Creating an XML Handler using an XML Instance
This tutorial will help you
to understand:
- How to create an XML Reader
(parser) and an XML Writer from a COBOL data structure
- How to change the properties of a node
- How to set the generation options
- What files you should have after
code generation
- How to write a Writer calling program
- How to write a Reader calling program
1.
Launch XML Thunder
2.
The welcome screen will appear and give you two
different options, one to Create a New XML Handler and
one to Open existing
handlers. (If you disabled
the welcome screen, please click
toolbar or choose XML
Handler -> New from main menu.).
For now, click the first option.
3.
If the wizard starts with the Begin
panel, click Next.
4.
On the Source panel, choose XML Instance
from the list, click Next.
5.
On the next panel, type in the path to the tutorial Schema
example BAXML.xml
or click 
to locate it. Click Next.
6.
On the Names panel you should see the following
screen. Leave the names unchanged. Click Next.
7.
On The IDS Design panel, choose the option
to always keep the IDS and the XML design In-Sync
8.
On the Design View panel choose the IDS
and XML design panes together option.
9.
On the Finish panel,
review the information and click Finish.
10.
After few moments, the XML Handler design window will
be displayed.
11.
Now, let's modify the ACCOUNT
element, change the Max Occ to 40. Click OK.
We can observe the effect of this change on the
following image:
12.
Modify the ACCOUNT-Comment:
Change the data node property length to 4000 and check
the box variable
length.
13.
The Logical IDS should look like:
14.
Before code generation, we will set the XML buffer
size. Click XML
Handler Properties, switch to General pane
and type 32000
in Buffer
Size entry field. Click OK.
15.
Click
Generate
or select Tools -> Generate
from the main menu.
16.
On the Generation dialog, adjust settings to generate a
Writer,
set the Program
ID/Source Name to BAXMLW, set
the output folder, set the Language to COBOL, check
the Generate
IDS, set its Source Name to BAXMLWC
and click Generate 
.
17.
Upon normal completion, adjust settings to generate a Reader, set the Program ID/Source Name to BAXMLR, change the IDS
Source Name to BAXMLRC option and click Generate
18.
At the destination folder, you should now have BAXMLW.cbl,
BAXMLR.cbl,
BAXSDWC.cpy and BAXSDRC.cpy
files, the XML Writer, Reader, Writer IDS and Reader IDS respectively. Main
test programs BAXMLW_test.cbl
and BAXMLR_test.cbl
(located at Installation Folder/TutorTX/Main Test
Programs) copy BAXMLWC
and BAXMLRC and call
BAXMLW
and BAXMLR
to demonstrate how an XML Writer and Reader can be used
within a COBOL main program.
19.
Copy the following files to a temp folder:
BAXMLW_test.cbl
BAXMLR_test.cbl
BAXMLW.cbl
BAXMLR.cbl
BAXMLWC.cpy
BAXMLRC.cpy
20. Launch
your favorite COBOL IDE, load these files, compile them and run BAXMLW_test. It should produce BAXML.xml. Now lets analyze the most
important sections of the BAXMLW_test.cbl
program
21. The
generated XML file will look like:
22.
Run BAXMLR_test.cbl. It will read back the XML
file. Let's take a look at the main section
of this program.
