Overview

DB/XML Transform 2.0 provides a powerful engine for bi-directional data transformation between XML, database and text formats in any combination. Through XML, transformation from or to other formats such as HTML, XHTML, WML, EDI can be easily achieved. It is best suited for retrieving data from your database and formatting them in XML format in whatever the way you want, and vice versa. It is ideal for building corporate portals, B2B applications, data exchange and database integration solutions.

Main features of DB/XML Transform 2.0

• Value-added transformation - More than just doing simple format conversion, it allows you to manipulate data itself as well as its structure or format. With DB/XML Transform, you can: implement your own primary key scheme to generate unique key values that your database requires, by using a sequence scheme, a stored procedure, an external Java object, or directly use the value from source XML document; incrementally update your database; add extra fields that do not exist in the source but are required in the target database; assign default value; change the data structure completely; derive new value from existing data through calculation, aggregation and manipulation; implement complex business rules to the transformation process, such as data validation, translation using look-up tables; apply formatting rules to data; and much more.
  
  
• Hierarchical data transformation between database and XML - Another important feature that differentiates DB/XML Transform from all other products is its ability to transform hierarchical data between database and XML, database and database, and between XML and XML. It can read and update your database according to their relationships. The hierarchical data in XML generated by our innovative Tree-Structured Query Technology is a snapshot of your database. It provides the most advanced implementation for updating your database using data from your XML documents.
  
  
• Provide high performance, scalability and maximum flexibility through our intelligent Streamed XML Transformation Technology - It has a powerful engine that takes the advantages of both SAX and DOM models, and intelligently works out what model to use to best achieve the desired results.
  
  
• Define object mapping through graphical interface or XML-based configurable objects. It also offers an easy-to-use Expression Editor.
  
  
• Support XPath expressions and functions - The object mapping model is XML based, and similar to W3C's XSLT model. A map file, an XML document itself, defines the data model for the target, and the XPath expressions and functions are used to map the data source. By supporting XPath expressions and functions, it enables you to do cross-level object mapping as well as mixed mapping between element and attribute.
  
  
• Provide useful built-in XPath and database-specific extensions - It provides many useful built-in extensions to meet real-world transformation needs. The extensions include: referencing nodes from the target schema tree (useful for modeling the primary key and foreign key relationships); built-in functions complementary to XPath and XSLT, including date formatting, string conversion, obtaining system data and time; database-specific extensions that allow you to generate key values using your database stored procedures and sequences, and Java objects.
  
  
• Open architecture for maximum extensibility - It allows you to easily plug in your own Java objects to meet your complex processing requirements, such as data validation, data translation using lookup tables.
  
  
• Reconstruct relationship hierarchy from flat data, or directly format a flat query result set to hierarchical structure on the fly.
  
  
• Automates complex query process using the unique Tree-Structured Query technology.
  
  
• Powerful tool for browsing database metadata, table contents and query results, and generating reports of them in XML or HTML.
  
  
• Provide a standard query tool that allows you to execute any SQL commands and stored procedures, including testing stored procedures with OUT and INOUT parameters.
  
  
• Easy-to-use, no learning curve

This information has been provided by the vendor and has not been evaluated by O'Reilly's editorial staff.