XML File Structure and Example

Notes about the XML file structure:

  • The system trims leading spaces in attribute names.
  • The system sometimes trims leading spaces in attribute values.
  • Use lower case for all elements and attribute names.
  • Use of an unknown element or attribute name causes the import to fail.

The following example describes most aspects of the XML file structure.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xml>
  <transactions>
    <transaction 
      date="1196854268"
      type="wf_import_document_attributes"
      vaultname="2008 file vault">
      <document 
        aliasset=""
        pdmweid="0"
        idattribute="Number"
        id="89-NOAO-4200-1236"
        idcfgname="">
        <configuration name="">
          <attribute name="Cost" value="0.44"/>
          <attribute name="ArticleID" value="A-012-BB"/>
        </configuration>
      </document>
    </transaction>
  </transactions> 
</xml>

where:

XML Element Description and Attributes
<?XML version="1.0"?> The file must start with this element.
<XML> This element wraps the transactions element.
<transactions> The file contains only one transactions element.
<transaction …> The file can contain multiple transaction elements.
Attributes:
date

The number of seconds elapsed since 12:00 AM January 1st 1970. Must be an integer greater than 0.

type

Indicates that the transaction contains data to import into files or items in the vault.

Vaultname

Name of the vault this transaction relates to. The import rule processes transactions with a matching vault name.

Aliasset

The alias set to use to look up child attribute nodes. The attribute names in the XML file are matched with the alias-mapped variable.

For example, an alias set containing the variable X2Number with an attribute NR in the XML file is configured to match the data card variable Number.

An empty value matches the data card variables with the attribute names in the XML file.

<document …> Contains criteria for matching the import values with a file or item in the vault. It matches the unique internal ID of a file or item, or a variable value.
Attributes:
Pdmweid

Matches the transaction with the internal DocumentID from the Documents table of a file or item in the vault database.

When you use this attribute, [id], [idattribute], and [idcfgname] are ignored. To use another matching technique, set the value to 0 or omit this attribute.

Idattribute

The data card variable or alias to use to match a file or item in the vault.

Id

Variable value to use when searching for files or items. Searches for the value using the variable name, idattribute, and the optional configuration, Idcfgname, in the VariableValue database table.

If multiple files or items match, values are imported for all but are written only to those that pass the import transition action.

Idcfgname

Name of the configuration, if any, to which to match the variable value. If this attribute has no value, all configurations of a file are considered for matching.

<configuration …> Configuration of the file data card to update with the attribute values. If this attribute has no value, all configurations are updated.

Create multiple configuration elements to import different values to different configurations.

Attribute:
name
<attribute …>
Attributes:
name

Name of the data card variable to update, in the form VariableAlias.Alias or Variable.VariableName .

value

Value to use when setting the specified variable. Cannot exceed 1024 characters.