Business Rules Hello World1 (BizTalk Server Sample)

Article
02/02/2021

The Business Rules Hello World1 sample demonstrates how to create a BizTalk rule set, save it to a file (SampleRuleSet.xml), load it, and run it based on a sample set of facts. The sample rule set contains a simple rule that involves an XML element, and .NET-based objects (properties and members) as terms in rule definition.

What This Sample Does

This sample creates an executable that performs the following sequence of steps:

Calls the method CreateRuleset to build the rule set described in the Remarks section.
Calls the method SaveToFile to demonstrate saving a rule set to a file.
Calls the method LoadFromFile to demonstrate loading a rule set from a file.
Constructs sample facts against which to run the rule set.
Runs the rule set against the sample facts, producing screen output.
Pauses, enabling you to examine the rule set file SampleRuleStore.xml.
Cleans up by deleting the rule set file in preparation for subsequent runs of the sample.

Where to Find This Sample

<Samples Path>\Business Rules\Business Rules Hello World1\

The following table shows the files in this sample and describes their purpose.

File(s)	Description
App.ico, AssemblyInfo.cs, BusinessRulesHelloWorld1.csproj, BusinessRulesHelloWorld1.sln	Project, solution, and related files for the portion of this sample that creates, saves, loads, and runs a rule set.
HelloWorld1.cs	Visual C# file that contains methods to demonstrate creating a rule set, saving a rule set to a file, and loading a rule set from a file. Also contains surrounding code that calls these methods and then runs the created rule set.
Cleanup.bat	Used to undeploy assemblies and remove them from the global assembly cache (GAC). Removes send and receive ports. Removes Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) virtual directories as needed.
SampleDocumentInstance.xml	Sample input file that conforms to the schema defined in the file SampleSchema.xsd.
SampleSchema.xsd	Schema file that defines a simple schema with an element referenced by the rule set created in the Visual C# file HelloWorld1.cs.
Setup.bat	Used to build and initialize this sample.
In the \MySampleLibrary folder: AssemblyInfo.cs, MySampleLibrary.csproj, MySampleLibrary.sln	Project, solution, and related files for the portion of this sample that provides the class that defines the objects referenced by the created rule set.
In the \MySampleLibrary folder: MySampleLibraryClass.cs	Visual C# file that contains the property referenced in the IF portion of the created rule, and the method that may be called in the THEN portion of the created rule.

Building and Initializing This Sample

Use the following procedure to build and initialize the Business Rules Hello World1 sample.

To build and initialize this sample

In a command window, navigate to the following folder:

<Samples Path>\Business Rules\Business Rules Hello World1\
Run the file Setup.bat, which performs the following actions:
- Compiles and deploys the Microsoft Visual Studio projects for this sample.
Note

You should confirm that BizTalk Server did not report any errors during the build and initialization process before attempting to run this sample.

Note

If you choose to open and build the projects in this sample without running the file Setup.bat, you must first create a strong name key pair using the .NET Framework Strong Name utility (sn.exe). Use this key pair to sign the resulting assemblies.

Note

To undo changes made by Setup.bat, run Cleanup.bat. You must run Cleanup.bat before running Setup.bat a second time.

Running This Sample

Use the following procedure to run the Business Rules Hello World1 sample.

To run this sample

In a command window, navigate to the following folder:

<Samples Path>\Business Rules\Business Rules Hello World1\bin\Debug\
In the command window, type the name of the executable file for this sample (BusinessRulesHelloWorld1.exe), and then press ENTER.

Note

While running, this sample produces the rule set file SampleRuleStore.xml in the bin\Debug folder. When the executable pauses, waiting for you to press ENTER to finish, you can examine the contents of this file. Remember to close it before pressing any key to finish. Otherwise, the executable may not be able to delete it in preparation for subsequent runs of the sample.

Based on the nature of the created rule set, if you run this sample with the provided sample input file SampleDocumentInstance.xml, which has a value of one (1) defined for its ID element, you will see the following output:

Creating a new ruleset ...  
Saving ruleset to SampleRuleStore.xml ...  
Loading ruleset ...  
Asserting objects ...  
Executing ...  
MySampleBusinessObject Class -- MySampleMethod executed for object 2 with parameter 5  
MySampleBusinessObject Class -- MySampleMethod executed for object 3 with parameter 5  
Press any key to finish ...

Note

The output shown in bold, both in the preceding code and in the code that follows, is the output produced by the sample business object, defined by the files in the MySampleLibrary folder, which is referenced by the rule set.

If you change the value associated with the ID element in the sample input file SampleDocumentInstance.xml from one (1) to two (2), the output would change as follows:

Creating a new ruleset ...  
Saving ruleset to SampleRuleStore.xml ...  
Loading ruleset ...  
Asserting objects ...  
Executing ...  
MySampleBusinessObject Class -- MySampleMethod executed for object 1 with parameter 5  
MySampleBusinessObject Class -- MySampleMethod executed for object 3 with parameter 5  
Press any key to finish ...

You will not get an output line for any objects of the MySampleBusinessObject class that have their MyValue property set to a value (during construction) that matches the value associated with the ID element in the sample input file SampleDocumentInstance.xml.

Comments

The rule created programmatically within the CreateRuleset() method shows:

MySampleBusinessObject.MyValue is not equal to the value of the ID element in the XML document.

THEN

MySampleBusinessObject.MySampleMethod(int) with an integer parameter, hard coded to the constant five (5) in this case. This method produces the output lines that begin MySampleBusinessObject Class –-.

This rule depends on the following:

A MySampleBusinessObject class with a public property called MyValue and a public method called MySampleMethod (that takes in an integer parameter).
An XML schema definition language (XSD) schema that defines an XML document that contains an ID element.

You define rules in terms of classes and schemas, but during execution, object instances of the relevant classes and document instances of the relevant schemas are required. You evaluate the rules against these run-time instances (known as facts). In this sample, the facts are multiple instances of the MySampleBusinessObject object, constructed with different values for their MyValue property, and a single XML instance of the defined schema that contains a value for the ID element.

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