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How to Consume Web Services in a Messaging Only Scenario

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One of the new enhancements for the SOAP adapter is ability to call Web services in a messaging only scenario by using content-based routing send ports. This feature makes it possible to consume Web services without creating orchestrations. It also provides better performance to consume Web services because messages do not pass through orchestrations.

To consume Web services in a messaging only scenario, do the following:

  • Create a proxy library and XML schemas for invoking Web services

  • Configure a send port and receive location for consuming a Web service

To create a proxy library and XML schemas for invoking Web services

  1. Determine the URL for the Web service.

  2. Open an Empty BizTalk Server Project in a Visual Studio solution. For more information about how to create a BizTalk Server project, see How to Create BizTalk Projects.

    Note

    This walkthrough uses a BizTalk Server project to generate proxy libraries and XML schemas that the Web service uses. You can also use the Wsdl.exe and Xsd.exe in the .NET Framework 4.0 SDK for the same purpose.

  3. In Solution Explorer, right-click the BizTalk Server project name, and then click Add Service Reference.

  4. In the Add Service Reference dialog box, click Advanced.

  5. In the Service Reference Settings dialog box, Click Add Web Reference in the Compatibility section.

  6. In the Add Web Reference dialog box, do the following:

    1. In the URL field, type a Web service URL, and then click Go.

    2. In the Web reference name field, type a name for the namespace, and then click Add Reference.

  7. The Web reference will appear under Web References node in Solution Explorer.

    Tip

    Once you have a web reference added to a BizTalk project, the Add Web Reference command is directly available when you right-click the project name or References or Web References.

  8. In Solution Explorer, right-click the project name, and then click Properties to launch the Project Designer.

  9. In the Project Designer, click the Signing tab.

  10. Select Sign the assembly option, click the drop-down list for the Choose a strong name key file, and then click Browse.

  11. Browse and select the assembly key file, and then click Open.

  12. In Solution Explorer, right-click the project name, and then click Build.

  13. In Solution Explorer, right-click the project name, and then click Deploy.

To configure a send port and receive location for consuming a Web service

  1. In the BizTalk Server Administration console, create a send port. For more information, see How to Create a Send Port. When creating the send port, select SOAP as the transport type or transport protocol.

  2. Configure the SOAP send port with the following settings. For more information, see How to Configure a SOAP Send Port.

    Use this To do this
    The following settings Select this option to specify the following properties.
    Assembly name Select the assembly created in the previous procedure. The fully qualified name of the assembly is written to the SOAP adapter AssemblyName property.
    Type name Specify the name of the class that contains the Web method to be invoked. The type name is written to the SOAP adapter TypeName property.
    Method name Specify one of the methods in the list box. The Web method is written to the Soap Adapter MethodName property.

    Note

    If you want to use Content-Based Routing (CBR), configure the filter of the send port. For more information, see How to Configure Filters for a Send Port.

    Note

    If there is no subscriber to the response messages from the invoked Web services, a routing failure error will occur.

See Also

Consuming Web Services