What is an XML Validate Action?

Creating XML Validate Actions

1. Click and drag the 

   Insert excerpt
   _xml_validate _xml_validate nopanel true

    icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
2. Enter a name for the XML Validate action, then select Create Action
3. In the  XML Validate action  Insert excerpt_property_settings_property_settingsnopaneltrueNode Properties on the right, populate the following details:

4. Further Further XML Schema Definitions Definitions can be applied in the XML Schema Definitions section

5.

Creating XML Schema Definitions

1. In the XML Validate action 

   Insert excerpt
   _property_settings _property_settings nopanel true

   , in the XML Schema Definitions section, click the

   Insert excerpt
   _xml_validate _xml_validate name icon nopanel true

   button to display existing XML Schema Definitions in the application
   1. These can be dragged across into the XML Schema Definitions section on the XML Validate action
2. Create a new schemas by selecting the

   Insert excerpt
   _addIcon _addIcon nopanel true

   button
3. In the

   Insert excerpt
   _property_settings _property_settings nopanel true

   , populate the following details:

XML Validate Action Attributes

Worked Example

Here is a worked example using an XML file from the BBC News (https://feeds.bbci.co.uk/news/technology/rss.xml).

In this example, we are using:  

• A Shop News screen containing a blank grid and a button  - this screen was created using the Multi-tile template

Prerequisites 

For this example, we'll validate an XML file from the BBC News. If you have not completed the worked example in XML Action Configuration, expand the section below and follow the steps to create an Actionflow that retrieves, transforms and saves XML data.

Validate XML using an XSD

In this example, we'll validate the XML data from the BBC News is in a required format. To do this we'll create a

Roll Back Table 

Once you have completed the above example, the table you created to save the news data to will contain data. We'll roll this back before we complete the next steps as we'll be populating it again after the XML has been validated.

1. Find your table in the 

   Insert excerpt
   _repository _repository nopanel true

2. Right-click it and choose 

   Insert excerpt
   _rollback _rollback name selected nopanel true

3. Select Rollback all data 
4. Toggle off Keep Old Recordsets
5. Click Confirm 

Configure XML Validate Action

1. Open the Actionflow on the Start RSS Feed button
2. Click and drag the 

   Insert excerpt
   _xml_validate _xml_validate nopanel true

    icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
3. Enter a name for the XML Validate action, then select Create Action
4. The

   Insert excerpt
   _property_settings _property_settings nopanel true

   will open on the right
5. Drag and drop the node between the 

   Insert excerpt
   _action_http _action_http nopanel true

   and the 

   Insert excerpt
   _action_xml _action_xml nopanel true

6. Map across the body attribute from the HTTP action onto the xml attribute on the XML Validate action

Set up Error Handling

1. Create a 

   Insert excerpt
   _action_calculate _action_calculate nopanel true

   action
2. Connect the error output connection on the

   Insert excerpt
   _xml_validate _xml_validate nopanel true

   action to the Calculate action
3. Map across the error attribute
4. Create an Output Attribute to display any errors in the System Console
   1. Name: MyErrorMsg
   2. Type: String

   3. Expression:

      Code Block
      theme Emacs
      debug("XML failed validation due to: " + in.error)

      
      

Set up the Root Schema Definition

1. In the XML Validate action properties, click the

   Insert excerpt
   _addIcon _addIcon nopanel true

   button next to Root Schema Definition to create a new XSD
2. In the 

   Insert excerpt
   _xml_validate _xml_validate name schema nopanel true

    

   Insert excerpt
   _property_settings _property_settings nopanel true

   enter:
   1. Name: BBC Feed XSD
   2. Namespace: BBCFeed

   3. Schema Definition Body: 
      
      

