Import XML XPath Expressions

Kourier uses XPath expressions to map the elements and attributes of an XML document into the fields entered into an Import Specification. You may also programmatically process XPath expressions using the Kourier UniBASIC function XML.XPATH.

In Kourier, node names and attributes names are processed in a case insensitive way. For example, in the XML document shown below an XPath of NAME or NaME or name will return the data value associated with the NAME element.

Kourier supports the following XPath syntax for XML: 

Parameter	Description
node_name	Selects all elements with node_name and returns the data value of that element
@attribute_name	Selects attributes of an element with a node_name and returns the value of the attribute
@DESC='Home3'	Selects attributes of an element with a node_name and returns the data value of that element if the attribute value equals the string specified. The string specified is evaluated in a case sensitive way.
/	Node path divider
,	Node path divider which indicates that everything to the left of this divider should be used to iterate over an array of objects that get mapped into multi-value or multi-subvalued fields.
[n]	Used to indicate which occurrence of a node_name to process
[@attribute_name='val']	Used to find an occurrence of an attribute with a specific value. The equals operator is the only operator supported at this time.

Consider the following XML code:

<?xml version="1.0"?> 
<ADDRBOOK> 
     <ENTRY ID="id1"> 
	<NAME>Name One</NAME>  
	<ADDRESS>101 Some Way</ADDRESS>  
	<PHONENUM DESC="Work1">303-111-1111</PHONENUM>  
	<PHONENUM DESC="Fax1">303-111-2222</PHONENUM>  
	<PHONENUM DESC="Pager1">303-111-3333</PHONENUM>  
	<EMAIL>name.one@some.com</EMAIL>  
     </ENTRY>  
     <ENTRY ID="id2">  
	<NAME>Name Two</NAME>  
	<ADDRESS>202 Some Way</ADDRESS>  
	<PHONENUM DESC="Work2">303-222-1111</PHONENUM>  
	<PHONENUM DESC="Fax2">303-222-2222</PHONENUM>  
	<PHONENUM DESC="Home2">303-222-3333</PHONENUM>  
     </ENTRY>  
     <ENTRY ID="id3">  
	<NAME>Name Three</NAME>  
	<ADDRESS>203 Some Way</ADDRESS>  
	<PHONENUM DESC="Work3">303-333-1111</PHONENUM>  
	<PHONENUM DESC="Fax3">303-333-2222</PHONENUM>  
	<PHONENUM DESC="Home3">303-333-3333</PHONENUM>  
	<EMAIL>name.three@some.com</EMAIL>  
     </ENTRY>  
</ADDRBOOK>
			 

The following XPath expressions would yield the following data:

XPath Expression	Returns (| is used as a delimiter to improve readability)
NAME	Name One | Name Two | Name Three
ENTRY@ID	id1 | id2 | id3
ADDRBOOK/ENTRY[1]/ADDRESS	101 Some Way
ADDRBOOK/ENTRY[2]/PHONENUM[1]	303-222-1111
ADDRBOOK/ENTRY/EMAIL	name.one@some.com | name.three@some.com
ADDRBOOK/ENTRY/PHONENUM[@DESC='Home3']	303-333-3333

Kourier supports the following XPath syntax for JSON:

Parameter	Description
node_name	Selects all elements with node_name and returns the data value of that element
/	Node path divider
,	Node path divider which indicates that everything to the left of this divider should be used to iterate over an array of objects that get mapped into multi-value or multi-subvalued fields.
[n]	Used to indicate which occurrence of a node_name to process

Consider the following JSON code:

{
   "ADDRBOOK": {
     "ENTRY": [
	{
	  "NAME": "Name One",
	  "ADDRESS": "101 Some Way",
	  "PHONENUM": [
	    "303-111-1111",
	    "303-111-2222",
	    "303-111-3333"
	  ],
	  "EMAIL": "name.one@some.com"
	},
	{
	  "NAME": "Name Two",
	  "ADDRESS": "202 Some Way",
	  "PHONENUM": [
	    "303-222-1111",
	    "303-222-2222",
	    "303-222-3333"
	  ]
	},
	{
	  "NAME": "Name Three",
	  "ADDRESS": "203 Some Way",
	  "PHONENUM": [
	    "303-333-1111",
	    "303-333-2222",
	    "303-333-3333"
	  ],
	  "EMAIL": "name.three@some.com"
	}
     ]
   }
}
		

The following XPath expressions would yield the following data:

XPath Expression	Returns (| is used as a delimiter to improve readability)
ADDRBOOK/ENTRY/NAME	Name One | Name Two | Name Three
ADDRBOOK/ENTRY[1]/NAME	Name One
ADDRBOOK/ENTRY[2]/PHONENUM[1]	303-222-1111
ADDRBOOK/ENTRY/EMAIL	name.one@some.com | name.three@some.com