Hello,

As I understand, there are 3 ways of dealing with XML (please correct me if I'm wrong):

1. XML PARSE - a set of statements that are coming from IBM Enterprise Cobol. This syntax is allowed for compatibility reasons
2. XML Extensions -> XML IMPORT/EXPORT syntax that is pure MF
3. XML Extensions -> ORGANIZARION IT XML syntax that is also pure MF and more Cobol-like syntax.

With the first one everything is clear.

My question is concerning the difference between the points Nº2 et Nº3.

Which one is advised to use? Any limitations? How to make the choice? There are the same libraries behind this 2 syntax?

Thank you in advance.

I would start with 

1. What are your needs when using or processing XML

2. Which of the 2 technologies  ( #1 vs using #2 and #3) meet you needs.

The technologies are documented so I would advise evaluating the features against your needs

p.s. #2 is XML Extensions, #3 is XML Syntax extensions and they are complementary to each other

Hi, thanks for your answer.

I haven't found a single article talking about XML, so as there are several possibilities, it becomes a little bit confusing.

Concerning: #2 is XML Extensions, #3 is XML Syntax extensions

I would like to understand, in big terms, what are the main capabilities or handicaps for each of these 2 options.

The idea is to process data received in XML and generate a XML answer. Taking in account that there might be simple but also relatively complicated data trees.

Thank you.

Here is a good place to start:

Using COBOL and XML together