Transform XML into iSeries readable form, easily

Disoriented by SAX vs. DOM? Baffled by XML APIs? You are not alone. Writing RPGLE code to parse XML documents can be a tedious task. There is, however, a (free) utility called Xalan that will immensely ease your job, and let concentrate on the business rather than the bytes.

Xalan is a Java XSL parser, that will take as input 2 XML files: The first is the XML we want to transform, and the second is a XML file that defines the transformation. The transformation can output another XML, an HTML file, a PDF file (using special extensions).

Of special interest to iSeries professionals is the fact that a transformation can output a regular, flat text file, that is suited for import into a DB2 table.

You can find many examples of XSL transformations on the Web, but here is a real world example that is relevant in our context.

The Bank of Israel publishes a daily XML file with the currency rates.

With the attached code, you can find a sample of this file, and the XSL to transform it into a Comma Separated Values text file.

The result file can be imported into a DB2 table using CPYFRMIMPF command.

How to get Xalan to your iSeries computer?

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Type WRKLNK OBJ('/QIBM/ProdData/OS400/xml/lib/*')

If you see the files xalan101.jar and xerces103.jar then you are already set up.

If you do not have the files, you can get them at here.

Note: This is an OLD version of Xalan. New version are available, but have not been tried by me, yet. If you decide to use a newer Xalan distribution, pay attention to the CLASSPATH variable.

Create a new IFS directory called XML:
MKDIR '/xml'

Transfer the ZIP file via FTP to the XML directory.

Run the following command (it's

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best to submit to batch):
QSH CMD('cd /xml; ajar -x -r xalan-j_1_0_1.zip')

About the attached code:

=================================================================
The CL program takes 5 parameters:
XML - The file to be translated.
XSL - The transformation description.
OUT - The result file.
CSSID - The code page of the result file.
VER - The AS/400 version. If *PRV, the script assumes that you installed Xalan manually according to the above listed instructions. Use *PRV in case you did not find the xalan101.jar file, even if you have 5.1 or higher.

XALAN *cmd:

=================================================================
/* CRTCMD CMD(XALAN) PGM(*LIBL/XALANCPP) ... */
CMD PROMPT('Translate XML using XSLT')
PARM KWD(XML) TYPE(*PNAME) LEN(256) MIN(1) +
CASE(*MIXED) PROMPT('Full XML file path')

PARM KWD(XSL) TYPE(*PNAME) LEN(256) MIN(1) +
CASE(*MIXED) PROMPT('Full XSL file path')

PARM KWD(out) TYPE(*PNAME) LEN(256) MIN(1) +
CASE(*MIXED) PROMPT('Full Result file path')

PARM KWD(CCSID) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(7) PROMPT('CCSID +
of result file')

PARM KWD(VER) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(7) RSTD(*YES) +
DFT(V5R1M0) VALUES(V5R1M0 V5R2M0 *PRV) +
PROMPT('OS400 release')
/* End of Command XALAN */

XALANCPP *PGM:

=============================================================
PGM PARM(&XML &XSL &OUT &CCSID &VER)
DCL VAR(&JAVA) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(1024)

DCL VAR(&qshell) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(1024)
DCL VAR(&XML) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(256)
DCL VAR(&XSL) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(256)
DCL VAR(&OUT) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(256)
DCL VAR(&CCSID) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(7)
DCL VAR(&VER) TYPE(*CHAR) LEN(6)

/* Prepare java call */
IF COND(&VER = '*PRV') THEN(DO)

CHGVAR VAR(&JAVA) VALUE('java -classpath +
/xml/xalan_1_0_1/xalan.jar:/xml/xalan_1_0_1+

/xerces.jar:. + org.apache.xalan.xslt.Process ' *BCAT +
'-IN ' *BCAT &XML *BCAT ' -XSL ' *BCAT +
&XSL *BCAT ' -OUT ' *BCAT &OUT *BCAT ' +
-TEXT')

enddo
ELSE CMD(DO)
CHGVAR VAR(&JAVA) VALUE('java -classpath +
/QIBM/ProdData/OS400/xml/lib/xalan101.jar:/+
QIBM/ProdData/OS400/xml/lib/xerces103.jar:. +
org.apache.xalan.xslt.Process ' *BCAT +
'-IN ' *BCAT &xml *BCAT ' -XSL ' *BCAT +
&xsl *BCAT ' -OUT ' *BCAT &out *BCAT ' -TEXT'
enddo

STRQSH CMD(&JAVA)
/* Change CCSID of OUT file
CHGVAR VAR(&QSHELL) VALUE('setccsid' *bcat &ccsid *BCAT &out)
STRQSH CMD(&qshell)

RETURN
EXIT: ENDPGM

/* End of Program XALANCPP */

Sample XML to translate:

Note: The encoding in the original XML file is wrong.

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