It leverages the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) based canvas allowing users to visually design processes. K2 wizards generate WPF schedules and activities, which can be customized in the Visual Studio environment.

Processes can incorporate both .NET 3.5 and .NET 4 code into the same process definition, providing application longevity and leveraging the latest Microsoft platform technologies.

SourceCode, K2, K2 blackpearl, K2 blackpearl 4.5, Microsoft, Visual Studio 2010, WPF, Windows Presentation Foundation

After some searching, I found this post outlining how an install of Office 2010 on a 64-bit environment was the problem and corrupted the Visual Studio Web Authoring Component. The fix is pretty straight forward:

1.  If an automatic upgrade was performed from Office 2007 (32-bit) to Office 2010 (32-bit) on a 64-bit OS:

• In Add/Remove Programs, locate "Microsoft Visual Studio Web Authoring Component"
• Right-click and select "Change"
• When a dialog opens, choose "Repair" option

2.  If you manually uninstalled Office 2007 on a 64-bit OS:

• In Add/Remove Programs, uninstall "Microsoft Visual Studio Web Authoring Component"
• If you are using Visual Studio 2008:
  • From the Visual Studio 2008 media, navigate into the WCU\WebDesignerCore folder and install WebDesignerCore.exe
  • If you were upgraded to Visual Studio 2008 SP1, you must reinstall Service Pack 1 for Visual Studio 2008.
• If you are using Visual Web Developer Express:
  • Uninstall and reinstall Visual Web Developer 2008 Express

Links
Rosscify Article
Microsoft KB Article

Visual Studio, Visual Studio 2008, Microsoft Office 2010

I was looking into the options for upgrading BizTalk Server 2006 applications to BizTalk Server 2009, and came across this great BizTalk Server 2009 Upgrade Migration Chart.

Link: BizTalk Server 2009 Upgrade Migration Chart

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2009

Recently I ran into an installation problem with BizTalk Server 2009 and the ESB Toolkit 2.0 on a 64-bit Windows 2008 R2 server. There are two issues to deal with here:

1. BizTalk Server 2009 is not supported on Windows Server 2008 R2, only Windows Server 2008.
2. On the 64-bit environment, the powershell command scripts use BTSCalatogExplorer OM which is only available in 32-bit mode. After manually loading the 32-bit powershell console and running the script, all is well.

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2009, ESB Toolkit 2.0, Windows Server 2008 R2

Of course SQL Server Reporting Services is still supported where customers wish to publish reports to externally, i.e. not in the K2 Workspace or SharePoint Process Portals; or want to develop reports with alternate design tools and then import the reports into the K2 Workspace. In this case the K2 Reporting Component for SQL Server Reporting Services needs to be installed on the SQL Server.

It is also possible to remove the dependency on SSRS completely. The K2 Knowledge Center has an article explaining how to do it in more detail here.

K2, K2 blackpearl 4.5, SQL Server Reporting Services, SSRS

With the announcement regarding the release of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 on April 12th, I started thinking about some conversations that I’ve had with clients over the last couple of months. Many have expressed interest in getting to use the new development environment and were eagerly waiting for its release. In two cases these clients didn’t have source control systems. I would never have believed it, however I’ve seen it (or the lack of it). To make it worse, one of these is an enterprise level organization with scores of development teams, developing everything from their corporate web site to large scale EAI initiatives. Their reason for not using source control – Team Foundation Server is too complex to install and manage. And they do daily backups. Well, okay then!

Back to Visual Studio. Visual Studio is much more than just a development environment these days, in conjunction with Team Foundation Server, it’s an application lifecycle management system. It’s features include version control, build automation and work item tracking to name but a few. As far as I’m concerned, having these capabilities is essential to organisations that do a lot of in-house development. One option that I often recommend is to use a hosted solution. Let the experts take care of it! Over the past year I’ve made use Praktik Hosting for work with some of my clients, especially the small to midsize and remote clients. They have a great monthly subscription plan and have never been down. So, get Visual Studio 2010, and leave Team Foundation Server to the experts.

Microsoft, Visual Studio 2010, Team Foundation Server, Praktik Hosting

The BizTalk ESB Architecture Poster is now available from the Microsoft Download Center.

Link: BizTalk ESB Toolkit Architecture Poster

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2009, ESB Toolkit, Microsoft Download Center

On Monday K2 announced the release of K2 4.5. K2 4.5 includes several new features and enhancements to the family of K2 products, K2 blackpearl, K2 blackpoint and K2 connect. K2 4.5 is  geared to increase versatility and scalability, as well as simplifying maintenance.

K2 4.5 contains several new features and enhancements including:

• An updated, more powerful Web-based designer, K2 Designer for SharePoint and K2 Studio
• Inline functions, allowing process designers to include functions and calculations in processes without having to write code
• Enhanced SmartObject functionality
• Memory and performance improvements, across design time and runtime
• A simplified installation experience

My top 3 new features are:

1. K2 Studio – the new standalone designer that can used to build quick process driven applications (regular and SharePoint based applications).
   
2. The K2 Designer for SharePoint – providing a simplified design environment to build workflow processes in SharePoint.
   
3. Inline Functions – allowing for complex logic and calculations within the design canvas – no more calling code functions.
    

K2, K2 blackpearl, K2 blackpoint, K2 connect, K2 Studio, Inline Functions, K2 Designer for SharePoint

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2010, ESB, ESB Toolkit 2.1

Microsoft announced that the upcoming release of BizTalk Server 2009 R2 will be renamed to BizTalk Server 2010. Why was this done – well, Microsoft says that initially the release was meant to provide support for Windows Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2 and Visual Studio 2010. Since then they have included a key features, thereby expanding on the scope of the release. These features include:

• Enhanced trading partner management – enabling customers to manage complex B2B relationships with ease.
• Enhanced BizTalk Mapper – critical to increasing productivity in both EAI and B2B solutions.
• Enable secure data transfer – across business partners with FTPS adapter
• Updated adapters for SAP 7, Oracle eBusiness Suite 12.1, SharePoint 2010 and SQL Server 2008 R2.
• Improved and simplified management – including an updated System Center management pack.
• Simplified management through single dashboard – further enabling backup and restore BizTalk configuration.
• Enhanced performance tuning capabilities – at Host and Host Instance level.
• Out of box event filtering and delivery of RFID events.

One benefit customers will see is the support window being reset to 10 years (5 years mainstream and 5 years extended support).

Microsoft, BizTalk, BizTalk Server 2009 R2, BizTalk 2010