Overview

Use a XML to process XML data, and convert it into specific data objects that can be used by PhixFlow for processing. The XML Node extracts one or more records from the provided XML document using the XPath specified.

Properties Tab

Basic Settings

Expect literal values or expressions encapsulated within ${} syntax, for example ${in.MyValue}. A worked example of the JSON Node is provided at the end of this page.

Field Description Example Value

Name Name given to the XML Node. This will be displayed on the actionflow canvas. MyXMLReader

Input Expression

The input expression provides the source of the XML data to be operated upon. Typically, this will be a simple expression pointing at an incoming attribute, such as, the body from a HTTP Node.

// Consists of the pipe name and the name of a mapped attribute

in.body

XPath

The XPath expression is evaluated against the XML document provided by the Input Expression and returns a list of XML elements. It determines which elements are extracted from the JSON.

Note that the XPath determines the number of elements that are processed, which directly correlates to the number of records returned by the XML Node. For example, if the path returns the route element of the XML Document only one record will be returned. Whereas a path that returns children nodes will return one record for each child element.

// XML XPath

/root/main/title

XPath Syntax

Expression	Description
`$`	symbol refers to the root element.
`@`	symbol refers to the current element.
`.`	is the dot-child operator, which is used to denote a child element of the current element.
`[ ]`	is used to select a child element of the current element (by name or index number).
`*`	a wildcard, returning all elements regardless of their name.
^	symbol is used to traverse up 1 element in the hierarchy from child to parent.

Worked Example

<root xmlns:h="http://example.com/schema"> 
	<main page="PF Main Page"> 
		<h:title name="PF Title">PF Title Text">
			<h:datarow> 
				<h:data h:initials="AA">Alistair Andrews<data>
				<h:data h:initials="BB">Bert Brown</data> 
			</h:datarow> 
		</h:title> 
	</main> 
</root>

This path expression will bring back all elements matching the XPath expression including the parent/grandparents and all child elements/sub elements.
The following examples show how to reference the returned x paths html/xml data structure in attribute expressions:-
Xpath element attributes: in.name -> returns 'PF Title'
Xpath parent attributes: in.^.page -> returns 'PF Main Page'
Xpath child attributes: listToString(in.datarow.data.initials) -> returns 'AA,BB'
Xpath child attribute text values: listToString(in.datarow.data.value) -> returns 'Alistair Andrews,Bert Brown'
Note the use of
`^` to traverse to the immediate parent element.
to traverse to the immediate child element within:
XPath uses /
Attribute expressions use the dot notation .
the `listToString` function to handle multiple matching child elements/attributes.
Namespaces
XML documents containing namespaces are supported.
Within path expressions they are referred to using semicolons.
/root/main/h:title
Within attribute expressions a $ is used instead of the normal : namespace notation
Xpath element attibutes: in.h$name -> returns 'PF Title''
Xpath child attributes: listToString(in.h$datarow.h$data.h$initials) -> returns 'AA,BB'
Xpath child attribute text values: listToString(in.h$datarow.h$data.value) -> returns 'Alistair Andrews,Bert Brown'

The namespace prefix used here '`h`' must be configured in the XML Namespace.

Input Connection Points

Can Accept a single Driving input connection point.

The grid contains a list of all input connection points and their type.

To add a new input connection point, in the section toolbar click Add New to open a new input connection point and set its properties; see Input Connection Points.
To edit an existing input connection point, double-click it in the list to open its properties.
To remove an input connection point, select one and in the section toolbar click Delete.

Output Connection Points

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of all output connection points.

To add a new output path, in the section toolbar click Add New to open a new output path and set the expression; see Output Connection Points.
To edit an existing output path, double-click it in the list to open its properties.
To remove an output path, select one and in the section toolbar click Delete.

Output Attributes

JSON is converted into data objects that can be used by PhixFlow, this information is accessed using the syntax, _result.AttributeName.

Worked Example

Below is an example JSON object passed to the JSON Node:

Example JSON

// Example JSON string.
{
    "main_page": {
        "page": "PF Main Page",
        "title": {
            "name": "PF Title Text",
            "data": [
                {"initials": "AA", "value" : "Alistair Andrews"},
                {"initials": "BB", "value" : "Bert Brown"}
            ]
        }
    }
}

JSON Path: $.main_page.title

This path will bring back all elements matching the JSON path including the parent/grandparents and all child elements. The path defines the starting point from which we reference the JSON nodes.

The following examples show how to reference the returned JSON data:

_result.name, returns PF Title Text
_result.^.page, returns PF Main Page
1. The ^ traverses up the JSON hierarchy.
listToString(_result.data.initials), returns "AA, BB"
1. Because there are multiple JSON nodes under _result.data.initials, an array of data is returned. See Array Handling Functions.

Note the use of

^ traverses up the hierarchy 1 layer.
. is the separator between nodes
using .. traverses down the hierarchy 1 layer.

Learn More

For links to all pages in this topic, see Understanding Actionflows.