Namespace overview

EC depends on identifying XML elements for various business processes. These unique XML elements are the bases of retrieving values in an input XML document and setting values in an output XML document.

In earlier EC releases namespaces were not used to identify XML elements. In such cases, the XML elements or attributes are used with the same local name, but from different contexts. This results to EC treating them as the same data.

EC now uses XML namespaces to qualify XML elements or attributes in an XML where name conflicts can occur.

For example, a <title> element can have different meanings and can be applied to different purposes, depending on its context of use.

With namespaces, EC can get the correct <title> element used in an XML. For example: if element <address> is used multiple times in a combination of vocabularies in an XML can give EC the correct address element.

Additional notes on namespaces

  • Use of namespaces in XML documents is not required.

  • A namespace defined by a prefix and a URI.

  • A default namespace can be defined and it applies to all elements without prefix.

Quick verification checklist

If problems occur, use these quick verification checklist:

  • Does the input XML use namespaces?

  • Do the detection settings targeted to the input XML use namespaces?

  • Does the mapping use namespaces (to verify, ask the mapping developer)?

  • Do the namespace URIs match any of the above three items?