BizTalk Server 2013 R2: Installation and Configuration – Install additional Developer tools (Part 19)

BizTalk
  • Sandro Pereira
  • Jan 27, 2015
  • 6 min read
Tags: BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2013 R2, Configuration, Developer Tools, Installation

This part of the article will focus on the installation of additional useful tools to help you develop your BizTalk Server projects. The goal here is not to address all the tools available instead I will address only the most important ones that may have direct impact on the efficiency of your developments, because there are a number of tools that can aid you as BizTalk developer, which you can find on Codeplex or Microsoft Download Center, that are not offered out of the box by BizTalk Server like WCF Publishing Wizard and so on.

📝 One-Minute Brief

A practical list of BizTalk Server 2013 R2 developer productivity tools: install BizTalk NoS (NoS Ultimate) for Visual Studio (with a VS2013 add-in workaround), plus a Pipeline Component Wizard and guidance for a Functoid project wizard to speed up day-to-day BizTalk development.

Install BizTalk NoS Addin for Visual Studio 2013

Although the currently available version for download at https://www.biztalk360.com/nos/ has not been developed and is not officially supported for Visual Studio 2013/BizTalk Server 2013 R2, it can be installed and used without issues in this new environment with Visual Studio 2013 and BizTalk Server 2013 R2, with a small workaround.

What is the purpose of the BTSG NoS Addin?

The purpose of BTSG NoS Addin is to help all BizTalk developers, and why not, all BizTalk administrators too, in a lot of different situations, by improving the developer experience and reducing the development time in new or existing BizTalk projects.

It will provide several functionalities like quick search inside artifact, fast register/unregister in GAC, find critical, internal or external dependencies… and many for functionalities like JackHammering, which will compare your VS artifact with the artifact deployed in BizTalk environment, you can also extract the artifact (Orchestration, map, schema and so on) from BizTalk environment and put it in the VS solution or even test your pipeline in VS simply… several features that are usefully in our day by day work and a time saver in a lot of situations.

How can I install BTSG NoS Addin for Visual Studio 2013?

Because the current version of the Addin is not officially supported for Visual Studio 2013, you cannot install it through the Extensions and Updates option from Visual Studio; instead, you need to:

  • Download the BizTalk NoS Addin from Visual Studio Gallery: BizTalk NoS Addin
  • Execute the BTSGSetup.exe file with administrative rights by right-clicking on the file and selecting the Run as administrator option.
BizTalk Server 2013 R2 BizTalk NoS Addin Install
  • On the Welcome to the BTSG NoS Addin Installer Setup page, click Next to continue.
BizTalk Server 2013 R2 BizTalk NoS Addin
  • On the End-User License Agreement page, accept the terms by selecting the I accept the terms of this License Agreement option and clicking Next to continue.
BizTalk Server 2013 R2 BizTalk NoS Addin
  • On the Destination Folder page, set the destination folder and click Next to continue.
BizTalk Server 2013 R2 BizTalk NoS Addin
  • On the Ready to install BTSG NoS Addin page, click Install to start the installation process.
BizTalk Server 2013 R2 BizTalk NoS Addin
  • On the Completed the BTSG NoS Addin Installer Setup page, click Finish to complete the installation of the Addin.
BizTalk Server 2013 R2 BizTalk NoS Addin

Add-In Registration for Visual Studio 2013 (Workaround)

Visual Studio add-ins are deprecated in Visual Studio 2013. You should upgrade your add-ins to VSPackage extensions. For BizTalk NoS Addin to work in Visual Studio 2013, we need to implement the following workaround:

  • When Visual Studio starts, it looks in the .addin file location (\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Addins\) for any available .addin files.
    • For example: C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\Visual Studio 2013.
  • Because BizTalk NoS Addin is meant to work with Visual Studio 2012, you should go to
    • For example: C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\Visual Studio 2012.
    • You will find in this location an Addins folder containing the BTSG NoS Addin file.
BizTalk Server 2013 R2 BizTalk NoS Addin Visual Studio folder
  • Copy the Addins folder to the Visual Studio 2013 .addin file location:
    • For example: C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\Visual Studio 2013.
  • Go to the Addins folder:
    • For example: C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Addins.
    • And edit the file ADDIN File.AddIn in Notepad and change the <HostApplication> element with the following data: 
<HostApplication>
   <Name>Microsoft Visual Studio</Name>
   <Version>12.0</Version>
</HostApplication>
  • Save and close the file.

To load BTSG NoS Addin into Visual Studio 2013

  • Open a BizTalk Server Visual Studio Project and on the Tools menu, click Add-In Manager.
BizTalk Server 2013 R2 BizTalk NoS Addin
  • In the Add-in Manager window, select the add-in from the Available Add-ins column list and then click OK.
BizTalk Server 2013 R2 BizTalk NoS Addin

Back to your BizTalk project, right-click on your BizTalk solution or on one of your BizTalk artifacts, and you can see the new options provided by BTSG NoS Addin:

BizTalk Server 2013 R2 BizTalk NoS Addin

Install BizTalk Server Pipeline Component Wizard

The Pipeline Component Wizard is intended to ease the development of pipeline components used within a BizTalk Server environment. Supports both C# and VB.NET. The following resources can be used to download the tool, find guidance in usage, and background information:

Install BizTalk Server Functoids Project Wizard

BizTalk MapperExtensions Functoid Wizard is a Custom Functoid Project Wizard for Visual Studio 2010. It allows you to create a new Functoids project for BizTalk Server 2010 without having to create the project manually. Supports both C# and VB.NET.

Related links

Thanks for Buying me a coffe
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.

1 thought on “BizTalk Server 2013 R2: Installation and Configuration – Install additional Developer tools (Part 19)”

  1. Again, very helpful thread. However Sandro, In VS 2K13, when using JackHammering, the dialog box displays correctly, clicking on any item schemas, orchestrations…retreives the artifact but when double clicking on one of them, a 2nd dialog appears with 3 items, compare it, extract…clicking on Compareit, I get the error message “Object reference not set to an instance of an object”. Any idea/
    Thanks in advance

    Reply

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