Note the following considerations when you export a business process orchestration diagram to BizTalk Server:

• When you export a business process orchestration diagram to BizTalk Server, ODBA launches the Orchestration Checker tool to validate the workflow. For information about how to use Orchestration Checker, and what it checks, see How to Validate a Business Process Orchestration Diagram.
  
• If your business process orchestration diagram contains non-ODBA shapes or connectors, they are not included in the exported file. The workflow checker presents an error message saying that non-ODBA shapes will not be exported to BizTalk. For information about adding non-ODBA shapes and connectors to a business process orchestration diagram, see How to Add Non-ODBA Shapes and Connectors.
  
• ODBA does not support the full round-trip of business process orchestration diagrams (.odx files) from ODBA to Orchestration Designer, and back again. For example:
  
  1. In ODBA, you create a business process orchestration diagram. You save the diagram as a Visio (.vsd) file and export it to BizTalk Server. The export process generates an .odx file.
     
  2. In Visual Studio, a solutions developer adds the .odx file to a BizTalk project and updates it. The solutions developer saves the orchestration (.odx) file.
     
  3. In ODBA, you open the updated .odx file. The updated .odx file has no physical relationship to either the business process orchestration diagram (.vsd file) you saved, or to the original .odx file you exported from ODBA.
     

     Note
     Files of type .odx with the same file name overwrite each other if you copy them to the same location.

  4. In ODBA, you update the business process orchestration diagram and export it to BizTalk Server (.odx file). In Visual Studio, the solutions developer must re-add the .odx file to the BizTalk project. The newly added .odx file has no physical relationship to the original orchestration.
     

1. In the ODBA menu, click Export to BizTalk.

2. In the Export to BizTalk dialog box, from the Pages to export list, select the check box of the first page you want to export, and then click Browse.

3. In the Save ODX dialog box, do the following:

   Note
   If you create a design with more than one page, you must save each page as a separate .odx file.

   Use this	To do this
   Save in	Browse to the folder in which you want to save the ODX file.
   File name	Type a file name for the ODX file.
   Save as type	From the drop-down list, select odx file (*.odx).

4. Click Save.

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to save any additional pages as ODX files, and then click OK.

   The Orchestration Checker dialog box opens automatically and checks the validity of each ODX file. You must correct any validation errors before you can complete the export process. For information about using Orchestration Checker, see How to Validate a Business Process Orchestration Diagram.

   When the export process is complete, you can send the exported .odx file to the solutions developer.

   Important
   We strongly recommend that solutions developers only open .odx files from a trusted source. The solutions developer must save the .odx file in Orchestration Designer in Visual Studio before building the project.

A solutions developer adds an exported business process orchestration diagram to a BizTalk project. The solutions developer uses the business process orchestration diagram as the basis for building a BizTalk orchestration. The solutions developer must modify the diagram so that as an orchestration it compiles.

 To import a business process orchestration diagram into a BizTalk project

1. In Visual Studio, in Solution Explorer, right-click a BizTalk project, point to Add, and then click Existing Item.

2. In the Add Existing Item dialog box, select the exported business process orchestration diagram (.odx) file, and then click Add.

   Note
   For information about working with BizTalk orchestrations, see the "Creating Orchestrations Using Orchestration Designer" topic in BizTalk Server 2006 Help.

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