- 6 minutes to read

BizTalk Document Profiles and Section Keys

New 7.12

Every document that Generate Articles from BizTalk writes uses a Document Profile. Nodinite ships four BizTalk profiles, one per kind of generated document. A profile decides which sections the generator writes and which sections are yours. A Section Key, such as biztalk-flow-summary, tells the generator which section to fill.

Understanding Generated and Your Sections

flowchart TB Profile["fa:fa-list-check BizTalk Document Profile
shipped or your clone"] --> Gen["fa:fa-lock Generated sections
Section Key, replaced on every run"] Profile --> Yours["fa:fa-pen Your sections
never touched by a run"] Profile --> Snip["fa:fa-puzzle-piece Standard Header and Footer
shared Snippets"] Run["fa:fa-wand-magic-sparkles Generator run"] -->|"writes"| Gen You["fa:fa-user You"] -->|"write"| Yours style Profile fill:#2678BD style Gen fill:#3F827B style Yours fill:#93d16d style Snip fill:#9E59BB style Run fill:#E47528 style You fill:#E47528

A BizTalk Document Profile (blue) holds three kinds of Parts: generated sections that a run writes (teal), your sections (green), and the shared Standard Header and Standard Footer Snippets (purple).

Kind Who writes it On a re-run
Generated Nodinite, from BizTalk facts Replaced when its content changed; read-only
Yours You Never touched
Snippet The shared Standard Header or Standard Footer Not part of the run

The Four Shipped Profiles

In the tables, the main body section is marked (main body). A required Section Key must be in every profile used for that kind.

BizTalk Integration

Used for Integration Articles.

# Section Section Key Kind
1 Standard Header Snippet
2 Summary biztalk-flow-summary Generated, required
3 Description (main body) Yours
4 Flow Diagram biztalk-flow-diagram Generated
5 Processing Sequence biztalk-flow-sequence Generated
6 Source and Target Systems Yours
7 Receive biztalk-flow-receive Generated
8 Routing biztalk-flow-routing Generated
9 Processing biztalk-flow-processing Generated
10 Send biztalk-flow-send Generated
11 Error Handling and Recovery Yours
12 Operations biztalk-flow-operations Generated
13 Support and Governance Yours
14 Neighbours biztalk-flow-neighbours Generated
15 Findings biztalk-flow-findings Generated
16 Generation Info biztalk-generation-info Generated, required
17 Standard Footer Snippet

BizTalk Building Block

Used for Building Blocks, which are Snippets. It has no header or footer: the Integration Article that includes the Building Block supplies them.

# Section Section Key Kind
1 Facts biztalk-block-facts Generated, required
2 Orchestration Design biztalk-block-orchestration-design Generated, orchestrations only
3 Notes (main body) Yours
4 Generation Info biztalk-generation-info Generated, required

BizTalk Entry Point

Used for Entry Point Articles, one per receive port.

# Section Section Key Kind
1 Standard Header Snippet
2 Summary biztalk-entry-summary Generated, required
3 Description (main body) Yours
4 Routes From Here biztalk-entry-routes Generated
5 Operations Notes Yours
6 Generation Info biztalk-generation-info Generated, required
7 Standard Footer Snippet

BizTalk Application Overview

Used for Application Overview Articles, one per BizTalk application.

# Section Section Key Kind
1 Standard Header Snippet
2 Application Summary biztalk-app-summary Generated, required
3 Description (main body) Yours
4 Dependencies biztalk-app-dependencies Generated
5 Flows biztalk-app-flows Generated
6 Ownership and Contacts Yours
7 Application Findings biztalk-app-findings Generated
8 Generation Info biztalk-generation-info Generated, required
9 Standard Footer Snippet

What the Generated Sections Contain

Section Contains
Summary A fact table: Integration Key, source and target applications, adapters, counts, and environment
Flow Diagram A Mermaid flowchart of the whole chain
Processing Sequence A Mermaid sequence diagram. It starts at the sender, named after the receive adapters, for example Sender (FILE, MSMQ)
Receive Receive ports and locations, pipelines, and inbound maps
Routing Subscription filters in readable form, as OR groups of AND statements
Processing Orchestrations (ports, bindings, called and started orchestrations, host) and maps with their schemas
Send Send ports: adapter, address, pipelines, retry, backup transport, and host
Operations Hosts, tracking, retry, and failed message routing
Neighbours Other subscribers of the same receive ports, and upstream and downstream flows, with links to their Articles
Findings Configuration issues, such as a filter that names a receive port that doesn't exist, dynamic addresses, and routes removed from BizTalk
Generation Info What produced the document, and how to get the same document again (below)

