• Chapter 1: Getting Started with Stylus Studio®
• Chapter 2: Editing and Querying XML
• Chapter 3: Converting Non-XML Files to XML
  • Overview of Convert to XML
  • Choosing an Input File
  • The Convert to XML Editor
  • Parts of an Input File
  • Working with Regions
  • Working with Fields
  • Controlling XML Output
  • Creating an Adapter
  • Using Adapters in Stylus Studio
  • More About Converting EDI
  • User-Defined Adapters Properties Reference
• Chapter 4: Working with XSLT
• Chapter 5: Creating XSLT Using the XSLT Mapper
• Chapter 6: Debugging Stylesheets
• Chapter 7: Defining XML Schemas
• Chapter 8: Defining Document Type Definitions
• Chapter 9: Writing XPath Expressions
• Chapter 10: Working with XQuery in Stylus Studio
• Chapter 11: Composing Web Service Calls
• Chapter 12: Accessing Relational Data as XML
• Chapter 13: Building XML Pipelines
• Chapter 14: Publishing XML Data
• Chapter 15: Integrating with Third-Party File Systems
• Chapter 16: Extending Stylus Studio
• Chapter 17: The Stylus Studio Java API
• Chapter 18: Stylus Studio GUI Reference

Home > Online Product Documentation > Table of Contents > Choosing an Input File

Choosing an Input File

The first step of creating an adapter is to select an input file.

Figure 160. Specify Input File Type Manually or Let Stylus Studio Decide

The input file can be any type. If you are planning to use the adapter to convert other non-XML files of this type, the input file should be representative of that broader class of files - files with the same extension ( .txt or .edi, for example), encoding, numbers and types of regions, and so on. You can always fine-tune the adapter to accommodate characteristics that are not embodied in the input file, but as a general rule, use a file that is as close to others of its type as possible.