Hi,
I need to send binary data across two applications in my
org. But then a channel supports only xml, flat file or
edi data. Now how do I interchange binary data between
these two apps? I got some pointers like I need to write a
parser on the recv end and then a serializer on the
sending side. But is there a practical example to it? Or
is there a white paper explaining the functionality?
Thanks,
Sai

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On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 01:11:36 -0800, "Sai Gopal"
<anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

If you do not need to convert the binary files into another format,
but only send them along, then just use the same documentdefinition
for inbound and outbound, and don't specify a map. Then, check the
"Send with passthrough-flag" in the receive function.

>Hi,
>I need to send binary data across two applications in my
>org. But then a channel supports only xml, flat file or
>edi data. Now how do I interchange binary data between
>these two apps? I got some pointers like I need to write a
>parser on the recv end and then a serializer on the
>sending side. But is there a practical example to it? Or
>is there a white paper explaining the functionality?
>Thanks,
>Sai

--
Jan Eliasen, representing himself and not the company he works for

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In that case, I do not need to specify the document
specification also right??? Coz I cant create a doc spec
for a binary file like image.

Now my doubt is like what is a parser and a serializer
for?? I thought if biztalk is not able to understand a
particular format, I shud write my own parser and a
serializer. But if I need nod write these now?? What are
these for??

Are these applicable only when I need to validate the
document coming in and do a map?? But If I need not
validate the incoming and just send it across, I need not
require even a custom parser and serializer?? Please
confirm...

Thanks,
Sai

>-----Original Message-----
>On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 01:11:36 -0800, "Sai Gopal"
><anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
>If you do not need to convert the binary files into
another format,
>but only send them along, then just use the same
documentdefinition
>for inbound and outbound, and don't specify a map. Then,
check the
>"Send with passthrough-flag" in the receive function.
> 
a 
>
>--
>Jan Eliasen, representing himself and not the company he
works for
>.
>

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On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 02:25:15 -0800, "Sai Gopal"
<anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>In that case, I do not need to specify the document
>specification also right??? Coz I cant create a doc spec
>for a binary file like image.
You can not create a channel without specifying a inboound
documentdefinition. But there is no problem in creating a
documentdefinition that is not attached to a documentspecification. So
this is what you will be wanting; Create a documentdefinition and call
it "NO_SPEC" and use that as inbound- and outbound documentdefinition
in your channel.

>Now my doubt is like what is a parser and a serializer
>for?? I thought if biztalk is not able to understand a
>particular format, I shud write my own parser and a
>serializer. But if I need nod write these now?? What are
>these for??
The parsers are only needed if you have a documentdefinition that has
a documentspecification attached. If you have this, then you are
telling BizTalk that it must validate the document against the
specification, and this step requires parsing of the document. So
parsers are basically always used - it is very rare that you only
transport files, since BizTalk is overkill for this. But for
businesslogic purposes, sometimes it makes sense anyway.

The serializer is the opposite of the parser - it writes the document
and sends it to the messaging port. This is also almost always needed,
but by specifying "send with passthrough-flag" on the receive
function, you are telling BizTalk no not worry. No processing is
needed.

>Are these applicable only when I need to validate the
>document coming in and do a map?? But If I need not
>validate the incoming and just send it across, I need not
>require even a custom parser and serializer?? Please
>confirm...
Yes, you are just about right. I just wanted to explain the parsing
bit in my text above, to make you understand that the parser is also
used for validating the document even if you do not use a map. If you
use a documentdefinition attached to a specification, then the
document is parsed.
>Thanks,
>Sai
Anytime :-)
--
Jan Eliasen, representing himself and not the company he works for.
MCP in Microsoft BizTalk

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Hello Sai,

This depends on what you want to do with Biztalk.  Biztalk is used in many
cases to receive a document and either perform some manipulations on it, or
translate it to another form for sending to another location (or some
combination of the above).

It is possible that you don't need to have Biztalk Messenging actually
understand the document.  If this is the case, use the pass-through flag and
Biztalk will not look at it.  It will "pass the document through" to the
message port, where you could send it to a XLANG schedule, where a COM
component could take it as input and manipulate it.

On the other hand, if you want to use the ability of Biztalk to map the file
from one transactional format to another, you will need to write a parser or
a preprocessor (I'd suggest the latter).  A parser will read the data and a
schema file and will write out XML.  A preprocesser will read the binary
data and will write out either XML or EDI or a Flatfile that is then read by
a parser.  It is easier, in my opinion, to write a preprocessor.

Once the file is parsed, it can be mapped.  If you do not parse it, you
cannot map it.  If you do not want to map it, you do not need to parse it.

A serializer will take an XML file and a schema and will produce some kind
of useful output file.  Instead of writing a serializer, consider mapping
any output into an XML structure that is a good representation of your
binary output, and then write an AIC (Application Integration Component) to
translate the output into the binary format.  Once again, this is easier (in
my opinion).

So just to confirm, if you don't want the Biztalk Messaging engine to
actually read your data, you do NOT need to write any of these components.

--- Nick
Biztalk Bum

"Sai Gopal" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:097201c3d69a$df768520$a301280a@phx.gbl...
> In that case, I do not need to specify the document
> specification also right??? Coz I cant create a doc spec
> for a binary file like image.
>
> Now my doubt is like what is a parser and a serializer
> for?? I thought if biztalk is not able to understand a
> particular format, I shud write my own parser and a
> serializer. But if I need nod write these now?? What are
> these for??
>
> Are these applicable only when I need to validate the
> document coming in and do a map?? But If I need not
> validate the incoming and just send it across, I need not
> require even a custom parser and serializer?? Please
> confirm...
>
> Thanks,
> Sai
> 
> another format, 
> documentdefinition 
> check the 
> a 
> works for 

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