XML and the
Progress 4GL
Robbert Dees
Principal Technical Support Engineer
PTS-EMEA
XML and the Progress 4GL
Agenda
Technology Overview
4GL Language Additions
Current Issues and Limitations
Demos <TABLE>
XML Futures <TBODY>
Questions <TR> <TR>
<TD> <TD> <TD> <TD>
Shady Grove Aeolian Over the River, Dorian
Charlie
2 © 2000, Progress Software Corporation
Technology
Overview
XML Parser Technology
IBM XML Parser for C++ 2.3.1
– Validating Parser (DTD)
– DOM Level 1 and SAX Interface
– Open Source
IBM International Classes for Unicode 1.3
– Unicode 3.0 Standard
– Wide Variety of Encodings
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Document Object Model (DOM)
DOM Level 1 W3C Recommendation
– http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-DOM-Level-1/
Object Oriented and Flattened API
Progress includes subset of Node
Interface and Document Interface plus
some extensions
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DTD Validation
Internal and External DTDs
External DTDs must be files
– No support for HTTP
DTD MUST be available if specified
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4GL Language
Additions
XML Handles
Two new Handles added
– X-DOCUMENT represents a Document
– X-NODEREF represents a Node in a
Document
X-DOCUMENT inherits from X-NODEREF
SUBTYPE attribute returns Node type
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X-DOCUMENT and X-NODEREF
Examples
Load an XML Document
– xDoc:LOAD(“FILE”, “c:\data.xml”, False).
Retrieve Root Node
– xDoc:GET-DOCUMENT-ELEMENT(xNode).
Create an Element Node
– xDoc:CREATE-NODE(xNode, “Customer”, “element”).
Create an Attribute
– xNode:SET-ATTRIBUTE(“CustNum”, “12345”).
Walking the Tree
– xNode:GET-CHILD(xChild, 1).
Save an XML Document
– xDoc:SAVE(“STREAM”, “WEBSTREAM”).
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Input-Output Support
Files and MEMPTR supported for input
Files, MEMPTR, and STREAMS supported
for output
Documents POSTed to WebSpeed
– Requires Content-type to be text/xml or
application/xml
ENCODING attribute sets output encoding
– Defaults to utf-8 if ENCODING = ?
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WebSpeed XML Enhancements
WEB-CONTEXT Handle extended
– IS-XML
– AUTO-DELETE-XML
– VALIDATE-XML
– X-DOCUMENT
Validation must be against an embedded DTD
Only text/xml and application/xml recognized as
XML files
Parsing occurs on first access of X-DOCUMENT
attribute
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Issues, Tips, and
Tricks For Using
XML in Progress 9.1A
Encoding Issues
Encodings not limited by what Progress
session is using
– $DLC/lib/icu/data/convrtrs.txt
– $DLC\bin\icu\data\convrtrs.txt
Wide character Encodings not supported
in this release
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Copying And Reuse Of Handles
Only shallow copies done
– You can not “save” a handle by copying it
(xNode1 = xNode2.)
You can not reuse a handle as a parameter
on its own method call
– xNode:GET-CHILD(xNode, 1).
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Copying A Handle To A Temp-Table
gotChild = phElement:GET-CHILD(hText,1) NO-ERROR.
IF NOT gotChild THEN DO:
phElement:GET-PARENT(hParent).
hParent:GET-CHILD(tTag.hEle, phElement:CHILD-NUM).
END.
ELSE
hText:GET-PARENT(tTag.hEle).
15 © 2000, Progress Software Corporation
Working With DTDs
Incomplete support for DTDs
– Can not programmatically create a DTD
reference
– Limitation of DOM Level 1 and bugs in
IBM’s implementation
– Will not write DTD reference when saving
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Dos and Don’ts
Never ASSUME a particular structure
Check return values
Delete your handles
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XML Demos
News Aggregation Web Site
Uses 4GL SOCKET to read XML files from
Web Sites via HTTP
XML files in Netscape Rich Site Summary
(RSS) format
Parses file and populates a TEMP-TABLE
Multiple Web Site headlines are displayed
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SOAP Demo
Simple Object Access Protocol
– Created by Developmentor, Microsoft, IBM,
and Userland Software
– Internet RPC protocol
– Uses HTTP as the transport
– Uses XML as the serialization format
WebSpeed app parses SOAP request and
calls AppServer
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XML Futures
XML Futures
Move to IBM XML Parser 3.1.0
– Same parser used in Apache Xerces
project
– Supports DOM Level 2
– Improved DTD support
– XML Namespace support
Provide tools for mapping XML instances
to Progress Data Objects
22 © 2000, Progress Software Corporation
XML Resources
Microsoft XML Development Center
– http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml
IBM XML Development Center
– http://www.ibm.com/developer/xml
XML.COM
– http://www.xml.com
XML Hack
– http://www.xmlhack.com
Eclectic XML-DEV Weblog
– http://weblogs.userland.com/eclectic
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Call To Action
Evaluate where XML makes sense in your
organization
Provide XML representation of your
application data
Subscribe to the XML PEG mailing list
Talk to complimentary Progress
Application Partners about integrating
your applications
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