Import Table Content as XML Document

The steps for importing the data of a table from a relational database are the following:
  1. Go to menu File > Import > Database Data...

    This steps opens a dialog with all the database connections:

    Select Database Table Dialog
  2. Select the connection to the database that contains the data. Only connections configured on relational data sources can be used to import data.
  3. If you want to edit, delete or add a data source or connection click on the Configure Database Sources button. The Preferences dialog will be opened at Data Sources section.
  4. Click the Connect button.
  5. From the catalogs list click on a schema and choose the required table.
  6. Click the OK button.

    The Import Criteria dialog will open next, showing a default query string like select * from table in the SQL Query pane:

    Import from Database Criteria Dialog

    The dialog contains the following items:

    • SQL Preview - Displays the labels that will be used in the XML document in the preview from the panel Import settings. If the SQL Preview button is pressed, it shows the labels that will be used in the XML document and the first 5 lines from the database. All data items in the input will be converted by default to element content, but this can be over-ridden by clicking on the individual column headers. Clicking once on a column header (ex Heading0) will cause the data from this column to be used as attribute values on the row elements. Clicking a second time - the column's data will be ignored when generating the XML file. You can cycle through these three options by continuing to click on the column header. If the data column will be converted to element content, the header will contain the <> symbol. If the data column will be converted to attribute content, the header will contain the = symbol, and if it will be skipped, the header will contain an x.
    • Change labels - This button opens a new dialog, allowing you to edit the names of the root and row elements, change the XML name and the conversion criterion. The XML names can be edited by double-clicking on the desired item and entering the required label. The conversion criterion can also be modified by selecting from the drop-down list ELEMENT, ATTRIBUTE or SKIPPED.
    • Open in editor - If checked, the new XML document created from the imported text file will be opened in the editor.
    • Save in file - If checked, the new XML document will be saved at the specified path.
      Note: If only Open in editor is checked, the newly created document will be opened in the editor, but as an unsaved file.
    • Generate XML Schema - Allows you to specify the path of the generated XML Schema file.
  7. Click the SQL Preview button.

    The SQL Query string is editable. You can specify which fields should be taken into consideration.

    If you edit the query string so that the query does a join of two or more tables and selects columns with the same name from different tables you should use an alias for the columns like in the following example. That will avoid a confusion of two columns mapped to the same name in the result document of the importing operation.

      select s.subcat_id,
            s.nr as s_nr,
            s.name,
            q.q_id,
            q.nr as q_nr,
            q.q_text
        from faq.subcategory s,
                faq.question q
        where  ...
    The input data will be displayed in a tabular form in the Import Settings panel. The XML Import Preview panel will contain an example of what the generated XML will look like.