On Thu, 26 Apr 2001 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> The BizTalk Server requires messages (XML documents) to be formatted
> according to the BizTalk Framework. The BizTalk Framework requires
> information models to be created using the XDR schema language. XDR
> requires us to use the Microsoft MSXML parser (thus tying us to a
> vendor-specific implementation of an XML-based schema language).
>
That's not true anymore is it? Almost since the launch of
biztalk.org and biztalk 1.0 specs (9/1999), MS has pretty much dropped XDR
as a requirement. BizTalk 2.0 Framework is all SOAP with add'l SOAP
headers, nothing out of the ordinary for the payload, though i think their
preferred body-encoding is XDR. I don't even recall anyone doing anything
in production w/ BizTalk 1.0. Their product favors, but doesn't require
XDR. There's even an example in the BizTalk.org library using XML Schemas
as well as a pointer to the XML Schema validator included in the .NET
framework. If they don't force you to use a specific payload/body
encoding (such as XDR; which they don't), there's no reason to feel locked
in.
Granted (and slightly more technical point), Appendix A of the
BizTalk 2.0 Framework specs default the namespace of their schemas to
XDR-ish urn's, but the variations therein aren't anything outside of what
the XML Schema rec or the SOAP 1.1 note allow. An 'enlightened' parser
can choose to ignore the xdr references and come out none the wiser for
having done so (my opinion).
Also, having 'everything' (a "mapper", pretty gui's, ActiveX
objects, etc, etc) that comes with the Microsoft platform still carries a
bit of weight in influencing purchasing decisions.
In any event, if someone makes up a schema language from W3C's XML
1.0, it'll still parse w/ any parser (or should, if it's XML 1.0
compliant/conformant), but whether or not it 'validates' according to the
made-up schema is best thought of as 'business logic' specific to the
made-up schema.
-----------------------------------------
G. Hussain Chinoy
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Chief Information Architect, CEO
Granularity Information Architecture, Inc.
http://www.granularity.com/
PGP key: http://www.granularity.net/~hussain/
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