BizTalk Mapping Patterns and Best Practices book [Free] released

Some months ago, I announced that I was writing an eBook about BizTalk Mapping Patterns and Best Practices. I also promised that the book would be released for free during BizTalk Summit 2014 in London.

Well… the time has finally arrived 😊

The BizTalk Mapping Patterns and Best Practices book — a 400-page practical guide for BizTalk developers — is now available to download from the BizTalk360 website.

About the Book

This book works as a reference guide for BizTalk developers and aims to simplify day-to-day work with BizTalk maps. It explains how mappings work internally, presents real-world mapping patterns, and shows best practices to design reliable transformations.

I spent the last year writing this content. Initially, I planned to publish the material as blog posts. Later, I considered releasing it as a white paper. Eventually, it became a full community eBook thanks to the support and contributions of many people.

The technical reviewers were:

• Steef-Jan Wiggers
• Nino Crudele
• Michael Stephenson
• José António Silva

I also want to thank BizTalk360 for accepting the challenge of publishing their first book and making it freely available to the community. I’m also grateful to my employer, DevScope, for supporting my community work and allowing me time to write, blog, and present at conferences.

Finally, a special thanks to my friend Sónia Gomes for designing the book cover.

Key Mapping Patterns Covered

The book introduces several important patterns used in real integration projects:

• Direct Translation Pattern: Simply move data to a different semantic representation without any manipulation or transformation.
• Data Translation Pattern: Similar to the Direct Translation Pattern, with the additional step of data manipulation or transformation to match the target system format.
• Content Enricher Pattern: Set up access to an external data source (say, a database) to enhance the message with missing information.
• Aggregator Pattern: Similar to Content Enricher Pattern, but a different mapping technique. Multiple inbound requests are mapped to a single outbound request.
• Content Filter Pattern: Opposite of Content Enricher Pattern; remove unnecessary items from a message (even based on a condition) and send what is exactly required.
• Splitter Pattern: Opposite of Aggregator Pattern; a single inbound request is mapped to several outbound requests.
• Grouping Pattern: Example – shopping catalog where items are grouped into categories like Sports, Women’s Cosmetics, Electronics, Computers, and so on.
• Sorting Pattern: In most scenarios, the Grouping Pattern and the Sorting Pattern will be bound together.
• Conditional Pattern: To receive only a portion of the data from the message, apply a condition statement to filter the result set at the source.
• Looping Pattern: For instance, a record in the source system may occur multiple times in the input file. They need to be transformed according to the target system
• Canonical Data Model Pattern: Ensures loose coupling between applications; if a new application is added, only the transformation between the Canonical Data Model has to be created.
• Name-Value Transformation Pattern: Target system requires a Name-Value Pair (NVP) structure, or the source system has an NVP structure and the target requires a hierarchical schema

Click here to download your free copy of the book.

Why I Chose Not to Use a Traditional Publisher

Many people asked why I didn’t publish through Apress, Packt, or another publisher. I actually had that opportunity. However, those options would make the book paid.

My goal was different. I wanted to give something back to the community that has supported me for many years. Therefore, I decided to release the book for free.

BizTalk360 was the perfect partner. I trust the team, and I know they will help distribute the book and make it accessible to everyone.

When was the book released?

The book was publicly announced during the BizTalk Innovation Day, Oslo (Norway) 2014 event and I could not have chosen a better place and audience to present my book because the idea of creating this book started after a session of one of our events: BizTalk Innovation Day Oporto, the venue was really amazing in a kind of nightclub for event (actually MESH is also a nightclub) and the Norwegian audience is really amazing and I have good friends there.

Here is the moment of the official announcement:

Please give me your feedback

Your opinion is very important to me. I appreciate your feedback, and I will use it to evaluate changes and make improvements in the book and future projects.

Download the book for free

The book is available for you to download for free at the BizTalk360 website here: BizTalk Mapping Patterns & Best Practices

Hope you find this helpful! If you liked the content or found it useful and would like to support me in writing more, consider buying (or helping to buy) a Star Wars Lego set for my son.