• 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
  • The Custom XML Conversion Definition Editor
  • Parts of an Input File
  • Working with Regions
  • Working with Fields
    • Naming Fields
      • Using the Element Name Source Property
      • More About Using Rows for Field Names
      • How to Name Fields
    • Defining Fields
    • Component and Sub-Component 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 > Naming Fields

Naming Fields

Every field in an input file - including fields in the same region and row - can have its own field element name. All field element names ( <field> is the default) include the namespace prefix in the XML output if one was specified.

Field names are determined by two properties - Element Name Source in the Region Type properties, and Field Element Name, as shown in Figure 173.

Figure 173. Sources for Field Names in XML Output

The Element Name Source indicates the origin of the field name used in the XML output when converting the input file. The Field Element Name property specifies the actual value used to name the <field> element.

Using the Element Name Source Property

There are three values for the Element Name Source property:

The default value of the Field Element Name property is field. If you use other values for the Element Name Source property, Stylus Studio provides the values for the Field Element Name property.

User-Supplied is the default setting for the Element Name Source property.

Consider the following input file:

Make:Model:Year
               
BMW:R1150RS:2004
               
MZ:Scorpion:1995
               
Ducati:ST2:1997
               

            

If you set Element Name Source to From First Row, the XML output uses Make, Model, and Year for the <field> element names, as shown here:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
               
<root>
               
	<row>
               
		<Make>BMW</Make>
               
		<Model>R1150RS</Model>
               
		<Year>2004</Year>
               
	</row>
               
	<row>
               
		<Make>MZ</Make>
               
		<Model>Scorpion</Model>
               
		<Year>1995</Year>
               
	</row>
               
	<row>
               
		<Make>Ducati</Make>
               
		<Model>ST2</Model>
               
		<Year>1997</Year>
               
	</row>
               
</root>
               

            

You can specify any row as the source for field names using the Get Field Names from This Row from the row's shortcut menu.

More About Using Rows for Field Names

When you use an existing row as the source for field names in the XML output, Stylus Studio changes the display of that row in the document pane to a darker blue to indicate this, as shown here:

Figure 174. Using a Row for Field Names

In addition, preceding rows in that region, if any, are grayed out, and the value of the Rows to Skip field in the Region Type properties changes to reflect this.

In the event that the first row has fewer names than there are fields in one or more subsequent lines in the file, Stylus Studio names the extra fields <fieldn >, where n is the field number relative to other fields in the row. Also, if the values in the row are not valid XML identifiers, they are converted using the following rules:

How to Name Fields

To provide user-supplied field names:

The Field Element Name property displays the current value for the field.

Alternative:

The field name field becomes editable.

Figure 175. You Can Edit the Field Name Directly in the Document Pane

To specify alternate sources for field names: