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Converting XML in the Receiver File/FTP Adapter to Text FormatLocate this document in the navigation structure

Use

You can convert a table in XML format to pure text format.

Prerequisites
  • In the receiver file/FTP adapter, you have selected File Content Conversion as the Message Protocol.
  • The expected XML structure contains the structure as nodes filled with any number of elements without additional subnodes.
  • The expected document structure usually looks like this:

    <root>...

    <nameA>

    <value1>value</value1>

    <value2>value</value2>

    <value3>value</value3>

    </nameA>

    <nameB>

    <value4>value</value4>

    </nameB>

    ...

    </root>...

Procedure
  1. You can use any element names you like.
  2. There can be any number of different substructures under the root element, which can be mapped to different CSV structures.

Define File Structure Parameters

  1. Under Recordset Structure, enter the substructures using the pattern 
    NameA,NameB,...
    .

    If you want to convert all substructures using the same parameters, you only have to specify one structure. The entries are automatically applied to all substructures.

    If you specify more than one structure, the list must contain all the structures occurring in the document. The list must be complete, otherwise a processing error will be triggered at runtime.

Define Parameters for Recordset Structures

  1. Set the parameters for all the specified recordset structures NameA, NameB,... in the following table:
    • NameA.addHeaderLine

      Specify whether the text file will have a header line with column names. The following values are permitted:

      • 0 - No header line
      • 1 - Header line with column names from the XML document
      • 2 - As for 1, followed by a blank line
      • 3 - Header line is stored as NameA.headerLine in the configuration and is applied
      • 4 - As for 3, followed by a blank line

        This specification is only permitted if exactly one structure is defined.

    • NameA.headerLine

      Specify the header line that is generated in the text file if NameA.addHeaderLine has the value 3 or 4. This entry is mandatory in this case.

    • NameA.fieldFixedLengths

      Specify a character string containing a list of fixed column widths that are separated by commas and determine the number and the length of columns generated in the text file.

      If you do not make any entries for NameA.fieldSeparator, the entry NameA.fieldFixedLengths is mandatory.

    • NameA.fixedLengthTooShortHandling

      Specify how you want the system to respond when column widths in the actual document exceed those defined in NameA.fieldFixedLengths. The following values are permitted:

      • Error

        Document processing is cancelled.

      • Cut

        The value is cut to the maximum permitted length.

      • Ignore

        The value is accepted even though its length exceeds the permitted value. Subsequent columns are moved accordingly.

    • NameA.fieldFixedLengthType

      Specify the form in which the entries under NameA.fieldFixedLengths are counted:

      char (default value): Counts the number of characters.

      byte: Counts the byte length of characters.

    • NameA.fieldSeparator

      Enter a string. It is added as a separator in all columns apart from the last. You can specify this string in addition to NameA.fieldFixedLengths.

      If you made no entry for NameA.fieldFixedLengths, this is the only entry to identify the individual columns in a row.

      If you made a specification for NameA.fieldFixedLengths, the length of the separator is not taken into account.

      Note

      You must make an entry for at least NameA.fieldFixedLengths or NameA.fieldSeparator.

      If you have only specified NameA.fieldSeparator, the structures of the XML document can have differing numbers of elements that are added one after the other in the text file, each separated by the value from NameA.fieldSeparator. If you specify NameA.fieldFixedLengths this is not possible since the number of columns is defined when the column widths are given.

    • NameA.endSeparator

      If you enter a character string here, the system adds it to the last column as a closing character.

      You can make this entry in addition to NameA.fieldFixedLengths. To include a line break following the closing character, you must explicitly define it by attaching ´nl´ (including the quotation marks) to the string.

      The default value is a line break (no explicit separator after the last column; instead the structures are arranged line-by-line).

    • NameA.beginSeparator

      If you specify a character string here, the system places it before the first column. You can make this entry in addition to NameA.fieldFixedLengths.

      The default value is an emptycharacter string (no separator before the first column).

Define Special Characters in Strings for Separators

  1. You can specify non-printable ASCII characters in all strings for separators (NameA.fieldSeparator, NameA.beginSeparator, and NameA.endSeparator).
    • Insert these characters individually in the strings in the form ´0xHH´ (including quotation marks). HH represents the character encoded as a hexadecimal value.
    • Add a line break using the character
      ´nl´
      (including the quotation marks); nl stands for new line.
    • The special character ´0´ is not a separator character.

Define a Fixed Column Width of the Text Document

  1. If the separators do not contain any line breaks, the text document is generated as a single line text. If you want to restrict the text width, use the parameter NameA.absoluteRowWidth=<noOfColumns>. <noOfColumns>specifies the maximum number of columns.

    You can set this parameter together with the specification of a line break for xml.endSeparator.

    This value requires NameA.addHeaderLine=0 to be specified.