      Code Block
      theme Emacs
      <xs:schema attributeFormDefault="unqualified" elementFormDefault="qualified" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> <xs:import namespace=" http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" schemaLocation="atom.xsd"/> <xs:import namespace=" http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" schemaLocation="test2.xsd"/> <xs:element name="url" type="xs:string"/> <xs:element name="title" type="xs:string"/> <xs:element name="link" type="xs:string"/> <xs:element name="description" type="xs:string"/> <xs:element name="guid"> <xs:complexType> <xs:simpleContent> <xs:extension base="xs:string"> <xs:attribute type="xs:string" name="isPermaLink" use="optional"/> </xs:extension> </xs:simpleContent> </xs:complexType> </xs:element> <xs:element name="pubDate" type="xs:string"/> <xs:element name="image"> <xs:complexType> <xs:sequence> <xs:element ref="url"/> <xs:element ref="title"/> <xs:element ref="link"/> </xs:sequence> </xs:complexType> </xs:element> <xs:element name="generator" type="xs:string"/> <xs:element name="lastBuildDate" type="xs:string"/> <xs:element name="copyright" type="xs:string"/> <xs:element name="language" type="xs:string"/> <xs:element name="ttl" type="xs:byte"/> <xs:element name="item"> <xs:complexType> <xs:sequence> <xs:element ref="title"/> <xs:element ref="description"/> <xs:element ref="link"/> <xs:element ref="guid"/> <xs:element ref="pubDate"/> <xs:element ref="mrss:thumbnail" xmlns:mrss="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"/> </xs:sequence> </xs:complexType> </xs:element> <xs:element name="channel"> <xs:complexType> <xs:choice maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0"> <xs:element ref="title"/> <xs:element ref="description"/> <xs:element ref="link"/> <xs:element ref="image"/> <xs:element ref="generator"/> <xs:element ref="lastBuildDate"/> <xs:element ref="atom:link" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"/> <xs:element ref="copyright"/> <xs:element ref="language"/> <xs:element ref="ttl"/> <xs:element ref="item"/> </xs:choice> </xs:complexType> </xs:element> <xs:element name="rss"> <xs:complexType> <xs:sequence> <xs:element ref="channel"/> </xs:sequence> <xs:attribute type="xs:float" name="version"/> </xs:complexType> </xs:element> </xs:schema>

      
      

   4. Click 

      Insert excerpt
      _finish _finish nopanel true

      on the

      Insert excerpt
      _xml_validate _xml_validate name schema nopanel true

      tab
   5. Click 

      Insert excerpt
      _save _save nopanel true

      on the 

      Insert excerpt
      _xml_validate _xml_validate nopanel true

      tab

Set up XML Schema Definitions

Set up two further schema definitions.

1. In the properties of the

   Insert excerpt
   _xml_validate _xml_validate nopanel true

   action, click the  

   Insert excerpt
   _xml_validate _xml_validate name icon nopanel true

   button in the XML Schema Definition section
2. Create two more XML Schema Definitions, with the following setup:
   1. Name: atom
      1. Namespace: http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom

      2. Schema Definition Body: 

         Code Block
         theme Emacs
         <xs:schema attributeFormDefault="unqualified" elementFormDefault="qualified" targetNamespace="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> <xs:element name="link"> <xs:complexType> <xs:simpleContent> <xs:extension base="xs:string"> <xs:attribute type="xs:string" name="href"/> <xs:attribute type="xs:string" name="rel"/> <xs:attribute type="xs:string" name="type"/> </xs:extension> </xs:simpleContent> </xs:complexType> </xs:element> </xs:schema>

         
         

   2. Name: thumbnail
      1. Namespace: http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/

      2. Schema Definition Body: 

         Code Block
         theme Emacs
         <xs:schema attributeFormDefault="unqualified" elementFormDefault="qualified" targetNamespace="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> <xs:element name="thumbnail"> <xs:complexType> <xs:simpleContent> <xs:extension base="xs:string"> <xs:attribute type="xs:short" name="width" use="optional"/> <xs:attribute type="xs:short" name="height" use="optional"/> <xs:attribute type="xs:string" name="url" use="optional"/> </xs:extension> </xs:simpleContent> </xs:complexType> </xs:element> </xs:schema>

         
         

3. Drag both atom and thumbnail into the XML Schema Definition section on the

   Insert excerpt
   _xml_validate _xml_validate nopanel true

   action

Run the Actionflow

1. Run the Actionflow again using the button on the screen
2. The Actionflow should run successfully

Create a Validation Failure (Optional)

If you wish to see your error handling in action, modify any of your XML Schema Definitions so that the validation fails and you see your error message in the System Console.