BizTalk 2006 and Team Foundation Server map/schema issues

Question

I am having some issues with Visual Studio 2005 crashing when referencing
schemas or maps from different projects.  We are using BizTalk 2006, Visual
Studio 2005, and Team Foundation Server for source control. 

I have three projects:
SchemaProject1
SchemaProject2
MapProject (has a ref to SchemaProject1 & SchemaProject2)

Steps to reproduce problem
1) Add a new map to MapProject.
    New map is added successfully
2) Click on the Source Schema link to choose a source schema
    Visual Studio does not respond by opening the Schema Picker dialog. 
Instead it just blinks for a few seconds and acts like the link was never
selected.

At this point, Visual Studio has already become unstable.  When i try to
close the solution or individual projects, I get the following error:

Error
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unexpected error encountered.  It is recommended that you restart the
application as soon as possible.

Error: HRESULT: 0x80131527
File: vsee\internal\inc\vscomptr.inl
Line number: 473
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have read a couple of posts that indicate that when working with BizTalk
artifacts (schemas, maps) you should set the encoding in source safe to
binary.  Since I am using Team Foundation Server, does that apply to this
situation? I checked Source Control Explorer properties for each file and
they were all set to utf-16.

Is utf-16 the correct encoding type one should be using when creating
schemas, maps? I believe utf-16 is the default for BizTalk, correct?

Also, I found that using assembly references to reference the above projects
rather than project references alleviates this problem.

Answer 1

Hi Monish:

One of our developers in doing a quick investigation to see if it is Team Foundation Server or if we need to contact another person in Visual Studio to look at this problem.  We will communicate status as soon as we learn something.

thanks,

mario

 

Answer 2

I am unable to reproduce this issue.  I created the three projects (two with schema files, one with a map file), added them to TFS Source Control and checked in.  I then added the two project references (to the schema projects) in the map project and checked in.  I then clicked on the source schema link and was presented with the browser dialog.  I was able to select both the source and destination schema files.

A few questions:

1) Is this reproducible (i.e. can you get the error message again with TFS source control by running through the same steps with a new set of projects)?

2) Do you observer the same behavior if no source control is involved?

3) At what point do you add the projects and solution to Source Control (e.g. after projects and schema/map files are created, but before project references are created, etc.)?

Thanks,

Ben Ryan

Answer 3

1) Is this reproducible (i.e. can you get the error message again with TFS source control by running through the same steps with a new set of projects)?
Unfortunately, no.  I created a new solution, schema projects and created cross references to test this and I did not run into the problem.  I tested this newly created solution before and after I added it to source control.

2) Do you observer the same behavior if no source control is involved?
No, if source control is not involved, then I have not seen this issue.

3) At what point do you add the projects and solution to Source Control (e.g. after projects and schema/map files are created, but before project references are created, etc.)?
Projects and solutions were added very early on into Source Control so the references and the schemas/maps all came afterwards.

In general, I have observed erratic behavior of the BizTalk project templates within Visual Studio (TFS Source Control may play some part in this also).  The problems seem to happen usually after a 1 > hours of development time. 

I ran another test that may be useful for you to know.  Originally, I suspected that the error occurs when the Schema Browser dialog for the map (In MapProject) tries to parse the referenced schema projects (SchemaProject1 & SchemaProject2). 

1) I went ahead and removed all the schemas from SchemaProject1 & SchemaProject2. 
2) Then I opened the map and clicked on the Select Source Schema link
3) Same behavior.  The map thinks for a sec and then doesn't open the Schema Browser.

Do you think the platform may play a role here? Here is my platform information.

All on a VPC image:
WinXP Pro SP2
SQL Server 2005
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition
TFS Client Tools (for Team Explorer, SC Explorer, etc)
BizTalk Server 2006

Answer 4

Unfortunately, I cannot reproduce the problem with the original steps or this new sequence.  I am skeptical that your platform is to blame.  I'm running the same bits with the exception of my using Win 2003 Server instead of XP (and not using a VPC).

I am wondering if the BizTalk Server installation may be broken.  The error message you listed in your first post is one that the SCC integration layer gives when it makes a COM call to QueryInterface and it fails.  While there are several places this call is made, the most likely one is one where SCC is calling QueryInterface on the project.  Since all of your projects are BizTalk, I'm wondering if there is a BizTalk setup issue that caused the QueryInterface to fail.

It might be worth going to BizTalk server under Add/Remove Programs, choosing Change/Remove and then running a repair to see if this has any affect on the problem.

--Ben Ryan

Answer 5

I'm facing a similar problem. I have 2 BizTalk projects - one containing Xml schema definitions and the other containing orchestrations and maps. The orchestrations project references the schemas BizTalk project. The reference is a project reference.

The entire solution is checked into source control (Team foundation server).

 Initially when I added the project reference and defined the maps, there were no issues. Now, when I want to go back and update those transforms (right click the transform shape and then click launch BizTalk Mapper), I get the error "Failed to load source schema...". The Map does not open. If I close Visual Studio after this, i get the following error (sometimes 3 times)
 ---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Studio
---------------------------

Unexpected error encountered. It is recommended that you restart the application as soon as possible.
Error: HRESULT: 0x80131527
File: vsee\internal\inc\vscomptr.inl
Line number: 473

---------------------------
OK  
---------------------------

My environment is similar to what has been mentioned by Monish above

WinXP Pro SP2
SQL Server 2005
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition
TFS Client Tools (for Team Explorer, SC Explorer, etc)
BizTalk Server 2006

 

This issue does not arise if (direct) assembly file references are used instead of project references.

