About the XML Data Format

The Sterling B2B Integrator Map Editor XML implementation conforms to the rules of the XML language 1.0 specification, as published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). However, to be more flexible, Sterling B2B Integrator Map Editor and the translator diverges slightly from the W3C base 1.0 XML specification. The Sterling B2B Integrator Map Editor implementation enables you to do the following with XML:

• Specify the number of times that a group can repeat.
• Specify the number of times an element in a mixed group can repeat.
• Repeat an element (with a structure different from the structure of the original element) in a different part of the document.

You can select a COBOL copybook file layout (in ASCII text) as input to the Sterling B2B Integrator Map Editor for the positional side of a map. The conversion of COBOL copybook is accomplished using the third-party open source tool CB2XML (Copy-Book-to-XML), which is a COBOL copybook to XML converter. CB2XML accepts a COBOL copybook file layout as input and returns an XML file as output, and the Sterling B2B Integrator Map Editor then converts the intermediate XML file to the positional format. See COBOL Copybook Conversion for Use with Sterling B2B Integrator Map Editor for more information.