• Chapter 1: Getting Started with Stylus Studio®
• Chapter 2: Editing and Querying XML
• Chapter 3: Converting Non-XML Files to XML
  • Introduction
  • DataDirect XML Converters
  • Custom XML Converters
    • Creating a Custom XML Conversion Definition
    • Choosing an Input File
  • The Custom XML Conversion Definition Editor
  • Parts of an Input File
  • Working with Regions
  • Working with Fields
  • Controlling XML Output
  • Creating a Custom XML Conversion Definition
  • Using Custom XML Conversion Definitions in Stylus Studio
  • Working with EDI Conversions
  • The Converter URL Scheme
  • Custom XML Conversion Definitions 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: Working with WSDL Documents
• 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

Stylus Studio's XML Converters module makes it easy to define custom XML conversions based on many non-XML file types, including text, binary, and EDI. You can let Stylus Studio use a set of rules to determine the type, encoding, and layout of the input file, or you can specify these settings manually, as shown in Figure 149.

Figure 149. Specify Input File Type Manually or Let Stylus Studio Decide

The input file can be any type. If you plan to use the custom XML conversion definition 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 custom XML conversion definition 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.

Stylus Studio's heuristics are also used to determine the field separator character being used (if any), the delimiting character being used (if any), and so on. The assumptions Stylus Studio makes are reflected in the Properties window in the Custom XML Conversions Editor once the input file is opened.