xml2fd Output

The utility understands three types of XML files:

• XML files with a DTD – When you run XML files with DTDs through the utility, the record structure created for the FD is structurally correct, but may require manual modification in the sizes and types of the data items.
• XML files with an associated schema file or pointers to a schema file that is available to the local system – When you run XML files with schemas through the utility, the resulting FD is structurally correct, but depending on the completeness of the schema may need to be manually modified in order to correct the sizes of the data items. If the schema includes size information, that information is used and no modification is necessary.

  Note that xml2fd supports schema includes. It detects the attributes "schema=filename" or "nonamespaceschemalocation=filename" and uses the named file to determine the structure of the FDs. However, the file must be available locally. You may need to locate the schema file on the Internet, download it onto your local development machine, and then point to it before you run the XML file through the utility.

• Raw XML files (with no DTD and no schema) – When you run raw files through the utility, the structure created is a best guess based on reading all or part of the XML file and creating a structure from the structure of the elements. The more homogeneous the XML data, the more precise the record structure is. Again, it may require manual modification to fix the sizes.

Note that xml2fd ignores attributes of XML tags, because no natural mapping exists between attributes and COBOL data items. In the following code snippet, type="personal" is an attribute that would be ignored:

<customer type="personal">
     <name>Acu</name>
</customer>

The xml2fd utility creates two files: a ".fd" file and a ".sl" file. The ".fd" file contains the FD and record structure for the data file. The ".sl" file contains the file type and SELECT for the data file. The base name of the files are the same as the base name of the XML file provided. For example, "mydata.xml" produces "mydata.fd" and "mydata.sl". It is your responsibility to include the output files in your COBOL program.