BizTalk 2010 Mapper Pros/Cons

I am now using the BizTalk mapper 2010 frequently, I faced 2 changes I don’t appreciate:


PROS


- Search elements


When you type in a fieldname, it is highlighted! You can even toggle buttons so that only the highlighted elements are shown. Cool


- Copy Paste


Copy/paste works like a charm, elements can be selected easily and it now works as it should have been a long time…intuitive.


CONS


- Replace functoid does not work anymore


It used to be, that when you drag a functoid and drop it over a functoid already on the mapping grid that it would replace the existing functoid. Well, it’s noted, not really what I wanted.


- Create a message from scratch


When I make a new message and I don’t have input for it a Assign a new message using a Message variable of type XmlDoc. Assign it a value with the first element of the schema (e.g. <Error />) and then use the mapper to set all the different elements in the message (using a string concatenate with an empty value).


CropperCapture[1]


I am not 100% finished with analyzing this, but it looks like this does not work anymore. The mapper does not overwrite the elements and the original input is passed ==> <Error />


This means that you would have to provide all the elements that you want to use, this the added value of using the XmlDoc approach for creating a message is than quite low.


I will post an update if I have found some more detailed info and will try to make an example solution.



Cheers.

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