XMLNSC: Attributes and elements

The XMLNSC parser uses field types to represent attributes and elements.

Use the following field type constants when creating your own syntax elements in the message tree.

Table 1. Specific field type constants
XML Construct	XMLNSC Field Type constant	Value
Complex element	XMLNSC.Folder	0x01000000
Simple element	`XMLNSC.Field XMLNSC.CDataField`	`0x02000000 0x02000001`
Attribute	`XMLNSC.SingleAttribute XMLNSC.Attribute`	`0x03000100 0x03000101`

When accessing elements and attributes in the message tree, use generic field type constants which match all of the alternative values. Because there is only one type of Folder element, it is safe to use XMLNSC.Folder when querying the message tree.

Table 2. Generic field type constants
XML Construct	XMLNSC Field Type constant	Purpose
Element	XMLNSC.Field	Matches elements that contain normal text, CData, or a mixture of both
Attribute	XMLNSC.Attribute	Matches both single-quoted and double-quoted attributes

ESQL code examples

The following examples use this XML message:

<root id="12345">
    <id>ABCDE</id>
</root>

Note that the message contains an attribute and an element with the same name.

Example 1 : Query the value of an XML element

SET value = FIELDVALUE(InputRoot.XMLNSC.root.(XMLNSC.Field)id)

The result is that value is set to 'ABCDE'.

Example 2 : Query the value of an XML attribute

SET value = FIELDVALUE(InputRoot.XMLNSC.root.(XMLNSC.Attribute)id)

The result is that value is set to '12345'.

Example 3 : Create the example message by using ESQL

CREATE LASTCHILD OF OutputRoot.XMLNSC Type XMLNSC.Folder Name 'root'; 
-- Note : XMLNSC.Attribute could be used here as well. 
SET OutputRoot.XMLNSC.root.(XMLNSC.Attribute)id = '12345'; 
SET OutputRoot.XMLNSC.root.(XMLNSC.Field)id = 'ABCDE';

The first line is optional because the element 'root' is created automatically by the following line if it does not already exist.