Chapter 2. Messages and Transforms

In Chapter 1, Hello BizTalk Services, we discussed the basics of BizTalk Services and the central concept of a bridge providing the vehicle for receiving and sending data via endpoint adapters (sources and destinations) through its built-in pipeline. In this chapter, we'll discuss messaging aspects, focusing on one particular aspect of messaging: transformation, or mapping. One of the most common aspects of integration is the need to turn one message format into another; what we referred to as structural impedance in Chapter 1, Hello BizTalk Services. It's the bread and butter of any integrator's toolbox, and BizTalk Services provides a brand new, modern mapping engine with graphical tooling to build sophisticated and powerful transforms. In this chapter, we'll look at BizTalk Service's mapping and transformation capabilities in detail and the flexibility it provides. To summarize, this chapter will cover the following:

• Why transformation and mapping is...