I recently migrated a custom adapter to a newer version of BizTalk Server (2010 and 2013). In this case, the adapter is an Isolated Adapter. It works as a socket listener that listens on one or more TCP ports for a custom and private message format. The goal is to solve an integration problem with legacy platforms used by one of my clients.
Working with a custom adapter is always enjoyable. It reminds me of my roots as a .NET developer and why I like this job so much.
Note: It’s also important to remember that recent version of BizTalk Server normally runs under 64-bit and because BizTalk Administration Console runs under 32-bits it’s imperative to register the adapter in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the BizTalk Adapter, at least if you want the adapter to run under 64-bit, nevertheless you always need to register under 32-bit.
If you are developing a custom adapter, you can register it with BizTalk Server by modifying and running one of the registry files included with the sample file adapter in the software development kit (SDK). Or, you can use the Adapter Registry Wizard to create a registry file. You can learn more about this topic here: Registering an Adapter.
Although it is a migration of an existing adapter that has worked correctly over several years, I decided to optimize the adapter to run on new versions of the .NET Framework (4.0) and also to support 64-bit. The question and the main reason for this post will be: How to properly register this custom BizTalk adapter?
📝 One-Minute Brief
This post shows how to properly register a custom BizTalk Server adapter.
After creating a custom adapter (for example a TCP socket listener), the adapter may not appear in the BizTalk Administration Console. The reason is that BizTalk uses both 32-bit and 64-bit environments. You must run the adapter registry (.reg) file from both a normal command prompt and the 32-bit command prompt (SysWOW64) so the adapter is registered in both environments.
How to properly register a custom BizTalk adapter
Again, and this is very important:
- On a 32-bit machine, the registry (.reg) file generated by the Adapter Registration wizard must be run from the command prompt.
- On a 64-bit machine, the registry (.reg) file generated by the Adapter Registration wizard must be run both from the 32-bit and 64-bit command prompt.
So if you are on a 32-bit machine, you only need to run the adapter registry (.reg) from the command prompt or even double-click on the adapter registry (.reg) file.
However, if you are on a 64-bit machine, you need extra steps:
- Run the adapter registry (.reg) from the command prompt or even double-click in adapter registry (.reg) file – this will register the adapter under 64-bit.
If you try to check and add this new adapter in the BizTalk Administration Console (Adding the Adapter to BizTalk Server), you will notice that the adapter will not be present and referenced in the Adapter dropbox.
- So now you need to force to do the same in 32-bit, to accomplish that, you need to open a 32-bit command prompt:
- Click Start.
- Type %windir%\SysWoW64\cmd.exe in the Start Search box and press Enter.
- Run the same adapter registry (.reg) from this command prompt.
Again, if you try to check and add this new adapter in the BizTalk Administration Console, you will notice that the adapter will now be present in the drop-down.
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Reblogged this on Dinesh Ram Kali..
Hello Sandro;
Could you please guide me with this:
I need to configure a receive location for receiving GPS data sent through an UDP protocol port. For that I understand I would need to create a custom UDP adapter something that is not in my knowledge, other option could be to create a .Net web service that uses udpclient class for receiving the data an then I could expose it in the web service the problem with this last option is that I was told that Biztalk was acquired for that so this option has not been accepted so far.
Could you please let me know what is the best option, in case the custom adapter is the best option where could I find information about it. I have found out a lot but with not results.
Thanks