XML export feature (options)

Classic Servoy
1

  1. Allow xsl stylesheet be specified to transform XML result (ala fllemaker)

  2. Add a name attribute to the <ROWS … > tag resulting from portal/relational data. This would allow an xsl transform to more easily differentiate one portal’s content from another.

eg

  1. Provide a way to specify the order of fields output during XML export (again ala filemaker). Currently, anytime I tweak something on my form (to be exported), much of the export order mysteriously changes. This often requires me to edit the (postprocess) xsl transform I use.

  2. Not that big a deal, but it might be nice to be able to disable the “form layout information”.

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RE: #3

I’ve done a little more experimenting w/ trying to find ways to control the order of XML export (using printXML() & writeXMLFile()).

I’ve found that in general, everytime I export XML the result’s order changes. I don’t have to edit data or layouts to trigger the order change. Relational/portal inner column data is consistently ordered. But normal form fields shift about as do entire portal data sets (relative to one another).

I have tried using a “self relationship” to group all the form’s fields into a portal and thereby gain some order control. However, the multiple portals I’m using keep shifting.

I mispoke in the original post regarding needing to “edit a post process xsl transform” to handle the unstable ordering. It is actually an XML schema file containing a xs:sequence that I continually have to fiddle with.

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Re: Re: #3

I was able to overcome the non-deterministic XML export order by adding a 2nd XSLT pass to my postprocess. Something I never needed in FMP w/ its explicit XML export order control.