Configure a Solicit-Response Send Port for the CData BizTalk Adapter for JSON

This section provides step-by-step instructions for creating, configuring, and testing a static solicit-response send port using the CData BizTalk Adapter for JSON. You can use a static solicit-response send port to execute commands and access the results in BizTalk. You can use send ports to execute updategram commands, SQL commands, and stored procedure operations.

Create and Configure the Send Port

Create a static solicit-response send port and configure it to use the adapter as its transport type.

1. If you have not already done so, open your BizTalk application in the BizTalk Administration Console.
2. In the node for your BizTalk application, right-click Send Ports and select New -> Static Solicit-Response Send Port. The Send Port Properties dialog is displayed.
3. In the Send Port properties, enter a name for the receive port.
4. In the Transport Type menu, select CData.JSON;.
5. In the Send pipeline menu, select the default option, PassThruTransmit.
6. In the Receive pipeline menu, select the default option, PassThruReceive.

Configure the Adapter

Define the command the adapter will execute in the Transport Properties dialog.

1. In the send port properties, click the Configure button. The Adapter Transport Properties dialog is displayed.
2. In the CommandType property, select the command type you want.
3. If you want to execute an SQL command, enter the command in the SQL Command box.

Refer to the "Adapter Configuration" chapter in the help documentation for a description of the various properties and their functions.

Configure the Connection to JSON

Configure credentials and other properties required to connect to JSON in the Connection String Options dialog.

1. In the send port properties, click Configure. The adapter properties dialog is displayed.
2. Click the button in the Connection String property. The Connection String Options dialog is displayed.
3. Enter the connection properties. Below is a typical connection string:

   URI=C:\people.json;DataModel=Relational;

   See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation to authenticate to your data source: The data provider models JSON APIs as bidirectional database tables and JSON files as read-only views (local files, files stored on popular cloud services, and FTP servers). The major authentication schemes are supported, including HTTP Basic, Digest, NTLM, OAuth, and FTP. See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation for authentication guides.

   After setting the URI and providing any authentication values, set DataModel to more closely match the data representation to the structure of your data.

   The DataModel property is the controlling property over how your data is represented into tables and toggles the following basic configurations.

   • Document (default): Model a top-level, document view of your JSON data. The data provider returns nested elements as aggregates of data.
   • FlattenedDocuments: Implicitly join nested documents and their parents into a single table.
   • Relational: Return individual, related tables from hierarchical data. The tables contain a primary key and a foreign key that links to the parent document.

   See the Modeling JSON Data chapter for more information on configuring the relational representation. You will also find the sample data used in the following examples. The data includes entries for people, the cars they own, and various maintenance services performed on those cars.

4. Click Test Connection to verify the values and test connectivity.

Refer to the "Connection String Options" chapter in the help documentation for a description of the various properties and their functions. The updategram tutorial for the adapter for JSON walks through the steps to create a simple application that uses a solicit-response send port to execute an insert updategram to JSON.