PhixFlow Help

XML Namespace

Use the XML namespace properties tab to specify the namespaces defined in an XML response. PhixFlow needs this information because an XML namespace ensures the names, elements and attributes in the file are unique. An XML instance may contain element or attribute names from more than one XML vocabulary. If each vocabulary is given a namespace, the ambiguity between identically named elements or attributes can be resolved. 

This property tab is not available from the repository. It opens from:

For information about the properties toolbar, and about the sections Parent Details, Analysis Models, Description and Audit Summary, see Common Properties.  For a full list of all the PhixFlow property tabs and windows, see Property Tabs.

Basic Settings

FieldDescription
Name

Enter a name for the XML namespace. The name must match the name you use in XPath expressions to extract data from the XML response. 

Example 1. Specify the name soapenv for the XML response: 

xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"

Example 2. Specify the name home if:

  • The default namespace is  xmlns="urn:xmlns:company-com:message" 
  • You use the alias home in XPath expressions, you can enter home in this field. 

See HTTP Collectors for examples of using namespaces in XPath expressions to extract data from XML responses.

Value

Enter the value of the XML namespace. For example:

http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/

Using Default Namespaces

Documents can use:

  • a namespace to refer to an element
  • a default namespace to refer to any element in an XPath expression that does not explicitly use a namespace.

If a document uses a default namespace, you must define an XML namespace name for it. The following example shows how a default namespace defined in an XML response is handled.

XML Document

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns="urn:xmlns:company-com:message" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:pf="urn:phixflow.message.com"> <soapenv:Body> <queryResponse> <result xsi:type="QueryResult"> <done>true</done> <queryLocator xsi:nil="true"/> <record xsi:type="pf:sObject"> <pf:type>Account</pf:type> <pf:Name>Company1</pf:Name> <pf:CreatedDate>2013-10-31T11:26:21.000Z</pf:CreatedDate> </record> <record xsi:type="pf:sObject"> <pf:type>Account</pf:type> <pf:Name>Company2</pf:Name> <pf:CreatedDate>2013-10-31T11:26:21.000Z</pf:CreatedDate> </record> <size>2</size> </result> </queryResponse> </soapenv:Body> </soapenv:Envelope>

In this document the default namespace is "urn:xmlns:company-com:message". To extract all the record elements from the document, in the file or HTTP collector, set the:

  1. XML namespace to have a default namespace, for example def. 
  2. Response section → XPath field to extract the records from the default namespace: //def:record.

More commonly, you will want to extract an element from a record to add it to the stream that reads from this collector. In this case, use the other namespaces, such as xmlns:pf="urn:phixflow.message.com". For example, to write the value from the element Name within each record element to a stream attribute, use the attribute expression in.sf$Name.

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