XML / XSL

Importing COM dll from unix

2-Feb-10 20:27

Hi,

I'm not sure if I understood your problem. You want to implement a webservice with C#.

For the first steps have a look here:

Your first C# Web Service[^]

Or if you want to use WCF take a look here:

Writing your first WCF Service[^]

SOAP is just the protocol used to call a webservice. Fortunately this protocol is transparent for you, since the .NET framework manages everything for you (serialization, deserialization, transport etc.)

Regards
Sebastian

It's not a bug, it's a feature!

Check out my CodeProject article Permission-by-aspect.

Me in Softwareland.

tom groezer1-Feb-10 0:42

tom groezer

1-Feb-10 0:42

How is it possible to import a COM dll from any flavor of unix.
On C++ on windows we can use the #import command to achieve this.
Does the same command help on any unix flavor.
The intent is to use the parsing functionality of msxml [parser.

Stuart Dootson1-Feb-10 3:03

1-Feb-10 3:03

AFAIK, Unix doesn't have the necessary COM infrastructure to let you use COM. So, you're out of luck.

However...there are a lot of other XML parsers out there - I'd suggest looking at libxml2[^], expat[^] or Xerces-C++[^].

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

CodeProject MVP for 2010 - who'd'a thunk it!

tom groezer2-Feb-10 2:04

tom groezer

2-Feb-10 2:04

Please let me know your comments in below:-

1) Xerces: we need a separate platform/architecture specific binary. This is provided by Xerces.
2) libxml2- Can this be used on unix. I guess its usage is limited to windows.
3) xmllite is another one- One needs to leverage COM technology as interfaces are provided for XML related functions.
4) msxml works on similar way as that in 3)

The requirement is to read a simple xml document in an application.
This application would hold the XML DOM if created in memory in static area as the string that holds the static XML string would be static.

Stuart Dootson2-Feb-10 2:39

2-Feb-10 2:39

Xerces and libxml2 are both avaiable Windows OR Unix. Xerces is part of the Apache project, libxml2 part of Gnome (I think).

Neither msxml nor XML Lite are available on Unix.

Another cross-platform alternative - RapidXML[^].

I would go for RapidXML, I think.

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

CodeProject MVP for 2010 - who'd'a thunk it!

tom groezer7-Feb-10 18:57

tom groezer

7-Feb-10 18:57

I have heard that parsers that support XPATH give the best performance and should be used if applications from scratch are used.
IS RapidXML XPATH suppotive?
If no, let me know your comments?

Stuart Dootson7-Feb-10 20:15

7-Feb-10 20:15

Ummm - well, what are you trying to do with it? XPath is useful for querying an XML document, but does nothing for the performance of the raw parser.

Think about how you're going to get information in and out of the XML file, then make your technology decisions based on those specific requirements.

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

CodeProject MVP for 2010 - who'd'a thunk it!

XML Database

KORCARI29-Jan-10 3:41

KORCARI

29-Jan-10 3:41

Hi Working with ArcGIS catalog for map files you can create an XML file which contains info about the map.My intention is to gather this data in a DB (PostGreSQL) and create a searching system.The main thing is that searching for the info I want to get as a result the map corresponding to this XML data I searched.Anybody have any clues and give me any orientation because I have little experience with XML.
Thank you in advance
Best regards
Endri

Re: XML Database

Dan Mos29-Jan-10 4:48

Dan Mos

29-Jan-10 4:48

Maybe [this] XLINQ(LINQ to xml) tutorial will help you get the data from the XML file.

Re: XML Database

Stuart Dootson1-Feb-10 3:05

Can I store media within an XML file?

1-Feb-10 3:05

Rather than use a database (which might well not be a good match for hierarchical XML data), you could consider using XQuery[^]?

