Do not know how to loop through this xml file

hacking_mike · March 30th, 2010, 02:24 AM

I have this xml file

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<wizard wizardid="Workflow1">
<action id="Uitleg2">Uitleg</action>
<action id="Uitleg1">Uitleg</action>
<action id="IfElseActivity1">IfElseActivity

<action id="IfElseBranchActivity1">IfElseBranchActivity
     <action id="Uitleg3">Uitleg</action>
</action>
<action id="IfElseBranchActivity2">IfElseBranchActivity</action>
     <action id="Uitleg4">Uitleg</action>
</action>
</wizard>

I loop through this file and generate html from it. Like this (pseudo code)

Code:

select case actionType
	
	case "Uitleg"
		Do create text formfield
	case "IfElseActivity"
		Do create dropdownbox
	case "IfElseBranchActivity"
		Do create option in dropdownbox
end select

The sequence I loop through the xml is:

Code:

uitleg2
uitleg1
IfElseActivity1
IfElseBranchActivity1
uitleg3
IfElseBranchActivity2
uitleg4

This gives me a problem. When I get the Ifelseactivity, I need to know how much branches I have. First I want to 'build' the ifelseactivity1 dropdown BEFORE I build the uitleg 3 text formfield.

keep in mind that this xml is very simple, it can become complicated when I get an IfElseActivity In an IfElseActivity and so on.

I hope I made my problem clear.

I gave it a try in ASP and XSLT but I ended up in a lot of If then Else and case contructions which became a mess...

Old Pedant · March 30th, 2010, 03:34 PM

Why not simply do something like this:

Code:

 
Sub ProcessOneLevel( ... whatever the arguments? ... )
    Dim textList : ReDim textList(0)
 
    select case actionType
        case "Uitleg"
            ReDim Preserve textList(UBound(textList)+1)
            textList(UBound(textList) = ... remember this formfield ...
      case "IfElseActivity"
            Do create dropdownbox
      case "IfElseBranchActivity"
            Do create option in dropdownbox
      case "</IfElseActivity"  
            generate the </select>
            For i = 1 To UBound(textList) 
                Create a text box from textList(i)
            Next
    end select
 
End Sub

???

By putting the textList in the sub and making it a local variable, you can even handle nesting, base on other tags.

If a one-dimensional array is too simplistic, make it a 2D array. Or a 1D array of instances of a VBS class.

hacking_mike · April 1st, 2010, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Pedant

Why not simply do something like this:

Code:

 
Sub ProcessOneLevel( ... whatever the arguments? ... )
    Dim textList : ReDim textList(0)
 
    select case actionType
        case "Uitleg"
            ReDim Preserve textList(UBound(textList)+1)
            textList(UBound(textList) = ... remember this formfield ...
      case "IfElseActivity"
            Do create dropdownbox
      case "IfElseBranchActivity"
            Do create option in dropdownbox
      case "</IfElseActivity"  
            generate the </select>
            For i = 1 To UBound(textList) 
                Create a text box from textList(i)
            Next
    end select
 
End Sub

???

By putting the textList in the sub and making it a local variable, you can even handle nesting, base on other tags.

If a one-dimensional array is too simplistic, make it a 2D array. Or a 1D array of instances of a VBS class.

I did not think of te array approach yet, this is a good one.
However the xml does nog give me the "</IfElseActivity" back. How can I read this end tag?

Old Pedant · April 1st, 2010, 04:18 PM

> However the xml does nog give me the "</IfElseActivity" back.

WHAT??? How can it avoid it??? And still be legal XML??

Can't you show us the *real* XML??

hacking_mike · April 2nd, 2010, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Pedant

> However the xml does nog give me the "</IfElseActivity" back.

WHAT??? How can it avoid it??? And still be legal XML??

Can't you show us the *real* XML??

This is the real xml:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<wizard wizardid="Workflow1">
<action id="Uitleg2">Uitleg</action>
<action id="Uitleg1">Uitleg</action>
<action id="IfElseActivity1">IfElseActivity

<action id="IfElseBranchActivity1">IfElseBranchActivity
     <action id="Uitleg3">Uitleg</action>
</action>
<action id="IfElseBranchActivity2">IfElseBranchActivity</action>
     <action id="Uitleg4">Uitleg</action>
</action>
</wizard>

I am able to change it, a bit. What should be better in order to get back the </ifelseactivity

Old Pedant · April 2nd, 2010, 05:58 PM

Oh! Ugh!

Yeah, now I remember seeing this before.

You don't really have much choice but to do this in full XML node processing style.

