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This tutorial shows you how to export data to XML and how to define the structure of the XML document.

Objective

Exporting all the data related to the employee named 'Scott' into a XML document.

Step 1. Switch to XML-mode.

Load the model scott.csv from the "SQL Export" tutorial and switch to XML mode. An additional panel named "XML Mapping" will appear.



Step 2. Export Scott to flat XML

Export data into a file scott-1.xml. The XML file contains a flat list of all exported rows, starting with rows from subject table followed by all other rows in alphabetical order of their table names.

 1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-15"?>
 2 <!--
 3  generated by Jailer at Sun Jul 06 11:33:33 CEST 2008 from wisser@desktop
 4 
 5  extraction model: EMPLOYEE where T.NAME='SCOTT' (extractionmodel/scott.csv)
 6  database URL: jdbc:db2://localhost/wisser
 7  database user: scott
 8  Exported Entities: 13
 9  DEPARTMENT 2
 10  EMPLOYEE 3
 11  PROJECT 2
 12  PROJECT_PARTICIPATION 2
 13  ROLE 2
 14  SALARYGRADE 2
 15 -->
 16 <entities>
 17   <employee>
 18   <!--columns of EMPLOYEE as T-->
 19   <empno>7788</empno>
 20   <name>SCOTT</name>
 21   <job>ANALYST</job>
 22   <boss>7566</boss>
 23   <hiredate>1982-12-09</hiredate>
 24   <salary>3000.00</salary>
 25   <comm/>
 26   <deptno>20</deptno>
 27   </employee>
 28   <employee>
 29   <!--columns of EMPLOYEE as T-->
 30   <empno>7566</empno>
 31   <name>JONES</name>
 32   <job>MANAGER</job>
 33   <boss>7839</boss>
 34   <hiredate>1981-04-02</hiredate>
 35   <salary>2975.00</salary>
 36   <comm/>
 37   <deptno>20</deptno>
 38   </employee>
 ...
 50  <department>
 51  <!--columns of DEPARTMENT as T-->
 52   <deptno>20</deptno>
 53   <name>RESEARCH</name>
 54   <location>DALLAS</location>
 55  </department>
 56   <department>
 57   <!--columns of DEPARTMENT as T-->
 58   <deptno>10</deptno>
 59  <name>ACCOUNTING</name>
 60   <location>NEW YORK</location>
 61   </department>
 62   <project>
 63   <!--columns of PROJECT as T-->
 64  <projectno>1001</projectno>
 65   <description>Development of Novel Magnetic Suspension System</description>
 66   <start_date>2006-01-01</start_date>
 67   <end_date>2007-08-13</end_date>
 68   </project>
 69   <project>
 70   <!--columns of PROJECT as T-->
 71   <projectno>1003</projectno>
 72   <description>Foundation of Quantum Technology</description>
 73   <start_date>2007-02-24</start_date>
 74   <end_date>2008-07-31</end_date>
 75   </project>
 76   <project_participation>
 77   <!--columns of PROJECT_PARTICIPATION as T-->
 78   <projectno>1001</projectno>
 79   <empno>7788</empno>
 80   <start_date>2006-05-15</start_date>
 81   <end_date>2006-11-01</end_date>
 82   <role_id>100</role_id>
 83   </project_participation>
 ...
 92   <role>
 93   <!--columns of ROLE as T-->
 94  <role_id>100</role_id>
 95   <description>Developer</description>
 96   </role>
 ...

Step 3. Defining the XML structure

In the "XML Mapping" panel you can define the aggregation-type for each association. If the aggregation-type an association from table A to B is not 'none', than the XML representation of entities from table B will be embedded into the XML representation of the associated entities from table A.

