BizTalk map preserving whitespace

Question

According to the documentation at MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa561674.aspx), BizTalk maps should not preserve whitespace.

However, after a recent upgrade from 2006 to 2006 R2 our system seems now to be preserving whitespace.

For example, when the element Field in the following XML:

<ns0:Root xmlns:ns0="http://BizTalk_Server_Project2.source1">

<Field>

</Field>

</ns0:Root>

gets mapped to an element called Field1 in a slightly different schema:

<ns0:Root Field1="&#xD;&#xA;  " xmlns:ns0="http://BizTalk_Server_Project2.destination>

the whitespace remains in place.

This is causing us a problem because the max length of the destination field is 1.

I can't check (because the upgrade process does not seem to be reversible) but I don't believe this was the case prior to R2.

Can anyone tell me if this is correct behaviour, and whether it has changed in R2?

Many thanks,
Alister.

Answer 1

Update: one of my colleagues has just run the same test in BizTalk 2006 (non-R2) and confirmed that the behaviour is different.

In BizTalk 2006 we get this as the output:

<ns0:Root Field1="" xmlns:ns0="http://BizTalk_Server_Project2.destination>

This is a serious issue for us because our system expects the whitespace to be stripped; and unfortunately we need R2 because of a critical bugfix it contains in another area.

Does anyone know how we can revert to the previous behaviour?

Answer 2

OK, after some digging in Reflector, I have got to the bottom of this.  The behaviour has indeed changed in R2, although this is not documented anywhere that I can find.

In BizTalk 2006 (non-R2), the method Microsoft.BizTalk.ScalableTransformation.BTSXslTransform.DoStandardTransformation looks like this:

private void DoStandardTransform(Stream strm, XsltArgumentList args, Stream output, XmlResolver resolver)

{

Trace.Tracer.TraceMessage(4, "LMT:Use Standard Transformation", new object[0]);

XPathDocument input = new XPathDocument(strm);

this.xform.Transform(input, args, output, resolver);

Trace.Tracer.TraceMessage(4, "LMT:Done with Standard Transformation", new object[0]);

}

But in R2 it looks like this:

private void DoStandardTransform(Stream strm, XsltArgumentList args, Stream output, XmlResolver resolver)

{

Trace.Tracer.TraceMessage(4, "LMT:Use Standard Transformation", new object[0]);

if (legacyWhitespaceBehavior)

{

this.xform.Transform(new XPathDocument(strm), args, output, resolver);

}

else

{

this.xform.Transform(new XPathDocument(new XmlTextReader(strm), XmlSpace.Preserve), args, output, resolver);

}

Trace.Tracer.TraceMessage(4, "LMT:Done with Standard Transformation", new object[0]);

}

Digging a little further, I found that legacyWhitespaceBehaviour gets set in the static constructor:

static BTSXslTransform()

{

Transform_CLSID = new Guid("{917718A6-67E1-47c0-9267-2164A0DF632B}");

legacyWhitespaceBehavior = false;

defaultAutoSwitchThreshold = 0x100000;

int registryValue = Utils.GetRegistryValue("TransformThreshold", @"Software\Microsoft\BizTalk Server\3.0\Administration");

if (registryValue > 0)

{

defaultAutoSwitchThreshold = registryValue;

}

if (Utils.GetRegistryValue("LegacyWhitespace", @"Software\Microsoft\BizTalk Server\3.0\Administration") > 0)

{

legacyWhitespaceBehavior = true;

}

}

And sure enough, by creating the registry key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\BizTalk Server\3.0\Administration\LegacyWhitespace and setting it to 1, I get the result I was expecting.

Googling for "biztalk legacywhitespace" returns no results, so this is apparently a completely undocumented feature  >:(

Answer 3

Alister,

I'm having the same issue in BizTalk 2006 R2 so i followed to create Reg Key but no luck. Pls help me.

Thanks,
Raja Kumaravel

Answer 4

Hi,
Alister has provided solution for this issue:
open registry on R2 Biztalk box and
create new Dword named LegacyWhitespace under
by creating the registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\BizTalk Server\3.0\Administration
and setting it to 1

---

KiranMP

Answer 5

Hi,

I created the same key, recycled hosts and rebooted server as well.

I am still getting the same error.

What am i doing wrong?

Answer 6

Hi,

I created the same key, recycled hosts and rebooted server as well.

I am still getting the same error.

What am i doing wrong?

Our server was Win 2003 X64. But the hosts were running as 32 bit.
This article states the location for 32 bit apps on a 64 bit OS. After updating in this location it started to work

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/896459

 For 32 bit applications running on 64 bit OS the registry settings are stored under HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node

 

Answer 7

if triming is taken care in th R2 then this would logically incorrect..it should not behave like this n it is also not...

its as simple as this...when u pass a string to the u should expect the same string. so when u give xml as

<ns0:Root xmlns:ns0="http://BizTalk_Server_Project2.source1">  
  <Field> 
  </Field> 
</ns0:Root>

this itself clearly shows there is a newline charecter in the Field element. so there would be an newline charater expected in in the destination.

for handling this one should use triming functiods

@Alister Whitford
please provide relevant proof for wat u say...it sounds intersting

Answer 8

well we have done enough tests about this and confirmed that R2 is preserving whitespaces. also we checked using reflector.
by changing/creating registry value we could get expected output.

---

KiranMP

Answer 9

Hello,

I just upgrade from <BTS 2006 R2> to <BTS 2006 R2 SP1> and now BizTalk Maps do not preserve whitespace.

BizTalk is installed on a Win 2003 Server R2 32 bit.

Does anayone know how to solve this problem ?

Thanks,

Jacques.