BizTalk Server 2016: “Empty BizTalk Server Project” Template missing from Visual Studio 2015

  • Sandro Pereira
  • Sep 21, 2021
  • 3 min read

A few days ago, I wrote a blog post about a similar topic, but in that case, it was the BizTalk Server Application Project Visual Studio that was missing. In fact, at that point, the Empty BizTalk Server Project Visual Studio template was also missing in the development environment.

Empty BizTalk Server Project missing

It is not a common situation in a BizTalk Server Development environment, but I cannot say that this is the first time I have found this issue.

I tried to see if the project template was available on the local system. Normally VS stores the available templates at Program Files(x86) > Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0 > Common7 > IDE ProjectTemplates, but the template was there:

Empty Project

📝 One-Minute Brief

Creating new BizTalk projects can fail when the Empty BizTalk Server Project template disappears from Visual Studio 2015. This article explains why this issue occurs in BizTalk Server 2016 environments and shows how repairing Visual Studio restores the missing project template.

Cause

I don’t know very precisely why Visual Studio was not loading the most critical BizTalk Server Visual Studio template, and it is hard to find the proper cause of this issue.

Of course, this problem was not related to the lack of installation of the development tools and the SDK. The Developer tools and SDK components were installed during the BizTalk Server installation.

On a quick search over this issue, I found several mentions that you could solve this issue by installing the template available on the Visual Studio Marketplace. According to the documentation, this template is available for Visual Studio 2015, 2017, and 2019.

  • Note: I don’t know any version of BizTalk Server that works on Visual Studio 2017

However, trying to install this template using the marketplace, I got a dependency alert for Visual Studio MPF 16.0. I tried to follow the instructions provided by Microsoft to overcome this problem, which you can get more information here, but without any practical effect.

So, I applied the traditional method to solve the problem of the missing template.

Solution

To fix this issue, the solution is quite simple:

  • You need to Repair the Visual Studio installation:
Repair Visual Studio
  • After you repair the Empty BizTalk Server Project will be available
Empty BizTalk Server Project

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. 

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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.

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