Set the aggregation-type to 'implicit list' for the associations:

  • BOSS (from EMPLOYEE to EMPLOYEE)
  • from EMPLOYEE to DEPARTMENT
  • from EMPLOYEE to SALARYGRADE. Change the tag name to salary_grade.

set the aggregation-type to 'explicit list' with 'participations' as tag for the association:
  • from EMPLOYEE to PROJECT_PARTICIPATION

and set the aggregation-type to 'flat' for the associations:
  • from EMPLOYEE to PROJECT_PARTICIPATION
  • from PROJECT_PARTICIPATION to PROJECT
  • from PROJECT_PARTICIPATION to ROLE



Export data into a file scott-2.xml. The department, the salary-grade, the boss and the project participations are now embedded into the employee-elements. Columns from Project and Role are embedded directly into the elements of the project participations. 

 1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-15"?>
 2 <!--
 3  generated by Jailer at Sun Jul 06 12:04:12 CEST 2008 from wisser@desktop
 4 
 5  extraction model: EMPLOYEE where T.NAME='SCOTT' (extractionmodel/scott.csv)
 6  database URL: jdbc:db2://localhost/wisser
 7  database user: scott
 8  Exported Entities: 13
 9  DEPARTMENT 2
 10  EMPLOYEE 3
 11  PROJECT 2
 12  PROJECT_PARTICIPATION 2
 13  ROLE 2
 14  SALARYGRADE 2
 15 -->
 16 <entities>
 17  <employee>
 18  <!--columns of EMPLOYEE as T-->
 19  <empno>7788</empno>
 20  <name>SCOTT</name>
 21   <job>ANALYST</job>
 22   <boss>7566</boss>
 23  <hiredate>1982-12-09</hiredate>
 24   <salary>3000.00</salary>
 25  <comm/>
 26   <deptno>20</deptno>
 27   <!--associated SALARYGRADE row-->
 28   <salary_grade>
 29   <!--columns of SALARYGRADE as T-->
 30   <grade>4</grade>
 31   <losal>2001</losal>
 32   <hisal>3000</hisal>
 33   </salary_grade>
 34   <!--associated DEPARTMENT row-->
 35   <department>
 36   <!--columns of DEPARTMENT as T-->
 37   <deptno>20</deptno>
 38   <name>RESEARCH</name>
 39   <location>DALLAS</location>
 40   </department>
 41   <!--associated EMPLOYEE row-->
 42   <boss>
 43   <!--columns of EMPLOYEE as T-->
 ...
 116   </boss>
 117   <!--associated PROJECT_PARTICIPATION rows-->
 118   <participations>
 119   <project_participation>
 120   <!--columns of PROJECT_PARTICIPATION as T-->
 121   <projectno>1001</projectno>
 122   <empno>7788</empno>
 123   <start_date>2006-05-15</start_date>
 124   <end_date>2006-11-01</end_date>
 125  <role_id>100</role_id>
 126   <!--associated ROLE row-->
 127   <!--columns of ROLE as T-->
 128  <role_id>100</role_id>
 129   <description>Developer</description>
 130  <!--associated PROJECT row-->
 131   <!--columns of PROJECT as T-->
 132   <projectno>1001</projectno>
 133   <description>Development of Novel Magnetic Suspension System</description>
 134   <start_date>2006-01-01</start_date>
 135   <end_date>2007-08-13</end_date>
 136   </project_participation>
 137   </participations>
 138  </employee>
 139 </entities>

Step 3. Defining the column mapping

The "XML Column Mapping" dialog allows you to define how columns will be mapped to XML elements or attributes. By default each column is mapped to an element with the same name. You can open the dialog using the "map column" button or via the context menu of a table.

The column mapping template of a table describes the XML represenation of each exported row:
  • Expression starting with SQL: will be replaced by the value of the SQL expression thereafter. T is the alias for the row. Note that even scalar subqueries are allowed here.
  • j:assoc elements will be replaced by the XML representation of the associated rows.

