FarPoint Technologies has released their first beta of the new FarPoint Spread for BizTalk Server 2006. They are actively seeking developers from the BizTalk community to test this beta's capabilities to it's fullest extent. I've been using this for several months now and it's a truly great addition to any BizTalk developer's arsenal.
I'll be demonstrating this tool as part of my Commerce Server 2007 BizTalk Adapters "Chalk Talk" at TechEd next week, to automate the Catalog load process. If you're going to be attending TechEd, you should stop by the chalk talks (as well as the FarPoint booth) and see how this cool new parser can really save you a lot of time loading your Commerce Server catalogs. This is a great demonstration of how to automate your business processes using multiple Microsoft and third-party products with very little programming effort!
By the way, if you're looking for a sample of how this component works, take a look HERE! I've uploaded a quick & dirty Visual Studio Solution which uses the new FarPoint Spread for BizTalk Server to parse an Excel file which is then mapped to another XML format. Be sure to sign up for the beta and follow the installation instructions for the component before running this example
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