XML Interface Toolkit

The XML interface toolkit provides mechanisms to import and export data in XML format. Arbitrary structured XML data is mapped to according UBIK^® objects and its properties by a mapping specified in a separate mapping configuration file. Both files have to be specified in the interface command file additional to the default parameters.

Workflow

Import

Create a XML data file to be imported in UBIK^® according to the description for the mapping configuration
Use the Interface Manager to create a proper interface command file specifying the required server parameters, folder and file locations
Manually start and test the import by executing the interface via the Interface Manager

Export

Use the Interface Manager to create a proper interface command file specifying the required server parameters, folder and file locations
Manually start and test the export by executing the interface via the Interface Manager

Parameters

The general parameters, marked by Import/Export, are equivalents of the settings used by UBIK^® Studio to connect to a database, please refer to its settings section for a detailed description.

The parameter DataView is used only for export purposes and defines the name of a UBIK^® View object. In an export process the XML toolkit

evaluates the view hierarchy and its objects
exports an object as defined in the mapping
in the same hierarchy as placed in the view

Key	Application	Description
Server	Import/Export	Name of the SQL Server (DataSource)
InitialCatalog	Import/Export	The name of the instance on the SQL Server (DataBase)
UserID	Import/Export	SQL Server user name (User)
Password	Import/Export	SQL Server password (Password)
RecordLifeTime	Import/Export	Duration how long records are valid before they will be requeried for changes by the kernel; -1 to turn off
WorkingFolder	Import/Export	Defines a folder where temporary files will be placed and deleted after processing
DataFile	Import/Export	Import: File path to XML data file to be imported; Export: Exported XML data will be stored in this file
DataMappingFile	Import/Export	File path to file containing the XML mapping information, both for import as well as export
DataView	Export	Name of a UBIK^® view object defining the scope and hierarchy of exported objects
DataObject	Export	Guid of a single UBIK^® object to be exported
DeleteFile	Import/Export	Defines whether or not the specified DataFile should be deleted after processing
LogFolder	Import/Export	Defines a folder where log files will be created into; if set a log file will be created always!
LogFile	Import/Export	Optional: defines a certain log file name; it not set the system will create an arbitrary one
LogLevel	Import/Export	Optional: defines a certain log level

Log level

Log level	Label	Description
-1	SYSTEM	Name of the SQL Server (DataSource)
0	ERROR	Runtime errors or unexpected conditions
10	WARNING	Almost errors, runtime situations that are undesirable or unexpected
20	INFO	Interesting runtime events (startup/shutdown)
25	DETAIL	Similar to INFO, but more detailed information
30	DEBUG	Detailed information on system relevant conditions
40	TRACE	Everything is logged

Example: Export

Example: Import

Mapping configuration

The XML data is converted into according UBIK^® data (objects, property values,...) by applying a mapping between XML elements / attributes and UBIK^® MetaClasses / MetaProperties.

Sections of mapping file

A mapping configuration file consists of two distinctive sections for the general import and export configuration, labeled as <Import> and <Export>, respectively.

Each such section consists of multiple sections describing the mapping of UBIK^® MetaClasses to XML elements, labeled similar to the name of the related XML element. These class related mapping sections (also called ClassMapping) consist of sections for defining

possible key properties, labeled <Identifier>
general properties, labeled <Property>
references for objects, labeled <Reference>
relations between objects, labeled <Relation>
possible child objects, labeled <Object>

The mapping information must be enveloped by a XML tag <UbikXMLMap>!

Section <Import> / <Export>

Attributes

Attribute	Values	Description
EvaluateReferences	0 or 1	Set to 1 if references shall be evaluated (default = 1)
EvaluateRelations	0 or 1	Set to 1 if relations shall be evaluated (default = 1)
DataEnvelope	Text	Specify XML envelope (root node, default = UbikXMLData)
EvaluateUTS	0 or 1	Set to 1 to export UpdateTimeStamp of objects (default = 0)

The default envelope for the XML data is <UbikXMLData> and can be modified via the mapping configuration settings.

Section <NameOfXmlElement>

This section defines the ClassMapping (as mentioned above) for mapping XML elements to UBIK^® MetaClasses
Each XML element contained in the data file requires an appropriate mapping

The XML class mapping must be unique in the <Import> section and has to map to one specific MetaClass.

The XML class mapping must be unique for the MetaClass name in the <Export> section. The XML class mapping used to determine properties of the currently exported object is determined by the object's MetaClass name. Hence, the class mapping for each MetaClass in the <Export> mapping section must be unique by the MetaClass name.

<NameOfXmlElement MetaClass="SAPObject"> Map a XML element NameOfXmlElement to MetaClass SAPObject
<NameOfXmlElement MetaClass="UID:11ffa6b5-0ada-41f5-bcd8-89fff9247d4d"> Using its Guid
...
</NameOfXmlElement>

Attributes

Attribute	Values	Description
MetaClass	Text	Specify the UBIK^® MetaClass either by its name or its Guid (via UID:Guid)

Section <Identifier>

Mapping of XML elements to key properties used to identify an UBIK^® object
The value of the XML attribute of the XML object in the data file will be used as key value
Identifier properties can be concatenated with AND or OR
Values of identifier properties can have data type Guid
If one identifier mapping has UsesGuid enabled, it will always be tried to load the object using its Guid. The other identifier mappings will be used only, if the XML object is missing a proper XML element for the Guid identifier.

Identifier attributes of reference and relation elements in the data file must be similar to identifier elements TargetType.

