RE: Bob's letter on V5R4 RPG stuff

 >> It is very interesting to me that this got added as a language feature
over the hundreds of other things that could have been done

The basic XML SAX support was added to COBOL in V5R3, I guess it was easier
for RPG to pick up and enhance that than to invent something completely new
like overloading.

Besides - don't you think that XML support will get a hell of a lot more use
than overloading?  Much as I'd like to have that support, XML is much more
important at this point in history.

 >> Can anybody elaborate on the path=xmlnode/name feature of the %XML bif?

It is a SAX parser.  The path just allows you to delve into the depths of
the document.  There is a very tight correlation required between the target
DS and
the XML document (i.e. the hierarchy must match) - it differs in this
respect from EVAL-CORR where the only requirement is a name match.  path
allows you to "skip" bits of the document that you are not interested in e.g
Header type information at the beginning of the doc that precedes perhaps
repeating product information.

For repeating data you either use XML-INTO targeting a DS array (if the
number of elements is known and/or can be accommodated within RPG's limits)
or you use %HANDLER and your call-back routine is passed the DS (or DS
array) every time it is full (or all data has been processed).

No SOAP specifics that I know of.

Jon Paris
Partner400

www.Partner400.com
www.RPGWorld.com