DSXchange

They are right now doing a demo of the new DataStage XML stages for DataStage 8.5. Screenshots and longer description on my blog. You need DataStage 8.5 and you need to download the XML add on from IBM Fix Central. Really good demo of the product at the IOD Conference - it looks a lot better than the old XML pack.

Great pointer, Vincent, and even greater post in your blog! The new XML Pack also specifically helps with a lot of things we've seen in threads here on dsXchange --- such as reading extremely large documents --- it streams them so it reads them just fine, and it reads them much faster. It also optionally handles pretty formatting [though I remain steadfast against it....it hurts performance and can hugely increase the size of the output document!...thank goodness it warns you ]. It has more evolved options for document validation (again, a performance concern, but a valuable option), and will perform detailed datatype validation.

On the flipside, more power requires more knowledge.....XML Schema Definitions (xsd's) are central to its functionality. To get maximum advantage, you have to learn more about xsd's, their structure, the hierarchies they represent, and the rules that they imply.

Ernie

An additional query:
Can it merge several xml documents having the same schema(dtd). This is present in-built in informatica and saves lot of time. For ex You can load 100 xml filesby first merging and loading at one shot instead of loading the xml files one after another.

Regards
Sreeni

Yes...but that's not new.....it is just like the existing pack has always allowed you to read 100's of documents that use the same schema, in one shot, at one time, with all their rows in a single load.

Ernie

Ernie,

How does v8.5 handle the xml pack 2 stages in existing jobs? Does it migrate the old xml stages to the new xml stages or does it need to be done by hand?

Excellent question. Right now, no changes. They exist "as is" and continue to function "as is".

Ernie

....and for now there is no migration....choose the new XML Pack as you move forward, are looking for better performance, or need new functionality. As with anything, there are always decisions to be made....if I have a Job that reads a very small XML document from an MQ message queue, and I know it doesn't have an xsd, and isn't expected to grow, there would be zero reasons to make changes to that Job for the new Stage..... there will other situations where it is more obvious. For "new" Jobs, I will certainly consider the new Stage first and strongly and will need a very good reason not to use it....but like anything, there may be reasons there to pick different options. Isn't that what makes DS so great?

Ernie