We change the mapping in the following way:
  1. Foreign keys should not appear in the XML document as they are redundant.
  2. Map primary keys to attributes rather than elements.
  3. Some elements of ROLE and PROJECT should be renamed. Their names are not unique due to the flat embedment into PROJECT_PARTICIPATION:
    • Rename the ROLE-tag 'description' into 'role_description'
    • Rename the PROJECT-tag 'description' into 'project_description'
    • Rename the PROJECT-tag 'start_date' into 'project_start_date'
    • Rename the PROJECT-tag 'end_date' into 'project_end_date'

Open the mapping dialog for table EMPLYOEE:



Remove the elements 'empno', 'boss' and 'deptno'. Add attribute empno="SQL:T.EMPNO" to the root element.

Open the mapping dialog for table DEPARTMENT. Remove element deptno and add attribute deptno="SQL:T.DEPTNO" to the root element.

Remove element grade from column mapping template of table SALARY_GRADE and add the attribute grade="SQL:T.GRADE" to the root element.

Remove elements projectno, empno and role_id from column mapping template of table PROJECT_PARTICIPATION.

Remove element projectno from column mapping template of table PROJECT. Rename description, start_date and end_date into project_description, project_start_date and project_end_date.

Remove element role_id from column mapping template of table ROLE. Rename description into role_description.

Export data into a file scott-3.xml.

 1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-15"?>
 2 <!--
 3  generated by Jailer at Sun Jul 06 11:22:00 CEST 2008 from wisser@desktop
 4 
 5  extraction model: EMPLOYEE where T.NAME='SCOTT' (extractionmodel/scott.csv)
 6  database URL: jdbc:db2://localhost/wisser
 7  database user: scott
 8  Exported Entities: 13
 9  DEPARTMENT 2
 10  EMPLOYEE 3
 11  PROJECT 2
 12  PROJECT_PARTICIPATION 2
 13  ROLE 2
 14  SALARYGRADE 2
 15 -->
 16 <entities>
 17  <employee empno="7788">
 18  <!--columns of EMPLOYEE as T-->
 19  <name>SCOTT</name>
 20  <job>ANALYST</job>
 21  <hiredate>1982-12-09</hiredate>
 22  <comm/>
 23  <!--associated SALARYGRADE row-->
 24  <salary_grade grade="4">
 25  <!--columns of SALARYGRADE as T-->
 26  <losal>2001</losal>
 27  <hisal>3000</hisal>
 28  </salary_grade>
 29  <!--associated DEPARTMENT row-->
 30  <department deptno="20">
 31  <!--columns of DEPARTMENT as T-->
 32  <name>RESEARCH</name>
 33  <location>DALLAS</location>
 34  </department>
 35  <!--associated EMPLOYEE row-->
 36  <boss empno="7566">
 ...
 93  </boss>
 94  <!--associated PROJECT_PARTICIPATION rows-->
 95  <participations>
 96  <project_participation>
 97  <!--columns of PROJECT_PARTICIPATION as T-->
 98  <start_date>2006-05-15</start_date>
 99  <end_date>2006-11-01</end_date>
 100  <!--associated ROLE row-->
 101  <!--columns of ROLE as T-->
 102  <role_description>Developer</role_description>
 103  <!--associated PROJECT row-->
 104  <!--columns of PROJECT as T-->
 105  <project_description>Development of Novel Magnetic Suspension System</project_description>
 106  <project_start_date>2006-01-01</project_start_date>
 107  <project_end_date>2007-08-13</project_end_date>
 108  </project_participation>
 109  </participations>
 110  </employee>
 111 </entities>


Step 4. Export entire employee hierarchy

Finally we export all employees into a XML tree with the president as root and subordinates as the children.
Do the following:
  • set the aggregation-type of association 'BOSS' to 'none'.
  • set the aggregation-type of association 'inverse-BOSS' to 'explicit list', set tag name to 'subordinates'.
  • remove restriction from 'inverse-BOSS' association.
  • set where-condition to T.NAME='KING'.
Export data into a file scott-4.xml.