I don’t really like to repeat myself but I’ve found another example of code that isn’t. It has a name, and that name is evil BizTalk. I’ve wanted to write about BizTalk for a while but I’ve been holding back because it’s a large and complex product that I wanted to do proper justice to.
Ok, so let’s get the nasty out of the way first. BizTalk is partly the reason that I’ve done very few blog posts recently. It is also the cause of an annoying pain at the base of my skull that didn’t go away until I stopped ‘doing’ BizTalk. There are many reasons why and I could go on and on about:
- how it neatly hides important detail from you that you need to problem solve issues;
- cryptic error messages;
- property boxes in property boxes in property boxes;
- lack of effective development environment;
- high license cost;
- … yada yada yada …;
Ironically at the same time I was using BizTalk I was also reading the design of everyday things. Whilst not strictly a book about technology, the ubiquity of computers these days makes it a compelling read for programmers like me. Anyway, the point is that BizTalk very neatly violates almost everything that Donald Norman holds dear.
If it’s so bad then why are you using it?
Good question. You read my mind. You see it solves a couple of problems for me, firstly a very expensive software product requires it out of the box so I really have no choice. However, and here’s the interesting part, it does two “big picture” things very well. Indeed, if you ignore the nitty gritty pain of what you had to do to get it to work it solves a couple issues of system integration reasonably well.
- Message Handling – the BizTalk server wants to receive a message and do something with it. It is able to take messages from a variety of sources: database, file drop, FTP, HTTP, SOAP, Email, etc. Once this message is received it can be routed to an ‘Orchestration’ which takes the message and applies some logic to it. This can involve changing the shape of the message and or sending it on to a variety of other systems.
- Business Focus – the fact that BizTalk server can take messages from a variety of sources means that it becomes the natural place to put things that ‘process external data’. This doesn’t sound like a big deal but when you’ve worked in companies that have attempted this solution without something like BizTalk you’ll know what a mess this becomes. Many programmers, many ideas, little consistency, integration headaches.
So it’s good right?
Well yes and no. I can’t pretend that I’ve even scratched the surface of what BizTalk does, it’s a beast. However, for what I need to do I’ve created about a half a dozen or so orchestrations and a few mappings and every one was as painful as the last. It just doesn’t seem to get any easier.
You see, the bits of BizTalk I like, are relatively quite small. The bits I don’t like are the bits that try and take programming control away from me by providing me with some half-baked UI that ultimately is going to produce me a piece of executable code. And that’s my point. If it’s going to produce executable code why not just give me some powerful libraries (which must exist anyway) and let me write it? Indeed, I’ve had a couple of people tell me that they don’t really like BizTalk either and when faced with a ‘BizTalk challenge’ their solution is to write a custom pipeline to handle it (for those not in the know, this solution gets the job done but it’s like buying a tractor to get your groceries with).
The part of BizTalk that I would pay money for is probably not worth that much. However, I’m smart enough (just) to know that if I wanted to roll my own which just contained the features I wanted I would still be doing it in 2009. So for now, I guess, The Beast and I will get along fine. If there’s ever a viable alternative The Beast and I will be parting ways.