Is this a known issue? or am I missing something?

 

Thank you

Tanveer Rashid

Answer 6

One possible workaround is -

Let's assume the solution contains one or more schema/dependant projects that are referenced in the orchestration & map projects. Now suppose we want to make an update to the schema and subsequently the map, then

 1. Build the schema/dependant project(s)
2. Check-out the biztalk orchestration project and remove the project reference of the (dependant) assembly in which the changed/updated schema resides
3. Add a direct assembly file reference of the schema/dependant assembly
4. Open the map(s) and make the required changes
5. Save and build,
6. If the build goes through successfully, remove the direct assembly file reference and re-add the reference to the schema/dependant assembly as a project reference. Now check-in ...

 

This way we can keep progressing with development and make changes to the maps etc on the developer stations and still continue to use TFS and team build without introducing absolute assembly references that might cause problems on the build server

-Tanveer Rashid

Answer 7

Hi,

I'm able to reproduce the problem:

This problem happen when I have one class library project and one biztalk
project in the same solution.
if I reference the class library project in the biztalk project, this error
happens, if I only reference the dll assembly of the class library the error
doesn't happen again


best regards

Rui

Answer 8

Hi,

I dont think this is a TFS problem as we have been getting this problem off and on for a few weeks.  We are instead using MKS (not through choice ill add).

Some of the scenarios we have found are:

1. One developer had the problem and found that when he added all of the BizTalk artifacts to the same project he stopped getting the problem.  This was okay for weeks then only today it has again started happening.  As a test we have just tried point 2 below.  We removed the C# test project from his solution (it had tests to use BizUnit) once the project was removed the map started working fine again.  When we re-added the project the map immediately stopped working.

2. One other developer has been getting the problem and found that if he drops the C# Unit Test projects from his solution he stops getting the problem.  It reappears as soon as he re-adds the test project. (note he has multiple biztalk projects ie: one for schemas and one for maps)

Based on what we have our problems seem to be caused by the test projects.  does this help anyone else who is experiencing the problem?

 

Answer 9

Hello Michael,

This did indeed help me out. I was facing a similar problem, not using TFS but VSS2005.

Trying to replace a source/target schema in a BTM was not possible, with the behaviour as described above. I did have 2 test projects in the same solution, and just removing these from the solution did solve the problem! Let's hope it remains stable now ...

Thanks,

Dirk

Answer 10

I'm getting this error too..

Michael's tip with creating a new solution and just including the biztalk project containing the schemas maps worked to get around the problem.. Still annoying though and I hope Microsoft will be able to reproduce and fix this soon.

Answer 11

Michael,

 

I just ran into this issue again today and it turns out that the problem started happening after I added the Unit Test project.  As soon as a I removed the Unit Test project everything worked fine.  Kudos to you for finding a workaround!

 

Now I just need to figure out a way to run my unit tests elsewhere.  In addition, I would hope that this particular conflict between VS 2005 BizTalk project templates and the Unit test project templates can be addressed through a fix.

 

Does anyone know if it is addressed in VS 2005 SP1?

 

Thanks

 

 

Answer 12

I have vs2005sp1 installed and I still have this issue (lots of vscomptr.inl internal errors, unable to open maps!)

 

And indeed, if I remove my unit test assembly, than everything is fine.

 

Can someone from Microsoft comment on whether a fix is coming?  I hate to remove our unit tests from our solution altogether.

 

Scott Colestock

Answer 13

Good point.  I have unmarked the workaround stated above as an answer.  Hopefully this will raise the issue to MSFT.

Answer 14

Could it have anything to do with how the BizTalk file types are saved in Team Foundation Server? I know that for SourceSafe the filetypes *.btm;*.btp;*.xsd;*.odx have to be added to the list of file types to be treated as binary. See:

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa578477.aspx

 

 Does Team Foundation Server have the same option?

Answer 15

I am also experiencing similar issues.  I do have one unit test project in my solution and integrated with TFS.  However, I do not have issues with opening the map just due to that unit test project.

 

Instead, I needed to add a C# class library project for a code component for a map.  If I add a brand new empty C# Class Library project to my solution and add a project reference to it from my BizTalk maps project, the map fails to open with the "failed to open source schema" error, and then the vscomptr.inl errors.  If I simply delete the class library project reference from the map project, the map opens fine again.  It makes no sense at all, but clearly there is a bug somewhere.

 

Tom

 

Answer 16

I ran into the same issue.

Unloading the UnitTest project from the solution solved it for me.

Although this obviously isn't a permanent solution.

Answer 17

Afaik, TFS stores all files in the same way, it will never modify content of any type of file (I understand that this is the concern in this case).

However you can specify which files are allowed to be merged (during conflicts) - in Team Explorer, right click root node, select Team Foundation Server Settings->Source Control File Types

Answer 18

Can someone from Microsoft propose a solution to this problem?

 

Thanks

Answer 19

According to XUEZHAI NI [MSFT]'s reply of a newsgroup post in microsoft.public.biztalk.general,  this is a known issue of Biztalk 2006, A C# project may affect map to load schema in another project reference. Hope this will be fixed in the next release.

 

Answer 20

anyone tried the fix in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926344?

Answer 21

Apparently, this is VS 2005 BizTalk project and TFS integration issue. I can't move schemas and maps in the same project for the solution I'm currently working on and have to deal with this problem daily. Any updates from MS?