Service Bus Explorer 2.3 and 2.1 improved version now available

  • Article

I just released an improved version of the Service Bus Explorer 2.1 and a new version (2.3) of the tool based on the Microsoft.ServiceBus.dll 2.3.2.0.

The zip file contains:

  • The source code for the Service Bus Explorer 2.3.2.0. This version of the tool uses the Microsoft.ServiceBus.dll 2.3.2.0 that is compatible with the current version of the Windows Azure Service Bus, but not with the Service Bus 1.1, that is, the current version of the on-premises version of the Service Bus.
  • The Service Bus Explorer 2.1.3.0. This version can be used with the Service Bus 1.1. The Service Bus Explorer 2.1 uses the Microsoft.ServiceBus.dll client library which is compatible with the Service Bus for Windows Server 1.1 RTM version, but not with the 1.1 Beta version or the Service Bus for Windows Server 1.0. For this reason, for those of you that are still using the Service Bus for Windows Server version 1.0, I included the old version (1.8) of the Service Bus Explorer in a zip file called 1.8 which in turn is contained in the zip file of the current version. The old version of the Service Bus Explorer uses the Microsoft.ServiceBus.dll 1.8 which is compatible with the Service Bus for Windows Server. For those of you that are instead using the Service Bus for Windows Server 1.1 Beta, you can download the Service Bus Explorer 2.0 from my SkyDrive.
  • The Service Bus Explorer 1.8. This version can be used with the Service Bus 1.0

This version introduces the following features:

  • Improved support for AMQP transport protocol in the Connect Form. For example, when using the Service Bus Explorer to connect to an on-premises namespace, if you select AMQP as Transport Type in the Connect Form, the tool automatically changes the value of the TransportType and RuntimePort parameters:
    • NetMessaging: RuntimePort=9354;TransportType=NetMessaging
    • AMQP: RuntimePort=5671;TransportType=Amqp
  • Added support for the stsEndpoint parameter in the connection string for cloud namespaces. This feature was specifically requested by the Service Bus team.
  • The tool can now use the AMQP transport protocol to read messages from queues, subscriptions and deadletter queues.
  • Added full support to namespace-level SAS connection strings, both in the configuration file and Connect Form.
  • Changed Receive label into Receive and Delete in the ReceiveModeForm to make it clear that the receive operation deletes messages from the underlying queue, subscription or deadletter queue.
  • Fixed a bug when reading messages from the deadletter queue of a queue or subscription.
  • Fixed a bug in the SelectEntityForm: replaced TreeView.TopNode with TreeView.Nodes[0]
  • Implemented support for the new ForwardDeadLetteredMessagesTo property of the QueueDescription and SubscriptionDescription classes.

  • Implemented batching support in the listener for queues and subscriptions. You can now specify a value for the PrefetchCount property used by the MessageReceiver object used by the listener to prefetch multiple messages from a queue or subscription. This greatly improves the overall performance of the listener. Now you can also specify the value for the Mode property of the the MessageReceiver object used by the listener.

To enable or disable this feature, you can use the showMessageCount setting in the configuration file, or use the new Show Message Count checkbox in the Options Form as shown in the picture below.

  • As shown in the figure below, numbers in the property list of queues, topics, subscriptions, and notification hubs are now formatted to make it easier to read their value.

  • Replaced the logo to reflect the recent change of name from Windows Azure to Microsoft Azure.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    May 21, 2014
    Cool stuff, very useful. Now if only there was a matrix to decipher the Azure/On-Prem to ServiceBusExplorer version... ;)

  • Anonymous
    May 21, 2014
    Ah ah ah... That is true Daniel ;) Unfortunately the cloud version of the Service Bus moves faster with respect to the on-premises version. Hence, the client library for the on-premises version is stuck at 2.1 while the cloud one arrived to 2.3. That's why I have to maintain two different versions of the tool. :'( Ciao Paolo

  • Anonymous
    July 29, 2014
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    July 31, 2014
    Hi mate the answer is not that I know! You have a lot of options at your disposal, especially on Azure and all of them depend on your specific needs! Ciao Paolo

  • Anonymous
    August 05, 2014
    This is awesome stuff! It is much better than the Web Console given by Microsoft! Thank for creating this.

  • Anonymous
    August 05, 2014
    Thanks for the comment mate, really appreciated. :) Ciao, Paolo

  • Anonymous
    October 02, 2014
    Any word on when the next version of Service Bus for Windows Server will be released?  I am currently building out an implementation and there are a couple of features that were released in Azure earlier in the year that I could really use.   When I first started using Service Bus for Windows Server, I was under the impression that it would not fall more than 12 months behind Azure (from several Microsoft blogs) - is that still the guidance? BTW - Service Bus Explorer has been a life saver, I have used it for numerous demonstrations (it is much more effective to actually see messages in the queues vs having messages 'magically' appear on a demo application or console).  Thanks for all of your work on it. Thanks, Andy

  • Anonymous
    October 12, 2014
    Great job Paolo, 100 times better than the MS web console. I started playing with your tools and it is really useful, however, I am not able to find some talk or how to use the node "Relay Services". I have 4 relay services in my service bus but nothing is displayed when refreshing like the other categories like Topics or queues. Yhanks in advance

  • Anonymous
    October 12, 2014
    Thanks for the positive feedback! In order to see the relay services in my tool you need to make them discovable using the the ServiceRegistrySettins endpoint behavior: msdn.microsoft.com/.../microsoft.servicebus.serviceregistrysettings.aspx Ciao Paolo

  • Anonymous
    October 14, 2014
    Great Job, it is really usefull, Thanx

  • Anonymous
    October 18, 2014
    Why not consider putting this entire project on github?

  • Anonymous
    October 19, 2014
    Hi Wayne! The project is already on GitHub: github.com/.../ServiceBusExplorer :) Ciao Paolo