I am an absolute novice at this; in fact, this is the first time I've worked with XML/XST Transforms at all. I'm very lost, and in dire need of assistance. Here's the problem:

We receive several XML files from a vendor on a daily basis. We've been using a VB application to parse and import the data from these files into our SQL database, but now we are re-engineering everything into BizTalk, but the BizTalk process that's been built cannot read the source files because all the data is encoded as attributes in a "row" node, rather than as individual nodes themselves (which is what the BizTalk process requires).

Here's a sample of the source file:

<xml xmlns:s="uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" xmlns:dt="uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" xmlns:rs="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema">
- <s:Schema id="RowsetSchema">
- <s:ElementType name="row" content="eltOnly">
- <s:AttributeType name="NDC" rs:number="1" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="11" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="PRICE_SOURCE" rs:number="2" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="6" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="PRICE_TYPE" rs:number="3" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="10" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="PRICE_EFF_DATE_1" rs:number="4" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="number" rs:dbtype="varnumeric" dt:maxLength="20" rs:scale="0" rs:precision="38" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="PRICE_AMT_1" rs:number="5" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="number" rs:dbtype="varnumeric" dt:maxLength="20" rs:scale="0" rs:precision="38" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="PRICE_EFF_DATE_2" rs:number="6" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="number" rs:dbtype="varnumeric" dt:maxLength="20" rs:scale="0" rs:precision="38" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="PRICE_AMT_2" rs:number="7" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="number" rs:dbtype="varnumeric" dt:maxLength="20" rs:scale="0" rs:precision="38" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="PRICE_EFF_DATE_3" rs:number="8" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="number" rs:dbtype="varnumeric" dt:maxLength="20" rs:scale="0" rs:precision="38" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="PRICE_AMT_3" rs:number="9" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="number" rs:dbtype="varnumeric" dt:maxLength="20" rs:scale="0" rs:precision="38" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="DATE_TIME_CREATED" rs:number="10" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="dateTime" rs:dbtype="timestamp" dt:maxLength="16" rs:scale="0" rs:precision="19" rs:fixedlength="true" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="USER_ID" rs:number="11" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="10" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="DATE_TIME_MODIFIED" rs:number="12" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="dateTime" rs:dbtype="timestamp" dt:maxLength="16" rs:scale="0" rs:precision="19" rs:fixedlength="true" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="FORM_ID" rs:number="13" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="10" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="PACKAGE_PRICE_1" rs:number="14" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="number" rs:dbtype="varnumeric" dt:maxLength="20" rs:scale="0" rs:precision="38" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="PACKAGE_PRICE_2" rs:number="15" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="number" rs:dbtype="varnumeric" dt:maxLength="20" rs:scale="0" rs:precision="38" />
  </s:AttributeType>
- <s:AttributeType name="PACKAGE_PRICE_3" rs:number="16" rs:nullable="true" rs:writeunknown="true">
  <s:datatype dt:type="number" rs:dbtype="varnumeric" dt:maxLength="20" rs:scale="0" rs:precision="38" />
  </s:AttributeType>
  <s:extends type="rs:rowbase" />
  </s:ElementType>
  </s:Schema>
- <rs:data>
  <z:row NDC="00009738601" PRICE_SOURCE="FDB" PRICE_TYPE="FFP" PRICE_EFF_DATE_1="20020122" PRICE_AMT_1=".0573" PRICE_EFF_DATE_2="20001207" PRICE_AMT_2=".074" PRICE_EFF_DATE_3="19971001" PRICE_AMT_3=".0399" DATE_TIME_CREATED="2003-11-25T07:40:41" USER_ID="PHIDBA" DATE_TIME_MODIFIED="2003-11-25T07:40:41" FORM_ID="BATCH" PACKAGE_PRICE_1="0" PACKAGE_PRICE_2="0" PACKAGE_PRICE_3="0" />


So, like anyone starting out with a new language, I searched the 'net for a way to do this and found this article (http://www.itjungle.com/mgo/mgo101003-story01.html) that seemed to cover it, by employing the following XSLT:

  <xsl:output indent="yes" />
  <xsl:strip-space elements="*" />
  <xsl:template match="*">
    <xsl:copy>
      <xsl:if test="@*">
        <xsl:for-each select="@*">
          <xsl:element name="{name()}">
            <xsl:value-of select="." />
          </xsl:element>
        </xsl:for-each>
      </xsl:if>
      <xsl:apply-templates />
    </xsl:copy>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>


So I wrote a simple C# program (my first) to apply the transform to the data thusly:

            string InputFileName = @"C:\RXA_XML\DP070625.xml";
            string OutputFileName = @"C:\RXA_XML\MyTestFile.xml";
            DataSet ds = new DataSet();
            System.IO.FileStream myFileStream = new System.IO.FileStream
                (OutputFileName, System.IO.FileMode.Create);

            try
            {
                ds.ReadXml(InputFileName);

                XmlDataDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDataDocument(ds);
                XslTransform xslTran = new XslTransform();
                xslTran.Load(@"C:\RXA_XML\transform.xsl");
                XmlTextWriter writer = new XmlTextWriter(@"C:\RXA_XML\xslt_output.xml",System .Text.Encoding.UTF8);
                xslTran.Transform(xmlDoc, null, writer);
                writer.Close();

                        catch...(etc.)


