• 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
    • 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 > Component and Sub-Component Fields

Component and Sub-Component Fields

Some file formats - many EDI variants, for example - allow fields to be subdivided into arrays, sub-fields, or composite fields. Collectively, these fields are referred to as component fields in custom XML conversion definitions. Typically, the headers of these files contain information about the character used to specify component fields. Stylus Studio uses this information to set the default value for the Field Component Separator property and render XML output accordingly.

Consider the following input file, which uses a semi-colon (;) to specify component fields:

Make;Model;Year;Color;Seat
               
BMW;R1150RS;2004;grey,metallic;black,vinyl
               
MZ;Scorpion;1995;green,clearcoat;black,vinyl
               
Ducati;ST2;1997;red,clearcoat;black,leather
               

            

Using the first row to supply the field names and default Component Element Name ( component), the custom XML conversion definition creates the following XML output (first two elements shown for brevity):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
               
<root>
               
	<row>
               
		<Make>BMW</Make>
               
		<Model>R1150RS</Model>
               
		<Year>2004</Year>
               
		<Color>
               
			<component>grey</component>
               
			<component>metallic</component>
               
		</Color>
               
		<Seat>
               
			<component>black</component>
               
			<component>vinyl</component>
               
		</Seat>
               
	</row>
               
	<row>
               
		<Make>MZ</Make>
               
		<Model>Scorpion</Model>
               
		<Year>1995</Year>
               
		<Color>
               
			<component>green</component>
               
			<component>clearcoat</component>
               
		</Color>
               
		<Seat>
               
			<component>black</component>
               
			<component>vinyl</component>
               
		</Seat>
               
	</row>
               
...
               

            

The <component> elements are created as subelements of the <Color> and <Seat> elements.

For line-oriented regions in files containing component fields, you can change the default Field Component Separator property, and the Component Element Name and Component Element Name properties, that is, the name you want to use for the component fields' container elements.