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About Schemas

Microsoft BizTalk Server uses the XML Schema definition (XSD) language to define the structure of all messages that it processes, and refers to these definitions of message structure as schemas. With few exceptions, structured messages are the core of any application. These structured messages can take any form, large or small, and target a wide array of back-end systems and data stores. Systems that create and consume the structured messages frequently use different formats. Two of the most common formats for structured messages are XML and flat files.

BizTalk Editor is designed to simplify the process of defining a message schema and validating whether a particular message conforms to that schema. In the process of defining schemas and validating messages, you will likely perform some of the following tasks:

  • Create schemas for structured XML messages.

  • Create schemas for flat file messages.

  • Generate schemas from well-formed XML instance data.

  • Validate message conformance to a specific schema.

  • Perform design-time validation of schemas.

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