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Data Item Names

Article Number: 1801 | Rating: Unrated | Last Updated: Thu, Jun 22, 2023 at 5:01 PM

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Data Item Names

Data items in the template are specified using the data item number in 3-digit format preceded by a "D” and (optionally) followed after a hyphen by a data item name that describe its contents, e.g. D010-BALANCE. The database concerned is either the database that is referenced by the position of the element in the hierarchy (e.g. the order header within the order header part of the definition, or the order detail if within details lines definition) or is the database given as an attribute in the element tag itself (see more about this below).

It is actually not necessary for the item name (i.e. BALANCE in the above example) to match the actual data item name in the database used at run-time or even to be used, and this is not checked by the XML processor. It is the data item number that is crucial to interpretation of the template. You’ll find, however, that entering a name will be extremely helpful when checking or trouble-shooting the template.

Important Note

We strongly advise you to avoid the use of the colon ":” character in data item names. XML uses this character when referencing namespaces (see elsewhere). Although we do not concern ourselves with namespaces at present, it will prevent possible confusion with other XML applications and future Datafile developments if you avoid the use of the colon. If the data offered as the content of an XML template element is not recognised as a data item from a database, then the content is assumed to be text to be passed unchanged into the live XML file for output.

On input, if the template shows non-blank text and not a data item as the element content, then only if the input text matches exactly to the template content will any child elements of that element be processed. This can be useful when child elements are to be treated differently according to the content of their parent element.

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