Create XML Data

XML Documents as the Target

As a transfer destination, the XML object generates XML code based on the configured XPath queries.

The XML code can be transferred further, e.g., to a database. A script would be required to generate an XML file.

For example, the following is generated from a table:

Author	Title
Heinrich Mann	The Subject
Thomas Mann	Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family

An XML file with the familiar structure should be generated from this.

Name: "Author," X-Path expression "/catalog/book/author"
Name: "Title," X-Path expression "/catalog/book/title"

For this example, you’ll need two nested XML objects. The first will convert the result sets into individual XML elements, and the second will combine the elements into a single document:

XPath engineering

The records to be written are queried from a database here and passed to the XPath elements of the first XML transfer object.
The XML object generates the XML code. To do this, the XML object contains the following familiar XPath expressions:
- Name: “Author,” XPath expression “book/author”
- Name: “Title,” XPath expression “book/title”
  
  as well as the basic structure
```
   <book>
      <author></author>
      <title></title>
   </book>
```
The XML-Output property = “Multiple XML documents” is important so that each record from the database becomes its own element.

The structure could also be passed dynamically at runtime, e.g., from a text file or a database.
The code is passed from the XML element to the XPath element of the second XML transfer object. This object contains only the XML declaration and the root element:
```
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<catalog>
</catalog>
```
Using the XPath query /catalog and the XML output property “Combine into a single document”

The code can be transferred further. Here, a ScriptTransferObject is used to create a file. File path (type: String) and XML content (type: Array, String) are passed as input parameters:

   public override void Write()
      {
         StringBuilder stb = new StringBuilder();
         stb.AppendLine("<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>");
         foreach(string xml in XMLContent)
         {
           stb.AppendLine(xml.Substring(xml.IndexOf("?>")+2));
         }
         System.IO.File.WriteAllText(FilePath, stb.ToString());
      }

XML Documents as the Target​

XML Documents as the Target