BUT WAIT! You *must* have an error there.

Compare <action id="IfElseBranchActivity1"> with <action id="IfElseBranchActivity2">

One has the Uitleg3 *inside* its <action>...</action> pair and the other has it *outside*.

Surely that is wrong??

Old Pedant · April 2nd, 2010, 06:03 PM

Is there a reason you opted to go with all <action>...</action> instead of using tags such as

Code:

<wizard wizardid="Workflow1">
    <uitleg id="Uitleg2">Uitleg</uitleg>
    <uitleg id="Uitleg1">Uitleg</uitleg>
    <ifelse id="IfElseActivity1">
        IfElseActivity
        <ifelsebranch id="IfElseBranchActivity1">
            IfElseBranchActivity
            <uitleg id="Uitleg3">Uitleg</uitleg>
        </ifelsebranch>
        <ifelsebranch id="IfElseBranchActivity2">
            IfElseBranchActivity
            <uitleg id="Uitleg4">Uitleg</uitleg>
        </ifelsebranch>
    </ifelse>
</wizard>

??? That would be MUCH more in keeping with the spirit of XML and not so incidentally much easier to process.

hacking_mike · April 3rd, 2010, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Pedant

Is there a reason you opted to go with all <action>...</action> instead of using tags such as

Code:

<wizard wizardid="Workflow1">
    <uitleg id="Uitleg2">Uitleg</uitleg>
    <uitleg id="Uitleg1">Uitleg</uitleg>
    <ifelse id="IfElseActivity1">
        IfElseActivity
        <ifelsebranch id="IfElseBranchActivity1">
            IfElseBranchActivity
            <uitleg id="Uitleg3">Uitleg</uitleg>
        </ifelsebranch>
        <ifelsebranch id="IfElseBranchActivity2">
            IfElseBranchActivity
            <uitleg id="Uitleg4">Uitleg</uitleg>
        </ifelsebranch>
    </ifelse>
</wizard>

??? That would be MUCH more in keeping with the spirit of XML and not so incidentally much easier to process.

Ok, I try to change it that way. How can I process this?

Old Pedant · April 6th, 2010, 01:14 PM

Well, if you change to this kind of format, then what I showed you *should* work.

The only reason it might not work as is would be if you have on <ifelse> *inside* anothe <ifelse>. But even that we could make work, with a little bit of care.

hacking_mike · April 6th, 2010, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old Pedant

Well, if you change to this kind of format, then what I showed you *should* work.

The only reason it might not work as is would be if you have on <ifelse> *inside* anothe <ifelse>. But even that we could make work, with a little bit of care.

Ok, I tried this:

Code:

Set xml = CreateObject("msxml2.DomDocument")
xml.async = false
xml.load (Server.MapPath("test2.xml"))
Set start = xml.SelectSingleNode("wizard") 
Recurse start, "", 0

Sub Recurse( node, path, level )
    Dim kids, kid, nname, nid
    If node.nodeTypeString = "text" Then
        Response.Write "(" & level & ") " & path & " = " & node.Text & "<br/>" & vbNewLine
    Else 
        nname = node.nodeName
        nid = node.Attributes(0).value
        Set kids = node.ChildNodes
        For Each kid In kids
            Recurse kid, path & "/" & node.nodeName & "[id=" & nid & "]", level+1
        Next
    End If
End Sub

Which gives me the following output:

Code:

(2) /wizard[id=Workflow1]/uitleg[id=Uitleg2] = Uitleg
(2) /wizard[id=Workflow1]/uitleg[id=Uitleg1] = Uitleg
(2) /wizard[id=Workflow1]/ifelse[id=IfElseActivity1] = IfElseActivity
(3) /wizard[id=Workflow1]/ifelse[id=IfElseActivity1]/ifelsebranch[id=IfElseBranchActivity1] = IfElseBranchActivity
(4) /wizard[id=Workflow1]/ifelse[id=IfElseActivity1]/ifelsebranch[id=IfElseBranchActivity1]/uitleg[id=Uitleg3] = Uitleg
(3) /wizard[id=Workflow1]/ifelse[id=IfElseActivity1]/ifelsebranch[id=IfElseBranchActivity2] = IfElseBranchActivity
(4) /wizard[id=Workflow1]/ifelse[id=IfElseActivity1]/ifelsebranch[id=IfElseBranchActivity2]/uitleg[id=Uitleg4] = Uitleg

This already is very nice but does not give me the endtag </ifelse or </ifelsebranch. How can I achieve that.

And thank again for all your help sofar, really appreciate that!!!