Set up the integration layer

The topics in this section demonstrate how to set up the core of the application, which is the integration layer. For this tutorial, let us assume that Contoso, Ltd. uses BizTalk Services and other Azure technologies to set up the integration layer and automate business transactions with its partners, such as Fourth Coffee. In this section, we perform the following steps to set up all the components of the integration layer:

• Create an Azure storage account. Add three containers to that storage account, one each for:

  • Storing the purchase order message, which must be sent to Fourth Coffee before it is processed by the EDI send pipeline.

  • Storing the purchase order, which must be sent to Fourth Coffee after it is processed by the EDI send pipeline.

  • Storing the invoice received from Fourth Coffee.

• Create a Visual Studio solution with two BizTalk Services projects. One BizTalk Services project receives the messages from the customer, transforms it to a purchase order (X12 850) EDI message processes it, and then routes it to an Azure blob. This application also inserts the purchase order data into a SQL Server database table.

  The other BizTalk Services project receives the X12 810 invoice message from Fourth Coffee, transforms it to a format expected by the Connected Car application, and then routes it to another Azure Blob. This application inserts the invoice data into a SQL Server database table and also sends out an e-mail to the customer with the order status.

  Note

  If you want to use the sample BizTalk Services project instead, you can download it from the MSDN code gallery at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=390148.

• Using the BizTalk Services Portal, create and deploy an EDI agreement between Contoso, Ltd. and Fourth Coffee. The send-side of the agreement receives X12 850 purchase order message and routes it to an Azure blob. Fourth Coffee consumes the message from the blob.

  The receive-side of the agreement receives the X12 810 invoice (corresponding to the purchase order) from Fourth Coffee and routes it to the EAI bridge for processing invoice messages.

• Create an Azure worker role that regularly polls the Azure blobs. This is required so that the original purchase order message that was routed to blob can be sent to the EDI send pipeline that is deployed as part of a trading partner agreement between Contoso, Ltd. and Fourth Coffee.

  Note

  If you want to use the sample project instead, you can download it from https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=390152.

This section provides instructions on how to create these components that constitute the integration layer for the end-to-end scenario.

Prerequisites

• Install the certificate that was used to provision BizTalk Services using the Azure classic portal.

• Provision a Service Bus namespace. For instructions, see How To: Create or Modify a Service Bus Service Namespace.

• Install Microsoft Azure BizTalk Services SDK. For instructions, see Installing Azure BizTalk Services SDK.

• Install the Microsoft Azure .NET SDK. You can download the SDK from https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=378265.

• Set up a SendGrid account for sending e-mails from applications deployed on Microsoft Azure. In the BizTalk Services application, we use SendGrid to send e-mail out to the customers. For instructions on how to setup and use SendGrid, see https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=389151.

• Setup a SQL Server database and create the SQL Server artifacts required for this tutorial. You can download the SQL scripts that create these artifacts from the \Scripts location under the sample. The sample is available at MSDN Code Gallery.

In This Section

• Create Azure blob containers

• Create a BizTalk Services solution

• Create a trading partner agreement

• Create an Azure worker role to poll the Azure blob

See Also

Using BizTalk Services from a Windows 8 Application