Requirements

This utility converts a flat file containing one or more logical documents to one or more XML instance documents, each representing a single logical document. Here's a summary of the required functionality.

• Inputs: A flat file in fixed or variable length format, with each field having a fixed length. A specific field in each record contains a record identifier. The input flat file may consist of more than one logical document. The second input is a file description document (as discussed in Chapter 6) that describes the flat file and the grammar of the XML document to be produced.

• Processing: An Element is created in the output document for each logical group of records in the flat file, and each input flat file record is written to an Element that is a child of that group Element. Each field in the record is written to a child Element of the record Element. The organization of records into groups, of fields into records, and their Element names are derived from the file description document. Field content is converted to schema language data types as specified in the file description document. Empty fields, that is, those with zero length after whitespace has been trimmed, do not create Elements in the output document. Processing breaks optionally occur on a change in a trading partner field.

• Output: One or more XML instance documents, each in a single file. The root Element name is derived from the grammar in the file description document. The file name is formed by appending a three-digit sequence number to the root Element name and adding the extension .xml. If break on trading partner has been specified, the documents for each trading partner are placed in a separate subdirectory. The subdirectories are named according to the trading partner IDs in the partner break field.