Convert Text to XML with a Text Schema File

Create an assembly containing a

textschema

step. Obtain the sample text that will form the basis of your text schema.

The

textschema

step enables you to convert text to XML using a text schema. To develop a text schema, you must know the structure of the data that you want to transform. The process is considerably simplified by having a small sample document containing representative data. This topic assumes that you have such a sample.

You can use the

textschema

step to convert XML to text or to transform delimited files, but in most cases it's simpler to use the

XTT

step and the

csv-to-xml

step, respectively.

In the

textschema

step's

Properties

view, click

Create Text Schema File

Select a parent folder for the text schema file and provide a filename. If required, specify the target namespace URI.

Studio opens the Text Schema Editor and displays the new text schema in its

Tree

view.

Cut and paste your sample text into the area in the upper right of the Text Schema Editor, replacing

initial-text

To strip the terminating linefeed from input files, add this attribute to the root schema element:

ts:eofStrip="
"

Begin describing the sample text. Select the first field, then right-click it and select

Create Field

If you don't have a sample of the text you want to convert but know its structure, you can edit the text schema's

Source

view directly.

On the

Identity

page of the

Create Field Wizard

, provide a basic description of the field. As you complete the task, consider:

Option	Description
Name	A name for the field.
Occurrence	The options are: Default : The field is mandatory and occurs only once. Required : Same as default. Optional : The field is optional can occur only once. Multiple Optional : The field is optional and can occur multiple times. Multiple Required : The field is mandatory and can occur multiple times.
Start Tag	A regular expression that specifies the text that causes an element to be generated. Note that the text matching this expression doesn't form part of the output value. If you want the matched text to display in the output value, use the ts:format option.
End Tag	A regular expression that specifies the text that marks the end of an element. Note that the text matching this expression doesn't form part of the output value. If you want the matched text to display in the output value, use the ts:format option.
Truncate	Specifies whether to truncate overflowing data in a fixed-length field or throw an error. The default value is true .
Separator	A regular expression that specifies a character that separates repeated fields. Enabled only if you select the Multiple Optional or Multiple Required occurrence options.
Omit	Specifies whether to omit the field from the output in a text-to-XML or XML-to-text transformation. The default is no omission.

On the

Delimit

page of the

Create Field Wizard

, describe how many characters from the sample text represent a field:

Option	Description
Format	A regular expression that identifies valid patterns of text for a field. Use this expression as an alternative to Start Tag and End Tag to ensure that all of the matched text displays in the output. You can also use it when dealing with multiply occurring values so it's clear when the end of the sequence occurs.
Fixed Length	Specifies the length of fixed-length fields. Includes quotation marks and escape characters.
Quoted	Indicates whether string values are treated as quoted strings. The options are: Default : always : always-including-empty : optional : never :
Padding	A regular expression that identifies any padding text within fixed-length fields.
Preferred Padding	Specifies the value to be used if the Padding expression can match more than 1 possible string.
Align	Specifies the alignment of fixed-length fields that require padding.

On the

Interpret

page of the

Create Field Wizard

, describe how many characters from the sample text represent a field:

Option	Description
Type	The field's data type.
Default Value	A default value for the field.
Date Format	Specifies a pattern for dates or datetimes. Supports any pattern allowed by Java's SimpleDateFormat .
Date Language	Specifies the date language to use when interpreting dates. Ensures that the name is handled in the appropriate language when the date format uses the names of months. The default value is EN .
Two Digit Year	Specifies a value for interpreting 2-digit year dates. The text schema parser interprets 2-digit year dates that occur before that value as occurring in the current century. Example: if you enter 18 , the parser interprets 14 as 2014 and 96 as 1996 .
Number Format	Specifies a pattern for numbers. Supports any pattern allowed by Java's DecimalFormat .
Decimal Separator	Specifies the separator used for decimal numbers.
Grouping Separator	Specifies the thousands grouping separator for numbers.

Repeat steps 6-9 for each field in the sample text, adding new elements in the

Tree

view. When you've created all of the required field definitions, delete the remaining

Unparsed

child element.

To wrap all of the elements you've created into a complex type, select them, right-click them, and select

Wrap Elements

. Then provide a name and an occurrence value for the wrapper element.

In the wrapper element's

Properties

view, select /n
from the

End Tag

drop-down list.

The default schema root element is named

File

. On the

Schema

tab of the element's

Properties

view, provide a more meaningful name.

In the

Properties

view of the top level

schema

element, the

Root Element

property has the value

tns:File

. Replace

File

with the meaningful name you selected for the root element.

To remove any extra spaces from the generated output, select the

Properties

view of the top level

schema

element. Select +
from the

Padding

drop-down list. Save the schema.