Generation Info

Generation Info answers what produced this, and how do I get the same document again? It lists the generator and its version, the extractor version, the environment (the BizTalk Log Agent), and a Model Hash. Then it says Generated with these options. Run the generation again with the same options to reproduce this document., followed by an Option / Value table:

  • Integration Key pattern (Integration Articles only)
  • Follow transport loopbacks
  • Pipeline stages and components
  • Pipeline and adapter configuration (redacted)
  • Orchestration design

No generated section holds a time stamp; the reader shows when each section was last updated. A re-run with different options updates the document even when BizTalk didn't change, because the document then describes a different selection of facts.

Shipped by Nodinite: Clone to Customize

The four BizTalk profiles are shipped by Nodinite, like the Standard Technical Article profile, its Template, and the Standard Snippets. You can read and clone them, but never edit or delete them; every upgrade updates them in place.

  • The editor shows the badge Shipped by Nodinite: clone to customize with a Clone to customize button.
  • The What you can change card says This is shipped by Nodinite: nothing on it can be changed. Clone it to get your own copy.
  • Hide shipped documents on the Articles list leaves shipped documents out.

Shipped by Nodinite banner with the Clone to customize button on a shipped Document Profile (7.12)
The banner on a shipped Document Profile. Clone to customize gives you your own, editable copy.

Add Your Own Sections

  1. Open the BizTalk profile you want to extend, for example BizTalk Integration, and click Clone to customize.
  2. Rename the clone, then add your own sections. Their names are free.
  3. Save the clone. The profile contract checks it (below).
  4. In the wizard's Articles step, under Profiles, pick your clone for that kind. See Generate Articles from BizTalk.

The Profile Contract

A cloned BizTalk profile shows a Generator contract checklist of the Section Keys the generator uses, each marked required or optional.

  • Saving is blocked only when a required key is missing: Summary and Generation Info for every kind, and Facts for Building Blocks.
  • Removing an optional key only means that section is not generated.

Profile contract checklist of BizTalk Section Keys on a cloned BizTalk Integration profile (7.12)
The profile contract on a cloned profile: required Section Keys, such as biztalk-flow-summary and biztalk-generation-info, must stay; optional ones may go.

Edit page of a cloned BizTalk Integration profile with its Parts and the Generator contract checklist (7.12)
The whole edit page of the clone, here named BizTalk Integration (our team).

How Generated Documents Look

A generated document is partly editable: your sections stay editable, while the generated sections and the document's structure are locked.

Where Generated section Your section
Reader An orange strip Generated from BizTalk, followed by updated and the date and time. Tooltip: Written by the generator and replaced on every run; it cannot be edited by hand (generator version 1.0). A green strip Your notes. Tooltip: This section belongs to you; a re-run of the generator never touches it.
Editor Locked and labelled Generated from BizTalk · updated …, with Why can't I edit this?: it is written by the generator and replaced on every run; regenerate the document to update it Editable
What you can change card, on the edit page Listed under Locked, by name, with the reason Listed under You can change, by name

A Building Block included in an Article appears in a thin frame with Edit notes for : the note lives in one place and shows in every Article that includes the Building Block.

Top of a generated Integration Article in the reader, with Refresh from BizTalk and Edit selection in the toolbar, its tags, the first Generated strip, and the facts table (7.12)
The top of a generated Integration Article in the reader.

A Your notes strip, then a Generated from BizTalk strip with its tooltip open, above the flow diagram (7.12)
Your sections and the generated sections, each with its strip. The tooltip names the generator version.

Edit page section list with each generated section labelled Generated from BizTalk and when it was updated (7.12)
In the editor, each generated section is locked and says when it was last updated.

What you can change card on the edit page, listing the sections you can change and the locked sections with their reasons (7.12)
The What you can change card on the edit page of a generated Integration Article.

Next Steps