In this example I'm going to assign a value in the Header section of an AIF message with BizTalk. An AIF message is defined by two XSD schemas. You have an envelope and a document that defines which tables are mutated in Dynamics. The elements in the Header are part of the Envelope.


XML example of an AIF message.

The example above is a Dynamics AX 4 message. There are some small differences with Dynamics AX 2009 but the principle is the same. The XML documents have for example other namespaces and in action element are other values allowed.

There are more elements in the Header section but in this example I'm only going to set the value in the action element. This element contains information that uniquely identifies the service operation to the system and is a required element. To set the Action value I'm going to use Promoted Properties.

First you have to create a property schema with the elements you want to set.

property schema

After that you import in your BizTalk project the Envelope schema and the schema that defines the Dynamics table that you want to mutate.

envelope schema

Then you have to promote the elements in the envelope schema.


promote Action property

In an Orchestration you can set the value of the promoted field with the "Message Assignment" component.

Assign the value

In the example code beneath you see how the Action property of the "msgSalesOrder" message is set

//Assign Header values
msgSalesOrder(AIFExample.Action)= "createSalesOrder";

Notice that in the orchestration you work with the document that defines the table that you want to mutate. You don't have to worry about the envelope. The Dynamics AX adapter in BizTalk puts the document in the envelope and sends the envelope to Dynamics.
 

For more information about AIF Messages go to MSDN

Microsoft Dynamics AX
AIF Messages
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa627117(AX.10)..aspx

In this example I'm going to use the File system adapter to exchange data between BizTalk and Microsoft Dynamics AX. The best practice is to use the AIF BizTalk Adapter but for testing purposes it's easier (and faster) to use the File system or the Message Queuing adapter. You have to do some extra steps however because the Application Integration Framework (AIF) expects an envelope around every document. The AIF BizTalk Adapter does this automatically but when you use the File system or the Message Queuing adapter, you have to use an custom Pipeline.

First you have to import in Visual Studio the .XSD schemas of the AIF documents that you are going to work with.(In this example: SalesOrder schema and the envelope schema)

SalesOrder schema

Notice that in an orchestration you work with the AIF document that alters the Dynamics table. You don’t have to worry about the AIF envelope. In the Port Binding property you must select “specify later”. Now it’s possible to change the adapter at run time and select between the AIF BizTalk Adapter and the File system or the Message Queuing adapter.

Port properties

Create a send pipeline and drag a “XML assembler component on the “Assemble” shape. Next configure the “Envelope schemas” Property. Select here the AIF envelope schema. Select at the “Document schemas” Property the schema of the AIF document (in this case the SalesOrder schema)

Pipeline properties

Finally you have to configure the Send Port in the BizTalk Administration Console. Select “Properties” when you right click the Send Port. Subsequently configure the Send Pipeline property and select here the custom pipeline you just have created.

SendPort properties