I'm trying to take an XML file from a client that has no namespace definitions and convert it to one that does. This is so I can convince BT2006 to actually read the file.

I have multiple namespaces that I need to assign. I've seen it said several times "modified identity transform" but I'm really not wrapping my head around this idea. This is probably not the best first XSL project I could have picked, but I didn't get to pick it. Can anyone help me with this, please?

The client's XML (greatly reduced):
<Participants>
  <Participant>
    <insuranceStartDate>2006-06-20T00:00:00.0000000-04:00</insuranceStartDate>
    <insuranceEndDate>2006-08-31T00:00:00.0000000-04:00</insuranceEndDate>
    <serialNumber>1111111</serialNumber>
    <medicalNotes />
    <personChangeCode>C</personChangeCode>
    <programType>Program</programType>
    <OrganizationName>Organization</OrganizationName>
    <benefitAmount>0</benefitAmount>
    <person>
      <FirstName>FName</FirstName>
      <MiddleName>MName</MiddleName>
      <LastName>LName</LastName>
      <SuffixName />
      <GenderCode>F</GenderCode>
      <BirthDate>1986-02-04T00:00:00.0000000-05:00</BirthDate>
      <PhoneNumber />
      <EmailAddress />
      <CitizenshipCountry>USA</CitizenshipCountry>
    </person>
  </Participant>
</Participants>

What I need:

<ns0:Participants xmlns:ns0="http://COINS_SCHEMAS.Participants">
  <ns1:Participant xmlns:ns1="http://COINS_SCHEMAS.participantType">
    <insuranceStartDate>2006-06-20T00:00:00.0000000-04:00</insuranceStartDate>
    <insuranceEndDate>2006-08-31T00:00:00.0000000-04:00</insuranceEndDate>
    <serialNumber>1111111</serialNumber>
    <medicalNotes />
    <personChangeCode>C</personChangeCode>
    <programType>Program</programType>
    <OrganizationName>Organization</OrganizationName>
    <benefitAmount>0</benefitAmount>
    <ns2:person xmlns:ns2="http://COINS_SCHEMAS.personType">
      <FirstName>FName</FirstName>
      <MiddleName>MName</MiddleName>
      <LastName>LName</LastName>
      <SuffixName />
      <GenderCode>F</GenderCode>
      <BirthDate>1986-02-04T00:00:00.0000000-05:00</BirthDate>
      <PhoneNumber />
      <EmailAddress />
      <CitizenshipCountry>USA</CitizenshipCountry>
    </ns2:person>
  </ns1:Participant>
</ns0:Participants>

Alternatively, and probably belonging in a different forum, if there was a way to make BizTalk not worry about the prefix/namespace definitions on the records I wouldn't need to do the transform.

Actually, I simplified this a lot inside BT. Now I need only one namespace/prefix added. This is the output I need:

<ns0:Participants xmlns:ns0="http://COINS_CHEMAS.COINS_EXPORT">
  <ns0:Participant>
    <ns0:insuranceStartDate>2006-06-20T00:00:00.0000000-04:00</ns0:insuranceStartDate>
    <ns0:insuranceEndDate>2006-08-31T00:00:00.0000000-04:00</ns0:insuranceEndDate>
    <ns0:serialNumber>1111111</ns0:serialNumber>
    <ns0:medicalNotes />
    <ns0:personChangeCode>C</ns0:personChangeCode>
    <ns0:programType>Program</ns0:programType>
    <ns0:OrganizationName>Organization</ns0:OrganizationName>
    <ns0:benefitAmount>0</ns0:benefitAmount>
    <ns0:person>
      <ns0:FirstName>FName</ns0:FirstName>

etc.

I'm still clueless as to how to make this happen, but it's got to be easier than the first example.

There are three elements you want to rename: Participants, Participant, and person. The other elements should all be copied unchanged. (The name of an element is in two parts: namespace URI and local name. Changing either part is best thought of as a renaming operation).

So you need four template rules. The default rule copies things unchanged:

<xsl:template match="*">
  <xsl:copy>
    <xsl:copy-of select="@*"/>
    <xsl:apply-templates/>
  </xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>

and the others do a renaming. Here is one of them:

<xsl:template match="Participants">
  <ns0:Participants xmlns:ns0="http://COINS_SCHEMAS.Participants">
    <xsl:copy-of select="@*"/>
    <xsl:apply-templates/>
  </ns0:Participants>
</xsl:template>

The others are similar.

>if there was a way to make BizTalk not worry about the prefix/namespace definitions on the records I wouldn't need to do the transform.

That's a bit like me asking my bank manager to accept instructions from anyone called Mike, regardless of the surname.

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

I've used BizTalk a few times and never come across this restriction. It can struggle with non-namespaced documents because it relies on XML schemas which generally use namespaced nodes, but it doesn't worry about the actual prefix/URI mapping.

--

Joe (Microsoft MVP - XML)

Joe: I've manually edited files to gives them the proper namespace declarations and it will actually take them. That's the reason I think this is the solution I need. This is also my first BT project so I'm sure I'm missing things along the way but I just want this thing to get going.

mhkay: I'm not working today but it looks like what you've given me should do what I need. I'll test it tomorrow. Thanks so much.

I think this worked but I have a question. When I use a browser I'm getting unexpected output. I'm using <xsl:output method="xml" version="1.0"> and the browser just outputs unformatted data rather than pretty xml with my new namespaces applied. Is this what I should expect?

Yep. It works like a charm. Still having BT issues but this got me a lot closer. Thanks again.