WebForm validation in Biztalk

Question

I point out that I'm completely a newbie about Biztalk.

I have a C# application (.NET 1.1) with a simple webform. When the user submits this form, I should perform the following:

• the webform invokes Biztalk2002 with the value/s of one or more texfield/s
• Biztalk checks if the value of the field passed is correct
• Biztalk returns a message to the web application depending on the correctness of the value.

I know that Biztalk isn't build to make the validation of a form, but this is what I've been asked to do :)

Since I've only heard mentioning Biztalk but I've never opened it, could someone explain me what is necessary to build in Biztalk and which is the best way to send/receive a value from/to a .NET application?

Answer 1

I started using BizTalk with the 2004 version, so some of what I say may be slightly off, but I'll try and get you started.

At the very least, you will need to setup in BizTalk a Two Way Receive Port (with Receive Location) for receiving the message from your web form and sending back the response. You can either use the HTTP Adapter or the SOAP adapter to expose as a web service. You will also need to figure out how you would like to perform the validation in BizTalk (i.e. how to process the message - put the validation logic in an orchestration, in a map, etc). It will be hard for me to tell you which is best, since using BizTalk for form validation in the first place is a bit of overkill... :)

Answer 2

I've viewed your question and have been thinking about it for a few days. As BizTalkmama said, BizTalk is overkill as a form validator. It would be more appropriate to think of it as a message validator. I don't know why you have this requirement to validate a form with BizTalk. Based on the limited information you've provided I would say it's ridiculous. But if I approach the problem from a SOA stand point, picture your web application invoking as service. The web app calls the service to invoke a business process, a data update, etc. BizTalk is taking this service call and passing it on to something... I'd be curious what. Now, the beauty of this is that what BizTalk does is not only designed for your web app. The service BizTalk provides can be used by other applications, it can be called from Line of Business Apps, etc. The only real problem I see is that whatever data contracts you work out for the message exchange, you may not be able to map them back to fields in the form. You may only get a true false back with a description. Tying that to the individual fields might be more difficult. The guidance on setting this up from BizTalkMama is pretty much right on. You do also need to generate schemas for your request and response from the BizTalk Request-Response receive port.