Re: XML to 5250

["Leif Svalgaard" <leif@xxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----

> I seem to recall seeing details of a tool that accepted XML and optionally
> generated a 5250 data stream.  Am I dreaming? or can anyone help me out and
> point me to a product.
>

Jon, I have worked on and off on this (not done yet). The problem
(and confusion) is that XML in itself does not describe anything.
To do what you want you have to first *define* your data structure
in XML (like you have to describe the syntax of DDS), then populate
the structure with data (giving the values of the labels and fields
defined in the DDS), then finally from that generate the 5250. This
last step is trivial and the first step has no common meaning
(unless you choose to mimic DDS). To talk about a tool that
accept XML and generates a 5250 data steam is like talking
about a tool that accepts English and generates 5250. What
is missing a definition of the *structure* of the data. This structure
you can make an XML description of, but the structure itself is
empty.