BizTalk Developer Tools: Papercut

Posted: January 22, 2015  |  Categories: BizTalk Development Uncategorized
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 Published by: Bill Chesnut

I have decided to start a series of blog post on the tools I use as a BizTalk developer, some of the tools are not only for BizTalk but provide functionality for BizTalk developers

The 1st tool that I am going to talk about is Papercut (http://papercut.codeplex.com), Papercut is a simplified SMTP server that can be use for sending email message from BizTalk or SQL.  I have found over the years that sending emails from a BizTalk developer/test environment is very hard to setup and very error prone, lots of the test data supplied to developers have real email addresses in it and the last thing a developer wants to do is send a test email to a real user.  This is why Papercut is so good, as far as BizTalk and SQL are concerned Papercut is a real live mail server to send emails to, but in reality it is a local service that accepts and stores the email sent.

Installing

Download Papercut from codeplex and run the installer:

Select the Click Once or Zip Installer

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Open the Click Once

Click Install

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Wait for the Installation to Complete

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Click Run (up to you to un-check the “Always ask before opening this file”)

 

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Installation Complete

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Configuring BizTalk

There are several ways to configure BizTalk but the best is via the adapter properties:

In the BizTalk Administrator Console, Expand BizTalk Group, Expand Platform Settings, Expand Adapters, Click SMTP, Right Click on Send Handler, Click Properties

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From the SMTP – Adapter Handler Properties Dialog, Click Properties

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Configure as follows (the From address can be anything you choose), Click OK

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Repeat these steps for All SMTP Send Handlers

Configuring BAM Alerts

To Configure BAM Alerts, with SQL 2012 or SQL 2014, it is necessary to Setup Database Mail:

In SQL Server 2014 Management Studio, Expand Management, Right Click Database Mail, Click Configure Database Mail

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Click Next

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Select Set up Database Mail but performing the following tasks:, Click Next

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Click Yes

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Configure the Profile Name and Description as shown and Click Add

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Configure as shown (email address can be anything you choose), Click Ok

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Click Next

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Click Public, Click Next (public profile does not matter since mail setup is completely local)

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Click Next

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Click Finish

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Wait for configuration to finish, Click Close

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Database Mail is now Configured

Right Click on Database Mail, Select Send Test E-Mail…

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Fill in To email and Click Send Test E-Mail

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The following notification should appear, Click the Notification

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Papercut Opens and show the test email, click Delete, close Papercut

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Click OK

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Now that Database Mail is configured and tested, Open the BizTalk Server Configuration, Click BAM Alerts, Click Enable, Enter BAM Alerts User, Enter SQL Server for Alerts databases, Click Apply Configuration

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Click Next

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Wait for the Configuration to complete, Click Finish, Close Microsoft BizTalk Server Configuration

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BAM Alerts are now configured

Testing

To Test send emails, I have deployed the SDK Orchestration sample Hello World, I have then created a new Send Port called HelloWorldSendPortEmail:

Configure As Shown, Click Configure

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Fill in Email Address and Subject (with your choice of values), click Compose

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Click Text and Enter some text, Click Attachments

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Select “Attach only body part”, Click OK

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Click OK

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Stop the Microsoft.Sample.BizTalk.HelloWorld Orchestration and rebind the send port to the new Email send port, Click Ok and start the Orchestration

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Drop a copy of the SamplePOInput.xml file in the In directory, the notification below should appear, click on the notification

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In Papercut, click on Raw and scroll down to the attachment

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Testing is complete

Conclusion

I hope that you can get as much use out of Papercut as I have and that it make developing BizTalk solutions faster and simpler.

Please stay tuned for my next installment in my BizTalk Developer Tools series.

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