapter Pack.

Using the Oracle Package

The following shows a sample Oracle package that was used to generate the schemas and bindings using the Consume Adapter Service option.

    TYPE TechDocsDocAdd IS RECORD (

        DOC_NBR char,

        DOC_REV char,

        TITLE_LINE char     

    );  

   

    TYPE TechDocsDocAddCursor IS REF CURSOR RETURN TechDocsDocAdd; 

   

   PROCEDURE NType_TechDocs_DocAdd(

      i_targetdate   IN       DATE,

      o_resultset    OUT      TechDocsDocAddCursor

    );

 

Note, that where table and package operations are selected at once, the table operation is rarely included in the action mapping in the generated port binding definitions. This leads to “message routing failure” suggesting that the schema for the root element cannot be found.  If this happens, check that you have all the operations listed in the port action mapping in the binding file.

To overcome the above issue, I have used two separate ports one for table related operations and another for Packages. This basically means that I have to generate two sets of metadata via the Consume Adapter service wizard. This is not my preferred option, but it works 100%.

 

 

So in my next attempt I started from W2K3 with SQL server base VPC. At this point the BI components were installed as part of SQL Server 2005 installation and therefore VS2005 was already installed. I proceeded in the following order:

Every thing worked from the word go :)

 

Note: One of my colleague, Chris Hewitt, suggested "the VPC should be a domain controller – if you want to be able to use WebSSO, Profile Imports etc." Keep this in mind if you plan to use these features.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Installing BiztAlk 2006 R2 developer edition on a standalone XP SP2 PC

 

Generally, installation of BTS Dev Edition has been a breezy experience for me. 
This was the first time that I had to debug the installation because this was also the first time I installed it on a standalone PC. The following issues were encountered and resolved:

Creation of Adapter FILE Configuration Store entries failed
Failed to check if BizTalk Application Users is a valid domain group
Failed to retrieve master secrets. Verify that the master secret server name is correct and that it is available.

The following articles helped to target the issues encountered.

The resolution to the error "Creation of Adapter FILE Configuration Store entries failed" was described here. Although article relates to BTS 2004, the steps described there fixed the problem for BTS 2006 R2.
I prefered the Group Policy (run gpedit.msc) option, rather than editing registry. I fixed the above issue by expanding the nodes:
Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Remote Procedure Call to:
set the "Restrictions for Unauthenticated RPC clients" policy to "Disabled"
Set the "RPC Endpoint Mapper Client Authentication" policy to "Enabled"

Please note the above changes have security implications. While it was OK for me to apply the settings (Standalone XP SP2 PC) it may not suit your environment.

The resolution to the error "Failed to check if BizTalk Application Users is a valid domain group" is properly described in the Stephen W. Thomas BizTalk blog.

The key points are:
1. Ensure that event log can be recycled.
2. Although strongly NOT recommended, you may have to prefix the UserName with ComputerName.

The final breakthrough was achieved, by executing the folowing actions:

1. Restarting the Enterprise SSO service
2. In SSO Administration console, expand all nodes:
 a) From context menu of the "Sever" node select "discover"
 b) From context menu of the "<ComputerName>" in the list of discovered Server - Select Start

Run the BTC Configuration tool, for "BizTalk Runtime" component

Need to ensure BAM portal is enabled and SQL Server Agent is running - when planning to use message tracking.

 

More to come on verifying BAM and HWS installation.

The following error occurs when starting workflow runtime engine with the SqlWorkflowPersistenceService:

The config file contains the following definition for the service:

To resolve the connection issue, in the above segment of the config file change the value of IntegratedSecurity to "true". I know, they are same by definition, but "true" worked for me & SSPI failed to connect.

 

If you still have the problem, add attribute UnloadOnIdle="true" after the connectionString definition. I found that having the UnloadOnIdle attribute resolved the connectivity to database.