Re: XML: PDA device --> BigMagicBox --> AS400 native database file (& v.v.)

[Scott Klement <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Dan,

> I've seen what XML looks like and how it compares (or doesn't) to HTML, but
> don't really understand how I can harness (?) it on the AS/400.  I scan for
> XML at InfoCenter and get 814 hits, so I imagine that there's a lot of
> possibilities.  I guess I'm wondering just how much I need the MW for
> translating.  Is there a XML-to/from-NativeDB/400 conversion tool in the
> operating system?

If the Win2k server is converting the file to CSV or SQL, why do you need
to work with the XML directly?

The thing you have to understand about XML is that all of the tags are
user-defined. That's not true of HTML! In HTML, you have specific tags
like <p> or <table> or <img>.  In XML, you can put anything you want in
there... you could have:

<MidrangeDotCom>
   <MidrangeL>
      <Readers>
         <personName>
            <first>Dan</first>
            <last>Bale</last>
         </personName>
         <personName>
            <first>Scott</first>
            <last>Klement</last>
         </personName>
      </Readers>
   </MidrangeL>
</MidrangeDotCom>

Even though I just made those tags up off the top of my head, it's
perfectly valid XML. Anyone can write their XML code any way they want to!
That makes it hard to have a simple "XML to DB2" conversion tool.

Sure, you could have a more generic tool that let you map the values in
certain tags to certain tools, but you'd have to create a "map" of some
sort that explained which elements are mapped to which fields. Tools like
this already exist... XSLT, which itself is a set of valid XML tags, is a
language for transforming from XML to something else -- or a different
XML.

The problem with XML is the more you learn, the more you'll find that you
still don't know. :)

There are some iSeries-centric training sessions coming up for XML:

Susan Gantner will be doing an XML presentation at RPG World later this
month. This is a good place to get your feet wet with a beginner's
introduction.
http://www.rpgworld.com

If you want to go a bit more in-depth, Sharon Hoffman has an e-learning
class coming up on the iSeries Network.  (e-learning is a series of web
conferences that act like an on-line classroom)  Although I haven't seen
Sharon's class -- it's a 5-week ongoing training session, so I suspect
that it goes further in depth than Susan's.  Sharon's class requires
orientation by Sep 15th.
http://www.iseriesnetwork.com/edu/e-learning//index.cfm?fuseaction=CourseInfo&section_id=1122

There are also some (non-iSeries-centric) tutorials as well as lots of XML
specifications hosted by w3c.org.
http://www.w3c.org/

---
Scott Klement  http://www.scottklement.com