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

CodeProject MVP for 2010 - who'd'a thunk it!

parsing problem

trioum27-Jan-10 23:38

trioum

27-Jan-10 23:38

I am getting the data in xml file(microsoft office xml) . data is updating in xml file continously
I parsed the xml file to get the data display in my own gui . I get the data but problem is that
data is not updating . I see the different data in xml file and my gui. as I click save button of xml file
my gui get updated data. why it is happening . can I read the updated data without clicking the save button
note that xml file is microsoft office xml

Trioum

EvanSaunders27-Jan-10 3:42

EvanSaunders

27-Jan-10 3:42

Hi There

I am new to XML and related technologies. D'Oh! | :doh:

I would like to know if it is possible to store media files within an XML file?
From what I know, most data stored within an XML file is textural based.
If one converts a database file, Excel sheet, etc. into an XML file, it simply stores this data in a textural format.
Does this mean that if I store an image (for example) within the XML file, it stores it as the textural representation of that image, or as a link to that image? Or is there a way of storing it within the XML file? (also, does the same apply to video, audio - mp3, midi, wav, etc, and all other media files)

Thanks in advance
Thumbs Up | :thumbsup:

SeMartens27-Jan-10 20:22

27-Jan-10 20:22

Hi,

it is possible to store media files within an XML file. As you already mentioned the textual representation of the file will be stored. A media file is a binary representation of the media itself. This binary representation can be stored on a sheet of paper, a database or an XML file. I suggest that you convert the binary representation of the file into a base64 encoded string (use Convert.ToBase64String) and place that string in an XML element.

Let me know if you need further details.

Regards
Sebastian

It's not a bug, it's a feature!

Check out my CodeProject article Permission-by-aspect.

Me in Softwareland.

EvanSaunders31-Jan-10 21:05

EvanSaunders

31-Jan-10 21:05

Thanks for the advice...much appreciated.

I found a program that can convert an image to base64 string, and I can then embed this within the XML file.
I tried programming this myself in order to be able to convert files of any media format (images, audio, video, etc.)
I am kinda stuck trying to use the Convert.ToBase64String. I am trying to get an array of bytes from the image file to put in as a parameter for the Convert method.
The only array I can get from the image in the form of 'Guid' type.

Is the any other way of converting an image (and other files) to base64 string format?

SeMartens31-Jan-10 21:10

31-Jan-10 21:10

You need to read the media file as byte array, because the Convert.ToBase64String takes a byte-array as input. To read the content of a file in an array have a look here:

http://www.yoda.arachsys.com/csharp/readbinary.html[^]

Regards
Sebastian

It's not a bug, it's a feature!

Check out my CodeProject article Permission-by-aspect.

Me in Softwareland.

Best practice to handle processing XML files with different schemas

EvanSaunders31-Jan-10 23:40

EvanSaunders

31-Jan-10 23:40

Hi Again

I managed to get it working...both the conversion to XML and back to it's original file.

Thanks for the help...much appreciated!

sking7227-Jan-10 3:01

sking72

27-Jan-10 3:01

I am writing a program that will be processing XML files. There are roughly 5 schemas involved. I should tell you now that I'm not using C# but a language called ABAP (SAP), although I think that's largely irrelevant.

The pseudocode for how this works is as follows:

OPEN FILE file AS TEXT.<br />
<br />
WHILE NOT EOF<br />
<br />
     APPEND LINE OF file INTO xml_string.<br />
<br />
END.<br />
<br />
CALL TRANSFORMATION my_transformation USING xml_string INTO my_table.

Originally, there was just one schema and one transformation (a transformation is a small program in SAP that is used to take the XML string and turn it into something called an "internal table" - think of it as a DataTable for you C# developers).

Now that we've got different schemas, however, I need a way to know which one to call based upon the type of file. I've thought of two ways but if someone else has a better idea I'd love to know!

1) Use something in the filename to indicate the type of schema
2) Use an attribute in the root element to indicate the file type:

<envelope ftype='terminations'>
...
</envelope>

Unfortunately, with this approach I'd have to parse the first line of the file manually in my program as ABAP doesn't natively handle XML files very easily so it would be less work to do that. So, I'm leaning that way but I wanted a second opinion.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Best practice to handle processing XML files with different schemas

Stuart Dootson27-Jan-10 20:33

.net XMLSerializer - multiple namespace problem

27-Jan-10 20:33

Ummm - there are various ways of inidicating the schema in use - usually use of different namespaces, on eper schema. The namespace declaration attribute is generally on the root node of the document.

Alternatively, there is a specific namespace and set of attributes[^] that can be used to show what schema is in use.

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

CodeProject MVP for 2010 - who'd'a thunk it!

AndyPeacock27-Jan-10 2:49

AndyPeacock

27-Jan-10 2:49

Hi,

Apologies if this in the wrong place but its the first time I've posted.