<Identifier>
<id1>ID1</id> Map XML element id1 to property ID1
<id2 LogicalAND=”0”>ID2</id2> Concatenate identifier with OR
<id3 UsesGuid=”1”>ID3</id3> Use a Guid as key value
</Identifier>

Attributes

Attribute	Values	Description
LogicalAND	0 or 1	Concatenate the sequent identifier with AND (default = 1)
UsesGuid	0 or 1	Inner text of XML element will be a Guid string (default = 0)

Section <Property>

Mapping of XML elements to properties
The data type of the inner texts of the XML elements in the data file must be Text. The casting of the values to the actual MetaProperty's data type happens internally. The user does not have to care about the data type.
Identifier properties can be concatenated with AND or OR
Values of identifier properties can have data type Guid
If one identifier mapping has UsesGuid enabled, it will always be tried to load the object using its Guid. The other identifier mappings will be used only, if the XML object is missing a proper XML element for the Guid identifier.
Indexed MetaProperties can additionally have an Index mapping attribute
Use the Value attribute if a constant value shall be imported
Set Validate = 0 if the validation time stamp of a validated property should not be not during import and/or the property value should be always exported.

<Property>
<name>NAME</name> Map XML Element name to property NAME
<descr Value="Fix">DESCR</descr> Use constant value during import
<descrDE Index="0">TXT</descr> Access index values of properties
<descrEN Index="1">TXT</descr>
<meas Validate="1">12.45</meas> Validate property
</Property>

Attributes

Attribute	Values	Description
Value	Text	Constant value (default = null)
Index	Numeric	Index value (default = -1)
Validate	0 or 1	Import: If "1" the validation time stamp is set (default = 1) Export: If "1" only validated property values will be exported; if "0" property values will always be exported.

Section <Reference>

Mapping of a XML elements to an MetaProperty representing either, a foreign key or a Guid value, linking to an another UBIK^® object
The system tries to load the content object of the MetaClass as defined in the class mapping identified by TargetType with key values similar to the values of the according XML attribute in the data file. If an object can be found, a reference to this object is set on the MetaProperty named similar to the inner text of the XML element in the mapping file.
For an import process set UseHierarchy=1 to load a content object corresponding to any parental XML element of the one currently processed.

For each reference mapping specified in the <Reference> section, the interface will try to read from / create an appropriate XML element. To ignore the reference information during import or if it should not be exported do not include a reference element in this section at all or set EvaluateReferences to 0.

<Reference>
<sap TargetType="SAP">SAPID</sap> Set a reference of an object SAP with key values sap to MetaProperty SAPID of the current processed object
<cad TargetType="CAD" UseHierarchy="1">CADID</cad> Set a reference of an object CAD, which is a XML parent object, to MetaProperty CADID of the current processed object
</Reference>

Attributes

Attribute	Values	Description
TargetType	Text	Name of class mapping of referenced object
UseHierarchy	0 or 1	Import: Ignore key attribute of XML element, use parental object instead(default = 0); the system will always create the reference whether or not a XML data element is available Export: parent object in view will not be exported (default = 0) as reference element

Section <Relation>

Mapping of XML elements to an UBIK^® relation
The system tries to load a content object of the MetaClass as defined in the class mapping identified by TargetType with key values similar to the values of the according XML attribute in the data file. If an object is found a relation between this and the current object is created using the relation <Identifier>.
The related object is tried to be loaded according to the <Identifier> mappings of the class mapping found for TargetType.
A property mapping list for the relation data object can be set, where the XML elements of the currently processed XML relation element are processed similar to MetaProperties de-fined as <Property> elements.

For each relation specified in the <Relation> section, the interface will try to create a relation between the current and a linked object during import. To ignore the relational information during import or if it should not be exported do not include a relation element in this section at all or set EvaluateRelations to 0.

<Relation>
<sap TargetType=”SAPobj” Name=”SAP_REL”>
<Property> Relation data properties
<rd1>RelData1</rd1>
<rd2>RelData2</rd2>
</Property>
</sap>
<cad TargetType=”CADobj” Name=”CAD_REL”>
<Property>
<rd1>RelData1</rd1>
<rd2>RelData2</rd2>
</Property>
</cad>
</Relation>

Attributes

Attribute	Values	Description
TargetType	Text	Name of class mapping of related object; ignored in export if UsesGuid=1
UseHierarchy	0 or 1	Import: Ignore key attribute of XML element, use parental object instead (default = 0); if no XML data element is available the system will only create the relationship without setting the relation data Export: parent object in view will not be exported (default = 0) as relation element
Name	Text	Name of UBIK^® relation

Section <Object>

List of possible child TargetTypes
Import: each element defined in <Object> tells the interface to treat child elements with a similar name as XML object (instead of property, reference or relation).
Export: each element defined in <Object> tells the interface to check, whether or not the child objects in the view should be exported.

A non-existing or empty <Object> section leads to skipping of all child objects.

<Object>
<SAPObj /> Name of class mapping of child object
<CADObj />
</Object>

Remarks

UseHierarchy

Be aware of the different usage of the UseHierarchy attribute in import / export processes. In an export the system will try load all objects related to the current exported object via the given relations / refernces. To skip the current view parent enable UseHierarchy, this exports all related objects except the view parent. If relational information should not be exported do not include a relation element in this section at all. Nevertheless, certain hierarchical information will always be exported due to the view hierarchy.

Encoding

The XML files must use the correct encoding, for example UTF-8!

XML Interface Toolkit

Contents

Workflow

Import

Export

Parameters

Log level

Example: Export

Example: Import

Mapping configuration

Sections of mapping file

Section <Import> / <Export>

Section <NameOfXmlElement>

Section <Identifier>

Section <Property>

Section <Reference>

Section <Relation>

Section <Object>

Remarks

UseHierarchy

Encoding

See also