Release 10.1A: OpenEdge Getting Started:
New and Revised Features

XML

Current support for XML in the 4GL includes the ability to parse XML, construct an XML document tree in memory, and output an XML document tree to a document using the Document Object Model interface. You can also parse an XML document in a streaming manner and represent it in the 4GL using the Simple API for XML (SAX) interface. Progress extends support for XML with three major new features:

SAX-writer object
Reading and writing temp-tables and ProDataSets to and from XML
XML Schema support

SAX-writer object

The SAX-writer object is an object that constructs XML documents or fragments in a forward stream. It is a companion object to the SAX-reader, which parses XML documents in a stream.

Reading and writing temp-tables and ProDataSets to and from XML

Temp-tables, temp-table buffers, and ProDataSets can read relational XML data and schema. Data read into one of these objects can append, replace, or merge existing data. These objects can also have their data or schema written to XML files. These operations are accomplished with the following new methods on the objects:

READ-XML( ) method
READ-XMLSCHEMA( ) method
WRITE-XML( ) method
WRITE-XMLSCHEMA( ) method

XML Schema support

4GL definitions for XML document elements and attributes are currently derived from Document Type Definitions (DTDs). The newer XML standard for such definitions is called XML Schema. XML Schema is also known as XSD and is typically stored in files separate from XML data documents (.xsd files). The 4GL’s XML handling objects (X-document, X-noderef, SAX-reader, and the new SAX-writer, as well as the methods for reading and writing temp-tables and ProDataSets to XML all support the use of XML Schema files.

For more information on all these XML topics, see:

Manual:

OpenEdge Development: Programming Interfaces