Oh yes! I’m back to one of my favorite topics: Errors and warnings, causes and solutions – aka Troubleshooting! This time, I’m combining two things I like: mapping and BizTalk Server. What could go wrong!
While trying to implement a mapping rule using C# inline code, where the goal was to infer the conversion rate between two coins: EUR to any other coin. This was the code I have used (courtesy of ChatGPT)
public static string EurPerCoin(string eurAmount, string coinAmount)
{
if (!decimal.TryParse(eurAmount, NumberStyles.Number, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out var eur))
return "0.00";
if (!decimal.TryParse(coinAmount, NumberStyles.Number, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out var coin))
return "0.00";
if (coin == 0)
return "0.00";
var rate = eur / coin;
return Math.Round(rate, 2, MidpointRounding.AwayFromZero)
.ToString("F2", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
}
I got these two generic errors:
Error Inline Script Error: Invalid expression term ‘)’
Error Inline Script Error: ; expected
I wasn’t surprised to receive those kinds of errors because the generated code is using namespaces that are not referenced in the BizTalk Server map. So, it is always a good practice to copy your code to a Visual Studio console application and validate it
Of course, to fix this is very simple. Since we cannot use Using System.Globalization; we need to provide the full namespace in the code.
public static string EurPerCoin(string eurAmount, string coinAmount)
{
if (!decimal.TryParse(eurAmount, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Number, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out var eur))
return "0.00";
if (!decimal.TryParse(coinAmount, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Number, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out var coin))
return "0.00";
if (coin == 0)
return "0.00";
var rate = eur / coin;
return Math.Round(rate, 2, MidpointRounding.AwayFromZero).ToString("F2", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
}
However, when I try to compile, I still encounter the exact same problems. Now I was curious.
Cause
These error messages are generic error messages and basically tell you that there is a code “interpretation” issue. And this can occur for the following reasons:
- There is a code syntax error.
- And again, better to troubleshoot that inside a support C# console application project.
- You are using namespaces that are not included/recognized by default by the BizTalk Mapper.
- Here, you need to provide the full namespace as we did above.
- Or you are using code not supported by .NET 2.0 Framework, which is used inside the mapper.
In our case, for example: .NET 2.0 Framework does not support var keyword. The var keyword was introduced in C# 3.0, which shipped with .NET Framework 3.5. In .NET 2.0 (C# 2.0), you must explicitly declare the type of every variable.
Solution
The solution to this issue is quite simple: we must explicitly declare the type of every variable we use inside our C# inline code.
In our case, for example, to make the map work we have to use the following code:
public static string EurPerCoin(string eurAmount, string coinAmount)
{
decimal eur = 0;
decimal coin = 0;
if (!decimal.TryParse(eurAmount, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Number, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out eur))
return "0.00";
if (!decimal.TryParse(coinAmount, System.Globalization.NumberStyles.Number, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out coin))
return "0.00";
if (coin == 0)
return "0.00";
decimal rate = eur / coin;
return Math.Round(rate, 2, MidpointRounding.AwayFromZero).ToString("F2", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
}
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