XML - Cobol NetExpress 3.1

Hi Rogerio,

The support for reading XML files directly in COBOL using the XML I-O preprocessor was first added to Net Express 4.0 so 3.1 does not have this capability.

There are most likely some 3rd party tools available that will convert the XML to sequential flat files that can then be converted by COBOL to indexed files.

The other alternative is to upgrade to the latest version of Net Express 5.1 or to Visual COBOL 2.2 which both have extensive support for XML files built-in.

Thanks.

Hi Rogerio,

As Chris suggests, you can use XSLT to convert the XML document to a text file (line sequential) and process it using conventional COBOL techniques.

Since you are using NetExpress, the most cost effective XSLT processor would be MSXSL, which is available as a free download from the Microsoft web site.

XSLT is a declarative programming language used to describe translations from XML to XML, text or HTML.  There are several XSLT tutorials available on the web, including www.w3schools.com (be sure also to take the related tutorial on XPath).  Learning XSLT will give you an additional valuable programming tool.