Chapter 10. The Business Rules Framework

by Charles Young

In This Chapter

• The Importance of Rules

• Example Scenario: Order Processing

• Real-World Rule-Processing

• The Business Rules Framework

• Components and Tools

• Rule Definition and Deployment

• Using Rules with BizTalk Server

BizTalk Server offers developers a rich and diverse toolkit for integration and process management. As well as messaging and orchestration, it provides support for managing business rules. The Business Rules Framework (BRF) defines programmatic models and component interfaces for rules-based development together with tools, components, and a rule repository. Tools include the Rules Engine Deployment Wizard for creating, testing, publishing, and deploying rule sets. The BRF also implements the Rule Engine Update Service. This Windows service runs locally on each BizTalk box and manages dynamic deployment of rule sets across multiple machines. The BRF also provides the Business Rules Engine (BRE) for processing rules against XML, .NET objects, ADO.NET data tables, and external databases.