[AccessD] Parsing XML as a string?

Charlotte Foust cfoust at infostatsystems.com
Thu Nov 16 11:59:46 CST 2006


More likely something like this, where the attribute readonly, of the
element dbtype, has a value of "False":

 <dbtype readonly="False">0</dbtype> 

Multiple attributes in the element would be separated by spaces.  Each
element can have 0 to many attributes and they could conceivably vary
from node to node.  Ouch!

Charlotte Foust

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of JWColby
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 9:47 AM
To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Parsing XML as a string?

OK, so I assume that you want to get the items, enclosed by < /> where
there are two "values" separated by a space?

You want all of them?
Just specific ones?
Are there more than one of the "big items" defined as the entire thing
you sent me) in a single file?

This looks trivial to parse based on the <> pairs as beginning / ending
a field.  This assumes that neither of these characters are found in the
image data.

I am not intimate with XML, but I thought that XML had <FieldName> data
</FieldName>.  This obviously doesn't.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Greg Smith
Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 12:09 PM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Parsing XML as a string?

John:

I sent you a full copy of the XML file offline.

Greg

> Not having followed the original thread...
>
> It sounds like a good place for a pair of classes.  One class would 
> hold each "snippet" based on the < characters.  A parent class would 
> break down the string into these snippets, load them into the snippet 
> classes and hold the snippet classes in a collection.  Once the huge 
> string is parsed into snippets, the parent class can process them by 
> iterating the collection of snippets doing whatever was required for 
> each
snippet.
>
> Once you have processed the snippets, you can write the results out to

> a table.
>
> That is obviously a "big picture".
>
> Can you paste a sample of the xml into an email so that I can see it.
> Sorry, I wasn't following the original discussion.
>
> John W. Colby
> Colby Consulting
> www.ColbyConsulting.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Greg Smith
> Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2006 10:46 AM
> To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
> Subject: [AccessD] Parsing XML as a string?
>
> Hi everyone!
>
> Ok...I admit that trying to import that XML file I had directly into 
> Access may have SEEMED like a good, "easy", idea...at the time...but 
> after looking around and from the comments here, the idea 
> was...well..it sucked.
>  If the XML they were sending to me were compatible then I might have 
> had a chance...but it's just not feasible.  There actually wasn't any 
> way to define it using a dtd/xls/xlst within my lifetime, so I'm going

> to have to use a different approach.
>
> The files they send as XML are not that large, so I could easily 
> import them as text, separate out what I need and put it into the 
> required tables. However, since they send it as a single string, it 
> becomes harder to parse it since there are multiple duplicated 'keys'
> that I need to pull from it. And they're not necessarily in the same 
> position all of the time.
>
> I could import it as a single string into a memo field, but I can't 
> figure out how to disect a memo field string like that.
>
> When I import it as text, I could break it down at the "<" characters,

> importing each one into a separate columns, but I need them in rows, 
> not columns, to search and find the strings of data I need.
>
> So, in summary, my only two choices (that I can think of) are:
>
> 1.  Import the XML as a single string into a memo and somehow parse 
> that into the data I need.
> 2.  Import the XML as text, separating it on the "<" characters into 
> columns, then somehow magically (transpose columns into rows?) 
> transform that to usable information.
>
> ANY suggestions, short of retirement (although not a bad idea...), 
> would be GREATLY apprecaited!
>
> Thanks!
>
> Greg Smith
>
>
>
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