I've got a problem using the .net XMLSerializer object. My experience of this is limited and I haven't worked with XML much. I'm trying to something like the following:

<Record xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> 
  <Property1>blah</Property1> 
  <oai_dc:dc xmlns:oai_dc=http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/   xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">>
    <dc:Property2>asdsd</dc:Property2> 
    <dc:Property3>asdasasdda</dc:Property3> 
  </oai_dc:dc>
</Record>

however the best I can get at the moment is

<Record xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"  xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
  <Property1>blah</Property1> 
    <oai_dc:dc>
      <dc:Property2>asdsd</dc:Property2> 
      <dc:Property3>asdasasdda</dc:Property3> 
  </oai_dc:dc>
</Record>

The namespaces are being declared in the root element, not on the dc element as I would like.

I'm attaching the XMLSerializerNamespaces as follows:

Dim XMLNamespaces As New XmlSerializerNamespaces()
        XMLNamespaces.Add("oai_dc", "http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/")
        XMLNamespaces.Add("dc", "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/")
        XMLNamespaces.Add("xsi", "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance")

XMLSerializer.Serialize(XMLWriter, inputObject, XMLNamespaces)

and the objects I'm using are shown below:

<XmlRoot("Record")> _
Public Class Record

    <XmlElement("Property1")> _
    Public Property1 As String

    <XmlElement("dc", Namespace:="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/")> _
    Public DCMetadata As DublinCore

    Public Sub New()
        DCMetadata = New DublinCore()
    End Sub

End Class


<XmlRoot("dc", Namespace:="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/")> _
Public Class DublinCore

    <XmlElement("Property2", Namespace:="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/")> _
    Public Property2 As String

    <XmlElement("Property3", Namespace:="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/")> _
    Public Property3 As String

    Public Sub New()

    End Sub

End Class

Is there any way to force the XMLSerializer to output the namespace declarations against an element further down the line?

Thanks for any input,

Andy

modified on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 9:17 AM

Re: .net XMLSerializer - multiple namespace problem

SeMartens27-Jan-10 20:25

Re: .net XMLSerializer - multiple namespace problem

27-Jan-10 20:25

Hi,

this might not the answer you expected, but what is wrong with the namespaces declared within the root element? Both xml are correct, and express the same.

Regards
Sebastian

It's not a bug, it's a feature!

Check out my CodeProject article Permission-by-aspect.

Me in Softwareland.

AndyPeacock27-Jan-10 21:58

AndyPeacock

27-Jan-10 21:58

Thanks for that, my limited knowledge of XML is the problem here. I have found a way to render the XML as I had intended though. This might be useful to someone else at some point...

Declare an XmlSerializerNamespaces object within the class to be serialized.

<XmlNamespaceDeclarations()> _
    Public xmlns As XmlSerializerNamespaces

Then add the namespaces to this collection instead of attaching it to the serializer directly. This has the desired effect of declaring the namespace where it is used.

xmlns = New XmlSerializerNamespaces()
     xmlns.Add("oai_dc", "http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/")
     xmlns.Add("dc", "http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/")
     xmlns.Add("xsi", "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance")

Andrew

SOAP C# Tutorial/Example

ffowler26-Jan-10 10:32

ffowler

26-Jan-10 10:32

Hello All,

It's about 4:25 EST and I got in around 7:30am EST. I have scoured the Web for a SIMPLE tutorial or example to send and receive(process) SOAP messages in C#. At this moment, I have not found any full descriptive examples/tutorials to satisfy my goal.
My goal is simple and not in need of anything fancy. I have a web service that requires a SOAP message to be passed to it and I require a response. The closet I have come is to recreate an app that get's the time off of EBay's server which was a paramount step. But when I try the same for my WebService, I receive an error "Malformed SOAP request, SOAP-ENV:Envelope element not found in root". My sniffer, did show that SOAP-ENV was not included in the message, indicating to me that I have to find a way to edit the message.
So, I am now forced to you, my last hope to assist me with accessing my goal. What I am looking for is a tutorial or code example (mostly complete) that would show me how to create a soap message (manually would be better in this case) send it and read the response. Simple (to you) but a monster to me.
Any and I mean any help will be greatly appreciated.

Re: SOAP C# Tutorial/Example

SeMartens26-Jan-10 20:43