I recently encountered an issue while trying to debug a Blazor client project. Googling any Blazor debugging issues returns lots of results, all of them related to breakpoints not being hit. However, my problem was that despite hitting breakpoints, no variable values etc. could be examined. So debugging did nothing beyond pausing execution.
JSON schema generation from sample data in Azure Data Factory
While trying to write mapping within a Copy shape in Azure Data Factory, I hit a stumbling block with generated JSON schemas. The problem occurs when you generate a schema containing an array, and the first instance of that array happens to be empty in your sample data.
Linq to SQL in Entity Framework Core 3
The Problem If you’ve had the privilege of updating EF Core from version 2.x, you’ve no doubt enjoyed all kinds of Linq to SQL errors and null reference exceptions. There’s a big change in 3.x that’s behind this. In older versions, when your Linq to SQL couldn’t successfully be translated to SQL at run time,… Continue reading Linq to SQL in Entity Framework Core 3
Application startup exception Exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException
After setting up an Azure App Service recently, I got the following error when trying to browse. The fix was simple but not obvious.
Find out which timeout is causing your transmission failure
One of the more common BizTalk connection problems to end systems is a timeout. Maybe you are dealing with an unexpected spike in data, or perhaps your connection is just a bit lethargic today. No problem, just extend the timeout, right? Errm… which one? If you look at the port bindings, you can see there… Continue reading Find out which timeout is causing your transmission failure
Using custom XSLT for BizTalk maps
By default, you define your message transformations in BizTalk using the BizTalk Mapper, a unique tool which uses connectors and “functoids” to construct your logic. The mapper is quite powerful, but is another mechanism that has to be learned carefully. Beyond the basics, it’s not very intuitive and doesn’t always work the way you might… Continue reading Using custom XSLT for BizTalk maps
BizTalkDTADb tracking database
BizTalk administrators often rely on tracking data, which shows you past events that happened in BizTalk. Querying this information through the BizTalk Administration Console can be quite slow if you have a large tracking database, and also has a learning curve before you can construct the right queries. Fortunately, many of these queries just return… Continue reading BizTalkDTADb tracking database
Tracking in BizTalk
Getting your Tracking settings right in BizTalk is a balancing act, and especially for Production. All too often, tracking won’t get proper consideration until your integrations have been live for a while, and you start to hit a few problems as your tracking database grows larger. Here I’ll talk through the main factors that affect… Continue reading Tracking in BizTalk
WCF-SQL System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
I recently got an unhelpful null reference error in a BizTalk WCF-SQL port, while attempting to connect to an Azure database. System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null. Parameter name: key
Many of the in-built BizTalk adapters used WCF, including connections to Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle databases, and web services. BizTalk is very strict about supplying a SOAP Action header, and if you forget to specify it in the send port, you will get this particularly unhelpful error: System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null. Parameter name: key