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Creating a Schema
This scenario describes how to create a simple
Schema, and describes how to use it in a Port or Workflow.
(1) Launch the Schema editor. To create a new Schema, right
click on the Schemas node in the SmartsIntegrator Explorer tree, and select 'New
Schema'.
(2) Create the Schema in the editor. The editor provides
both a tree and an XSD view. We recommend that you create your Schema structure
in the tree control using the context or application menu to insert new types, elements
and attributes as required. The Properties grid pane on the right allows you
to configure the properties for the item/s selected in the tree. If you require
further control though, you can edit the XSD directly.
Example : A simple Person schema
Create a new Schema. In the editor, right click on the Schema root in the
tree control, and select 'Create Child Element'. Rename this element to Person.
Right click on the Person element, and select 'Create Child Attribute'. Rename
this to 'Name'. Right click on the Person element, and select 'Create Child
Attribute'. Rename this to 'Age'. In the Properties pane, change the
data type to 'xs:int'. Right click on the Person element, and select 'Create
Child Complex Type'. Right click on this and add Child Elements for Line1,
Line2, City and Postcode.
To see an example instance of your schema, select Tools / Generate Sample XMl Document...
from the Schema editor menu bar. You can also validate a schema instance using
the Tools / Validate XML Document menu option.
(3) View or modify Schema level settings. If you click
on the Schema root in the tree control, you can specify a number of schema-level
settings including the target namespace, any other schemas to be imported or included,
and the root element (applicable if you have more than one element defined at the
root level, and which can also be set via the context menu). You can also
specify an additional XML header to be added to document instances, primarily to
allow association with Microsoft InfoPath.
(4) Flat-file support. At the Schema settings level you can
also designate a schema as flat-file, that is a file that is not XML but is delimited
(e.g. CSV) or positional in nature. If the Schema 'Is Flat File Schema' property
is set to true, a number of other properties across the schema hierarchy are enabled.
At the schema level you can specify whether to ignore superfluous carriage returns
and the default encoding. At the type level, you can define delimiters or
positional settings for contained items. At the element or attribute level, you
can specify additional delimiter and positional data as appropriate. Consult
the application Help file for further details.
Example : A simple CSV schema
We'll define a simple CSV schema relating to a simple CustomerId, ProductCode, Quantity
file. An example file might look like the following :
Customer1,Product1,100
Customer1,Product2,0
Customer2,Product1,100
Customer2,Product2,100
...
Create a new Schema. In the editor, select the Schema root in the tree control,
and set 'Is Flat File Schema' to true in the Properties pane. Right click
on the Schema root in the tree control, and select 'Create Child Element'.
Rename this element to Root. Right click on the Root element, and select 'Create
Child Complex Type'. Rename this to 'Record'. In the Properties pane,
set the Delimiter to {CRLF} from the dropdown. This sets a carriage return
/ linefeed to be the record delimited (although the default Schema setting of IgnoreCarriageReturns=true
will tolerate inconsistencies in the newline format). Set the Delimit_Mode
to Infix_ToleratePostfix. This means that we don't care whether or not the
file finished with a new line. Set MaxContentOccurs to 'unbounded' or '*'
from the dropdown. The means that there can be multiple instances of the child
items. Click on the Record element, and set the Delimiter to , (comma) in
the Properties pane. This means that child items of this record will be comma
separated. Right click in the Record element and create three child elements
in turn, named CustomerId, ProductId, Quantity. Set the data-type of the Quantity
element to be xs:int in the Properties pane. Now we can create a sample flat-file
document by using the Tools / Generate Sample FlatFile Document menu item.
(5) Using the Schema with a Port. A Schema can be assigned
to a Port by setting the Schema property on the General tab of the Receive Port
Properties form. On setting this property, we are saying that all documents
passing through the Port will adhere to this Schema, and an error will be thrown
(resulting in a Suspended Message) if an invalid document is submitted. On
a Receive Port, we can also specify an Envelope Schema to enable us to extract multiple
records from one document, consult the SmartsIntegrator help file for more information
on this.
Having selected a Schema, more Port functionality becomes available. Specifically
it becomes possible to enter XPath filters, Context Property initialisation expressions,
uniqueness criteria and receipt correlations that just aren't possible without knowing
the Message schema.
(6) Using the Schema with a Workflow. A Schema can be associated
with a Workflow Message (via the Properties pane), and again this is adding an extra
layer of validation. It also enables extra functionality when writing code
in Visual Studio for Applications. The use of a strongly typed message will
enable a member on the VSTA Message accessor called BodyModel. This member
exposes a programmatic and strongly typed model of the schema.
For example, if you have a Workflow message variable called PersonMessage associated
with the Person schema defined earlier, you could write the following code in VSTA
:
int age = this.PersonMessage.BodyModel.Person.Age;
(C#)
or
dim age as System.Int32
age = Me.PersonMessage.BodyModel.Person.Age; (VB.Net)
Note that if the document is blank or the area of the document you are accessing
does not exist, you may get null returned. You can create null areas of the
document using the new (New) operator.
(7) Parameter schemas. Schemas can be used to describe parameters
or return values from WCF or Web Services. In this case, the system will generate
programmatic objects that are equivalent in data structure to the Schema specified.
Please consult the application help file for further information relatign to WCF
and Web Service transports, and see also the Web Service Configuration Wizard.
See Step 5 : Creating a Map...
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