General tab

The Action menu controls whether the node will build or parse XML. When Action is Build, the XML Builder will display the structure of the XML to build. When Action is Parse, the XML Builder only shows a field where you specify what input source is to be parsed. For parsing XML, the information in the Output view is more relevant than the XML Builder view. More details on how the node builds or parses XML is available.

The usage of the E4X XML string is different depending on whether Build or Parse is selected for the activity’s Action field.

In Build mode, this field holds the E4X XML expression that is evaluated when the XML activity node runs. A simpler way of thinking of it is that this text is the XML that is built. However, as this is actually an E4X JavaScript expression, the XML can contain JavaScript expressions contained in curly braces ({}).

At design time, the XML Builder Wizard parses this string according to a specified schema and helps you build or modify this string. When you make changes in the XML Builder Wizard view, they are reflected in the Input E4X String, and vice versa. It is always better to edit this string using the XML Builder Wizard rather than to edit this string directly, as it is easy to introduce errors in the string when editing it by hand.

At runtime, this string is evaluated as the right-hand side of a JavaScript expression. Since this is an E4X string, JavaScript expressions in curly braces are evaluated and placed in the resulting XML object, according to the rules established by E4X. This is how the server variables are substituted in the XML. Complex element contents may also be built using JavaScript expressions. Information on how the node behaves at runtime is in a later section.

In "build" mode, the "Value" column holds the value of the node just like the Input tab. This column is not editable.

In "parse" mode, the input E4X string holds a single JavaScript expression that will be evaluated at runtime and parsed into an E4X XML object. This is usually used to specify a single string or variable to parse into XML.

In "parse" mode, the "Variable" column is used to supply variables that will be assigned the value from the node when the XML is parsed. Variables have the following properties:

• The variable name can be specified with or without the E4X curly braces. Both of the following are acceptable:

  a

  {a}

• The variable name does not need to be defined previously. If it is defined, then the variable will be updated.

  If the variable is not previously defined, it will be defined as a local variable and the value will be set from the node.

• If the variable is defined as String, but the schema node property specifies "maxoccurs = unbounded" and there are multiple occurrences of the node in the parsed XML, the variable will be converted into an XML list, which is similar to an array.

  Example: Parsed XML:

  <foo>
      <bar>baz 1</bar>
      <bar>baz 2</bar>
  </foo>
  

  The variable "baz" is defined as String in the Start node. When above XML is parsed, the variable "baz" will be converted to an XML list. If you need to extract the values inside each element, you will need to iterate through the "baz" XML list, which can be done using a JavaScript expression in an Assign node.

  If there is one occurrence of the node in the parsed XML, the variable will be left as String.

You can select this option and supply a condition (for example, item_count > 100 && po_app != "Manager").

If the condition is matched, then it builds the XML as usual. In the case where the condition is not matched, the XML content will not build, that is, that the output XML will be set to null. In addition, if "Append output to" is selected and the condition is not matched, then nothing gets appended.

This option allows constructed or parsed XML output to be appended to an existing E4X XML output variable (which will usually be from a previous XML activity node). The XML object is appended using E4X rules, which are described in another section.

For example, SyncSupplierInvoiceBOD_output.*::DataArea.*::SupplierInvoice[invoiceCount].*::SupplierInvoiceHeader.*::ContractReference. In this case, the XML built by the XML activity will be appended to XML node.

The option also provides a drop-down list of previous activity output variables that match the selected schema and root element for the node.

The Schema URL text field is used to select the XML Schema (XSD) file to be used in the XML Builder and XML Output wizards. The URL can point to a local file or a web address. WSDL files with schema definitions are accepted in addition to XSD files.

The popup menu for the Schema URL field holds a list of previously loaded XSD or WSDL files.

Using an XML Schema is not absolutely required. The Schema is used by the XML Builder wizard to help you create an E4X XML string, and to show the expected output in the Output wizard. Without a schema, you cannot use the XML Builder or XML Output wizards, but you can still edit the E4X XML string by hand, and you can hand-code output variable references in the process. Both of the latter are tedious and error-prone, however, so it is highly recommended that you supply an XML Schema for the XML you wish to build or parse and use the XML Builder and XML Output wizards.

The XML Builder tree view shows the structure of the selected XML element of the selected schema. Nodes in the XML structure can be added or their contents edited based on the schema to construct the XML object.

When an XML Schema is opened in the XML Builder view, the XML Builder reads the entire schema definition, including any schema files that are referenced by the main schema file by XSD import or include statements. The XML Builder view shows the entire structure of the selected element, saving you the task of looking through possibly many separate definition files to understand an XML schema’s structure. The Description field displays, among other things, the schema source file from which the definition for the selected node came.

Nodes displayed in the XML Builder view include elements and attributes, and also XML Schema nodes such as "sequence," "choice," "all" and "any." Element nodes in the tree show simply the element tag name, while other node types show the node type. For example, "attribute validFrom" represents an attribute node with the name "validFrom."

When a node is selected, the Description and Value fields and the editing buttons on the right are updated based on the selected node. Explanations of the Description and Value fields and the editing buttons appear later in this table.

The XML Builder view shows the structure of the schema, including elements that can be used but have not yet been added. Nodes that have not yet been added are called "placeholder"’ nodes in the XML Builder Wizard; they are shown in the tree view using parenthesis. For example, "(attribute lang)" indicates an attribute named ‘lang’ that can be used in the XML at that position but which has not been added to the XML yet.

As the XML Builder view is based on the XML Schema, the view only shows the XML structure when a valid XML Schema is specified in the Schema URL field. The E4X input string is not updated from the XML Builder view when there is not a valid schema selected.

This column contains check boxes that represent each XML element. When a check box is selected, the XML element becomes an XML fragment, that is, the value specified for the element becomes an XML fragment for that element. The elements and attributes for the element are pulled from the fragment.

When a check box is selected, the elements and attributes for the XML are disabled.

The node’s text value, if any, appears in the Value field. The popup menu for the Value field contains a list of variables that can be used in the field, using E4X curly-brace notation, described below.

The value field holds the text value for an element, attribute, or "any" node. Attribute values must be surrounded by quotation marks or E4X curly braces ({}). Element values must follow the rules for XML element values. If content that is not allowed in an XML element is used, a warning dialog will be displayed and the entire content will be wrapped in an XML CDATA section.

If the node value is edited while a placeholder node is selected, the placeholder node will be instantiated (added), along with any placeholder nodes that enclose the selected node.

Select this check box if you want to hide nodes that do not have assigned values.