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At 9:21 AM +0500 1/14/02, Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:
>At 2:40 PM +0100 1/14/02, Jens Jakob Andersen, PDI wrote:
>>This is one of the hypes about XML, that I'd like to defuse. XML is
>>not any more self-describing than CSV files. E.g.
>>
>><99874987kjhk>
>> <gnygngyasdada>
>> What is this?
>> </gnygngyasdada>
>></99874987kjhk>
>>
>>Case proved?
>>
>
>No, because nobody would actually do that. What you've demonstrated
>isn't even XML. (You can't begin an XML name with a number.) Even if
>you fixed that, this is not how XML is written in practice. Names are
>not chosen randomly. They have meaning which can be leveraged.
I have had the opportunity to teach ERP to undergrad business students, and
used SAP as the "typical" system. I would demonstrate certain ERP features
using examples from a functional SAP system. One lesson I liked to teach is
how SAP uses IDOCs (intermediate documents) to move data between foreign
systems, be it other SAP systems, or third party applications. IDOCs are
XML documents validated against XSD. SAP has a vast array of IDOC
definitions available for anyone to view at their leisure, located at
http://ifr.sap.com/catalog/query.asp, look for IDOC message types. I use
the IDOC as it is a commercially viable and acceptable XML document.
I happen to like their OILORD02 IDOC, which is used in pipeline
transactions, and use it for teaching purposes. Below I have attached what
I would consider a minimum essential completed OILORD02 IDOC. I think I
might have filled in about 1% of that document, according to its XML schema.
Notice the names of the elements. I suspect that most are abbreviations
from German, and some are in English. However, there are names (such as
E1EDK01) that match the "Cobol-oriented" names of the records stored
internally in SAP.
The main point here is that I tell my class that even though this is
self-describing XML, there are companies out their that are extending XML
for their own purposes, so do not expect that the label XML means obviously
self-describing, user friendly documents. One may still need a cheat sheet
to work their way through any given XML document.
Regards,
Ralph
=========
<IDOC>
<EDI_DC40 SEGMENT="1">
<TABNAM>EDI_DC40</TABNAM>
<DOCNUM>4667963</DOCNUM>
<DIRECT>1</DIRECT>
<IDOCTYP>OILORD02</IDOCTYP>
<MESTYP>SalesOrder</MESTYP>
<SNDPOR>CNF_00_SND</SNDPOR>
<SNDPRT>UK</SNDPRT>
<SNDPRN>12345678980</SNDPRN>
<RCVPOR>CNF_00_RCV</RCVPOR>
<RCVPRN>9876543210</RCVPRN>
<CREDAT>01082001</CREDAT>
<CRETIM>160152</CRETIM>
</EDI_DC40>
<E1EDK01 SEGMENT="1">
<ACTION>GO</ACTION>
<KZABS>1</KZABS>
<CURCY>USD</CURCY>
<BELNR>4667963</BELNR>
<NTGEW>6198</NTGEW>
<GEWEI>LBS</GEWEI>
<E1OILK0 SEGMENT="1">
<OIC_LIFNR>001000</OIC_LIFNR>
<OIC_PBATCH>95264</OIC_PBATCH>
<OIISOIL/>
<OIPARTNR>Acme Compa</OIPARTNR>
</E1OILK0>
<E1EDKA1 SEGMENT="1">
<PARVW>SLD</PARVW>
<LIFNR>001000</LIFNR>
<NAME1>Acme Company</NAME1>
<STRAS>100 Corporate Plaza</STRAS>
<ORT01>Elm</ORT01>
<COUNC>DE</COUNC>
<PSTLZ>10101</PSTLZ>
</E1EDKA1>
<E1EDKA1 SEGMENT="2">
<PARVW>SHP</PARVW>
<LIFNR>001080</LIFNR>
<NAME1>Acme Chemicals</NAME1>
<STRAS>100 Industrial Park</STRAS>
<ORT01>Oaks</ORT01>
<COUNC>NJ</COUNC>
<PSTLZ>00707</PSTLZ>
</E1EDKA1>
<E1EDP01 SEGMENT="1">
<POSEX>1</POSEX>
<MENGE>6198</MENGE>
<MENEE>LBS</MENEE>
<VPREI>91.11</VPREI>
<EINKZ>0</EINKZ>
<CURCY>USD</CURCY>
<PREIS>564699.78</PREIS>
<MATNR>277374.3</MATNR>
<E1EDP19 SEGMENT="1">
<IDTNR>277374.3</IDTNR>
<KTEXT>Oil</KTEXT>
</E1EDP19>
</E1EDP01>
</E1EDK01>
</IDOC>
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