At the BizTalk360
Integrate2016 conference today, Microsoft announced a whole slew of new features
and functionality for both BizTalk 2016 and Logic Apps.
Some of these include:
1) BizTalk 2016 will have a Logic Apps Connector
2) Logic Apps will have a BizTalk Connector…
Yes, you read that right: it will be possible to execute/initiate a Logic App
from BizTalk on-premises (or in a VM/IaaS); and from a Logic App, you will be able
to send a message directly to BizTalk.
Now although both of these scenarios are possible today (by exposing a RESTful
service on BTS, or using the REST/JSON functionality on BizTalk), these new announcements
make this even easier.
The BizTalk Connector in Logic Apps connects directly to your BizTalk Server
on-premises, although details of how this is achieved were not released.
3) Integration Accounts
Integration accounts are an EIP feature which will allow storage of schemas,
maps, certificates, TPM etc. and allowing this data to be shared by a number of Logic
Apps.
4) Visual Studio Integration
The Logic Apps designer will be available in Visual Studio… soon! They will
be part of an ARM resource Group project (which exists in Visual Studio today) and
when you open an ARM template (JSON file) which contains a Logic App, then that file
will be opened in the Logic Apps designer, but within Visual Studio.
Additionally, Visual Studio will allow any items within your Integration Accounts
(maps, schemas, etc.) to be added to a project and synced magically up to Azure.
And all of this can be stored in your source control repository (VSTS/Git).
And… this integrates with ALM/Build so you can deploy it all up to Azure:
you can parameterise your ARM Templates so you can use a single template for Dev/Test/Prod
etc.
And that’s just on Day 1.
Excited to see what Day 2 brings!