Rendering result sets into XML format

Rendering a query result set from an application data source into XML format involves the following steps:
  1. Define an HTML page with a standard DataBlox.
    Note: The IBM® Alphablox XML Cube can only access the result set of an explicitly-defined DataBlox. It cannot access the result set of the implicitly-defined DataBlox that underlies a PresentBlox, GridBlox, or ChartBlox.
  2. Use DataBlox properties or methods to specify its data source and query string.
  3. Define both the application and data source to IBM Alphablox.
  4. Invoke the application, being sure to add the render attribute to the application’s URL:
    .../AppName.jsp?render=XML

    The value of XML for the render attribute triggers IBM Alphablox to perform the following processing:

    • access the IBM Alphablox XML Cube DTD (Document Type Definition)
    • render the DataBlox result set in XML (replacing the DataBlox on the page)
    • make the XML document available for further processing
Note: When using an standalone DataBlox for rendering to XML, the Blox header tag (<blox:header/>) is not required on your application page, and may result in the page not being displayed properly. Alternatively, instead of using the render=xml URL attribute, you may want to use a DataBlox with the common render property, setting its value to xml.

The next section shows the example result set from the previous page rendered into XML.