self correlating ports (and parallel processing)

the image above belongs to an orchestration i wrote to update a table with a list of currencies. the process is rather simple: all we have to do, is get the list of currencies we support (from the database), and then update the exchange rate.

to do this, i chose to use and extremely parallel method, in which every currency spins off its own thread, calls the service that contains current exchange quotes, and updates its value in the db.

what you don't see in the image above is the code that gets the list from the database and then instantiates a new orchestration for each currency. what you do see, is the part where the orchestrations (when they have finished their work) call back to signal that they have finished. after this, we send out an email notifying that we've updated all currencies.

doing this in biztalk is rather simple, since the functionality to asynchronously start orchestrations comes out of the box, and call backs are easily implement with self correlating ports. i like how biztalk makes this parallel process extremely simple.

if you wish to learn more about how to setup self corrlating ports, visit Stephen W. Thomas BizTalk Blog here for detailed instructions.