It seemed to work just fine, except I am getting "xmlns=" namespace declarations in all the nodes, which again, BizTalk can't seem to cope with:

<xml>
- <data xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset">
- <row xmlns="#RowsetSchema">
  <NDC xmlns="">00009738601</NDC>
  <PRICE_SOURCE xmlns="">FDB</PRICE_SOURCE>
  <PRICE_TYPE xmlns="">FFP</PRICE_TYPE>
  <PRICE_EFF_DATE_1 xmlns="">20020122</PRICE_EFF_DATE_1>
  <PRICE_AMT_1 xmlns="">.0573</PRICE_AMT_1>
  <PRICE_EFF_DATE_2 xmlns="">20001207</PRICE_EFF_DATE_2>
  <PRICE_AMT_2 xmlns="">.074</PRICE_AMT_2>
  <PRICE_EFF_DATE_3 xmlns="">19971001</PRICE_EFF_DATE_3>
  <PRICE_AMT_3 xmlns="">.0399</PRICE_AMT_3>
  <DATE_TIME_CREATED xmlns="">2003-11-25T07:40:41</DATE_TIME_CREATED>
  <USER_ID xmlns="">PHIDBA</USER_ID>
  <DATE_TIME_MODIFIED xmlns="">2003-11-25T07:40:41</DATE_TIME_MODIFIED>
  <FORM_ID xmlns="">BATCH</FORM_ID>
  <PACKAGE_PRICE_1 xmlns="">0</PACKAGE_PRICE_1>
  <PACKAGE_PRICE_2 xmlns="">0</PACKAGE_PRICE_2>
  <PACKAGE_PRICE_3 xmlns="">0</PACKAGE_PRICE_3>
  </row>



Can anyone please tell me how to eliminate all the namespace declarations from the output file? I've tried using exclude-result-prefixes, and copy-namespaces="no" to no avail (in fact, the latter bombs, telling me it's not a recognized command).

Thanks in advance.

pete

hi,

See this thread. I had the same problem:

http://p2p.wrox.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=60007

Don't worry about the namespace declarations, worry about the names of the elements. (The name has two parts, a namespace URI and a local name). If you generate elements with the right names, the XSLT processor will produce the right namespace declarations.

I don't know what you actually want to produce. If you want to lose all the namespace information, don't use xsl:copy. xsl:copy will never change the name of an element; if you want to change its name, use xsl:element. For example <xsl:element name="{local-name()}"> will create a new element that has the same local name as the current element, but which is in no namespace.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/
Author, XSLT Programmer's Reference and XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference

Michael,

Thank you for the help. I went back and looked at the transform, and noticed it's already using <xsl:element name="{local-name()}"> inside the for-each loop. Where would changing the copy come in?

I really do apologize. This is the first time I've had any exposure at all to XSL programming and working with XML files.

Thanks,
pete

BTW, this is what I need the output to look like, with each row, formerly made of attributes, now being well-formed:

<xml>
  <data>
    <row>
      <NDC>00009738601</NDC>
      <PRICE_SOURCE>FDB</PRICE_SOURCE>
      <PRICE_TYPE>FFP</PRICE_TYPE>
      <PRICE_EFF_DATE_1>20020122</PRICE_EFF_DATE_1>
      <PRICE_AMT_1>.0573</PRICE_AMT_1>
      <PRICE_EFF_DATE_2>20001207</PRICE_EFF_DATE_2>
      <PRICE_AMT_2>.074</PRICE_AMT_2>
      <PRICE_EFF_DATE_3>19971001</PRICE_EFF_DATE_3>
      <PRICE_AMT_3>.0399</PRICE_AMT_3>
      <DATE_TIME_CREATED>2003-11-25T07:40:41</DATE_TIME_CREATED>
      <USER_ID>PHIDBA</USER_ID>
      <DATE_TIME_MODIFIED>2003-11-25T07:40:41</DATE_TIME_MODIFIED>
      <FORM_ID>BATCH</FORM_ID>
      <PACKAGE_PRICE_1>0</PACKAGE_PRICE_1>
      <PACKAGE_PRICE_2>0</PACKAGE_PRICE_2>
      <PACKAGE_PRICE_3>0</PACKAGE_PRICE_3>
    </row>
  </data>
</xml>

Again, my thanks in advance.

pete

You are generating some elements using xsl:copy and some using xsl:element. The elements created using xsl:copy are retaining their existing names, which are in a namespace, which apparently you don't want. So you can't use xsl:copy.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/
Author, XSLT Programmer's Reference and XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference

Michael,

Thank you for all your help! Using the direction you gave, I finally figured out what needed to be changed. Here's what I wound up using that worked:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
 xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
  <xsl:output indent="yes"/>
  <xsl:strip-space elements="*" />
  <xsl:template match="*">
    <xsl:element name="{name()}">
      <xsl:if test="@*">
        <xsl:for-each select="@*">
          <xsl:element name="{name()}">
            <xsl:value-of select="." />
          </xsl:element>
        </xsl:for-each>
      </xsl:if>
      <xsl:apply-templates />
    </xsl:element>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Thank you again! You have no idea how much your help meant!

pete