Integrating XML in Business Ken Spencer Vice President 32X Corporation

Cross-Platform Interop Application Data Comm Windows DNA 2000Other Platforms Application Framework implementation Data Comm Core Standards Application Schemas Frameworks Platform/Tools Solutions and Applications Platform/Tools Solutions and Applications Framework implementation

Where is XML used? Sample XML Sample XML <Books><Book><Title_ID>BU1032</Title_ID> The Busy Executive's Database Guide The Busy Executive's Database Guide An overview of available database systems with emphasis on common business applications. Illustrated. An overview of available database systems with emphasis on common business applications. Illustrated. </Book></Books>

Getting Started XML must play by rules XML must play by rules  XML Declaration  Define Tags  Add Data

VB and XML Wire into components Wire into components Use with serialization techniques Use with serialization techniques  Move data into and out of components Generate XML from components Generate XML from components  Send to ASP Generate from ASP and send to Generate from ASP and send to  Browser  Vendor  Customer

XMLGen.Generator Custom VB XML Generator Custom VB XML Generator  Simple  No frills  Designed to get data out  Useful in intranet / Internet applications  Where full parser not required

XMLGen.Generator Interface XMLDeclaration XMLDeclaration Format – formats data Format – formats data BeginTag – generates starting tag BeginTag – generates starting tag EndTag – generates ending tag EndTag – generates ending tag

Generating the Declaration Set output var to return value Set output var to return value vOutPut = oXML.XMLDeclaration() Results in this: Results in this:

Creating the XML Stream Call Format method to generate tags Call Format method to generate tags sTitle = oXML.Format("Title", rsTitle("title")) sID = oXML.Format("Title_ID", rsTitle("title_id")) sNotes = oXML.Format("Notes", rsTitle("notes")) sReturn = sID & sTitle & sNotes Return all XML as string from VB method Return all XML as string from VB method RetrieveTitle = sReturn

ADO and XML ADO 2.x can save RS as XML ADO 2.x can save RS as XML ADO 2.5 can save or stream RS as XML ADO 2.5 can save or stream RS as XML  Use ADO to generate stream to other applications

ADO 2.5 Stream Object Stream object Stream object  Can hold different types of data  Load from ADO RS  Feed to MSXML Parser

XML from ASP ADO 2.5 XML Support ADO 2.5 XML Support  Generate XML from RS  Send to Response object Use Customer Formatter Use Customer Formatter  Why?

XML Mapping B2B or B2C requirements B2B or B2C requirements  Map DB Schema to XML  Should use XMLFilter object  Handle mapping automatically  Read XML Schema  Map Schema to DB Schema  Output XML  Resist temptation to generate XML directly in Stored Procs or from database

Storing XML In Database Not easily searchable Not easily searchable Works best for self described data Works best for self described data  Query definition, state info (non searchable) Watch column size Watch column size  Be careful with varchar vs. char/int/etc.

HTML vs. XML Use HTML Files when Possible Use HTML Files when Possible  Does note require script or XML processing  Simple file / HTTP processing  IIS 5 improves processing of ASP files with no script

Session Support Turn off Turn off  Frees up resources on server  Lets IIS process multithreaded applications faster How How  Rework applications first (see FMStocks 1 & 2000 for sample code)  Remove reference to Session vars  Use the ISM to turn off on server

Session State Data Don’t use ASP session object Don’t use ASP session object Use XML to store state Use XML to store state Store data in SQL Server Store data in SQL Server

The Microsoft XML Engine Freely distributed Freely distributed Fast parser Fast parser Great for reading XML files Great for reading XML files Combine with ADO or other formatter Combine with ADO or other formatter

SQL Server SQL Server 2000 SQL Server 2000  Generate XML directly  More…

With Browser IE 5 Data Islands IE 5 Data Islands  Treat XML data as object  Work with MSXML parser  Interact with DHTML

With XSL With XSL XSL XSL  Extensible Style Sheet  Works with XML on client or server  Used to transform XML data into something else