BAM API – Using OrchestrationEventStream to write BAM Events from BizTalk orchestration

The OrchestrationEventStream (OES) is one of the artifacts developers should consider in order to programmatically populate a BAM activity model from within a BizTalk orchestration.

The OES writes BAM Activity data into the state of the BizTalk orchestration and does not require a database roundtrip each time. When the orchestration completes or reaches a persistence point, the BAM activity data is written into the MessageBox along with the orchestration state.

Because this data is part of the orchestration state, all data is rolled back along with the orchestration if an error condition is reached. This method gives you complete transactional integrity, unlike the other event stream options, and offers the best performance for an orchestration-based solution.

The OES API stores tracking data first in the BizTalk MessageBox database. Periodically the data is processed and persisted to the BAM Primary Import database by the Tracking Data Decode Service (TDDS).

It is found in the Microsoft.BizTalk.Bam.EventObservation namespace. To use the API you must add the Microsoft.Biztalk.BAM.Xlangs.dll to your project.

So in your BizTalk project, include references to the following assemblies:

Microsoft.BizTalk.Bam.EventObservation and Microsoft.BizTalk.Bam.XLANGs.

These assemblies may be found in your “Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006\Tracking” folder.

The OrchestrationEventStream is utilized by the TPE tool. In BizTalk Server 2004, it was an internal component used by TPE and not exposed for general use. The transactional integrity requirement came up during a customer engagement, so it was later exposed in the 2004 release by a hotfix and is in the box with BizTalk Server 2006.

Sample code

Note that because the OrchestrationEventStream is implemented as a static class, there is no need to manually create an event stream each time, and a connection string isn’t required because the OrchestrationEventStream piggybacks the persistence of the orchestration.

//Create a new, unique activity identifier to use as the ActivityID in BAM
string activityId = Guid.NewGuid().ToString() + "_" + DateTime.Now;

//Start the activity record identified by activityId
Microsoft.BizTalk.Bam.EventObservation.OrchestrationEventStream.BeginActivity(“MyTrackingDemo”, activityID);

// Updates the activity record.
Microsoft.BizTalk.Bam.EventObservation.OrchestrationEventStream.UpdateActivity(“MyTrackingDemo”, activityID, “MESSAGE_ID”, msg(BTS.MessageID), "TRANSACTION_CREATED", DateTime.UtcNow);

// End the activity record.
Microsoft.BizTalk.Bam.EventObservation.OrchestrationEventStream.EndActivity(“MyTrackingDemo”, activityID);
Author: Sandro Pereira

Sandro Pereira lives in Portugal and works as a consultant at DevScope. In the past years, he has been working on implementing Integration scenarios both on-premises and cloud for various clients, each with different scenarios from a technical point of view, size, and criticality, using Microsoft Azure, Microsoft BizTalk Server and different technologies like AS2, EDI, RosettaNet, SAP, TIBCO etc. He is a regular blogger, international speaker, and technical reviewer of several BizTalk books all focused on Integration. He is also the author of the book “BizTalk Mapping Patterns & Best Practices”. He has been awarded MVP since 2011 for his contributions to the integration community.

1 thought on “BAM API – Using OrchestrationEventStream to write BAM Events from BizTalk orchestration”

  1. Hello Sandro, I’m playing with OES and I’m trying to find a way to update a completed activity.

    Imagine an Orchestration that updates the status of an object.

    The orchestration will run many different times as an app is sending us the life-cycle data (created – updated – finished – deleted).

    All these are different calls, and will happen across a considerable amount of time (days).

    What I’m trying to do is have 1 row per object in BAM that tells me the latest status of the object.

    So far I’ve only been able to add one row per call, potentially having up to 3 rows per object.

    Is there any way to accomplish this?

    Thanks
    -g

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

turbo360

Back to Top