Another day, another BizTalk Server Pipeline Component! Today, I decided to release a brand new component called the Remove XML Empty Nodes Pipeline Component.
For those who aren’t familiar with it, the BizTalk Pipeline Components Extensions Utility Pack is a collection of reusable libraries that provide custom pipeline components. These components integrate seamlessly with both receive and send pipelines, helping address common integration challenges.
Most importantly, the utility pack expands BizTalk’s built‑in pipeline functionality, enabling more flexible message processing and better control over complex integration scenarios.
📝 One-Minute Brief
XML messages often contain empty nodes that increase payload size and complicate downstream processing. This article introduces a custom pipeline component that removes empty XML elements, helping produce cleaner messages and more efficient integrations. The approach fits BizTalk scenarios where message normalization and optimized payloads matter.
Remove XML Empty Nodes Pipeline Component
As the name suggests, the Remove XML Empty Nodes Pipeline Component is a pipeline component that can be used to remove empty nodes present in an XML message. You can use this component in any stage of a receive or send pipeline.
This component has a single property that requires you to set up:
- DisableRemoveBOM (boolean): This allows you to enable or disable the process of removing empty nodes from an XML message.
How to install it
As always, you just need to add these DLLs to the Pipeline Components folder, which by default is in the BizTalk Server 2020 installation folder. In the last version of the product, it will be:
- C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft BizTalk Server\Pipeline Components
In this particular component, we need to have this DLL
- BizTalk.PipelineComponents.RemoveXmlEmptyNodes.dll
How to use it
As with previous pipelines, I recommend creating generic pipelines that you can reuse across all applications. When needed, you can also create multiple generic variants. This approach improves consistency and simplifies maintenance over time.
Next, add this pipeline component to the required stage of the pipeline. However, remember that you can use it in both send and receive pipelines, depending on your scenario.
Download
THIS COMPONENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.
You can download the Remove XML Empty Nodes Pipeline Component from GitHub here:
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