Subject:Flat File (From mainframe COBOL Programs with Copybook) to XML conversion Author:sebastien vinchon Date:04 Feb 2008 11:37 AM Originally Posted: 04 Feb 2008 11:32 AM
Hello,
One of my customers (a large bank from Luxembourg) is in need for a solution to convert flat files generated by Mainframe COBOL programs into XML.
I am trying to convince them that your products are the right ones to do this (COMV + xQuery).
However:
- They have COBOL copybooks that describe the structure of their flat file and it seems painful to have to manually recreate a CONV file in Stylus when those files already provide all the needed information
- I haven't been able to find a good example on how to convert a record oriented file to XML using Stylus
In the worst case, the input file could be made of several blocks of data (one per customer for instance), with several record types (account, transactions, etc) per block and multiple occurrence of certain record types (n transaction for the same account) inside the same block.
It seems to me that it should be possible to write some code to automatically generated a CONV file out of a COBOL copybook.
I am attaching a sample flat file together with the copybook that describes its structure.
Subject:Flat File (From mainframe COBOL Programs with Copybook) to XML conversion Author:Tony Lavinio Date:04 Feb 2008 04:51 PM
We took a look, but had a little trouble understanding the
output of the DECIMAL fields. They look like COMP-3, but
they are left-padded with 0x20 (blank) bytes instead of
zeros. Unfortunately, in COMP-3, 0x20 also means the digits
'2' and '0' - at least when rendered as ISO-8859-1 or cp1252,
which your output appears to be.
Subject:Flat File (From mainframe COBOL Programs with Copybook) to XML conversion Author:Tony Lavinio Date:05 Feb 2008 07:41 AM
We don't, but we might be able to provide some guidance if
we can see a good sample that will help you to do it quickly,
and perhaps even automate the process.
Subject:Flat File (From mainframe COBOL Programs with Copybook) to XML conversion Author:sebastien vinchon Date:05 Feb 2008 04:30 PM Originally Posted: 05 Feb 2008 04:27 PM
I am waiting for feedback from my customer.
In the meantime, can someone tell me the right way to write a CONV and an xQuery based on the attached files.
This should allow me to move forward once my customer gets back to me.
I am pretty sure it is possible to automatically generate a CONV out of a COBOL copybook but I will look into that as a second step.
Subject:Flat File (From mainframe COBOL Programs with Copybook) to XML conversion Author:Minollo I. Date:05 Feb 2008 05:30 PM Originally Posted: 05 Feb 2008 05:29 PM
If I well understand the description of your format and output, the attached two files may help; the XQuery has to do positional grouping, as the input format seems to rely on position to associate transactions to accounts; the code assumes that test.conv is on c:\
Subject:Flat File (From mainframe COBOL Programs with Copybook) to XML conversion Author:sebastien vinchon Date:06 Feb 2008 03:57 AM
An additional potentially useful piece of information is that the input file can be VERY large so I hope your engine is able to read it by block to avoid running out of memory.
Subject:Flat File (From mainframe COBOL Programs with Copybook) to XML conversion Author:sebastien vinchon Date:06 Feb 2008 04:26 AM Originally Posted: 06 Feb 2008 04:24 AM
This example is of great help to understand the flat file to XML conversion capabilities of your product.
You should include it in the documentation :-)
I am very impressed by your response time and you willingness to help.