Export Records: 'Specify XML and XSL Options' should have 'XSL style sheet Builder' as another option

[Quito]

Hi,

Just venting my frustration when trying to do the following:

------------

1. Menu File
    Export Records

2. Export Records to File
    Type: XML

3. Save

4. Specify XML and XSL Options
    Grammar: FMPXMLRESULT or FMPDSORESULT
    Use XSL style sheet
        File
        HTTP request
    Continue

---------------

If FileMaker already has everything it needs to build a generic XSL for the exported XML file, why isn't there an option for it? In fact, it would be much easier to have an 'XSL style sheet Builder' in Dialog Window 'Specify XML and XSL Options', should anything in the generic XSL file need to be tweaked further prior to export. Also, it seems that once XML has been selected in step 2, the remaining steps (and the XSL Builder) could be reduced to a single dialog window.

Best,

Daniel

[comment]

1 hour ago, Quito said:

If FileMaker already has everything it needs to build a generic XSL for the exported XML file,

FileMaker does NOT have anything  to build a generic XSL for the exported XML file. In fact, there is no such thing as "a generic XSL"; every XSLT stylesheet is custom-designed to transform the input from the source XML schema ("grammar" in FMP terminology) to the target schema. The number of possible schemas is infinite (and don't forget that the output can be HTML or any format of a plain-text file).

 

1 hour ago, Quito said:

it seems that once XML has been selected in step 2, the remaining steps (and the XSL Builder) could be reduced to a single dialog window.

I think you are grossly underestimating the possibilities offered by the XML/XSLT export option. I cannot imagine how a single dialog window could possibly offer even a small fraction of them.

 

[Quito]

Hi, Comment,

I wrote 'generic for THE exported XML file' and not 'generic for ANY exported XML file'. Generic in this case being a vanilla XSL for the current Records being converted to XML. If Filemaker can create an XML file, it can surely create its own XSL for (re-importing) the Records it converted to XML.

Regarding the XSL Builder, yes, you could go overboard and have an entire application, but I was thinking of a simple text window to display the modified XSL (with colors) and maybe highlight the line where one of my tweaks is failing due to something common like a missing semicolon or an underscore.

Best,

Daniel

[comment]

Sorry, I still don't understand what you're looking for. As I said, there is no such thing as "a vanilla XSL for the current Records being converted to XML".  You need to have a target schema (as I also already mentioned) - and there is no way Filemaker can predict what your (or mine, or anyone else's) target schema looks like.

Filemaker offers you a choice of 2 possible "raw" XML formats: one (FMPDSORESULT) is as generic as you could possibly get. The other (FMPXMLRESULT) is a more "professional" format which protects your XSLT stylesheet from changes to field names. This is also the format that Filemaker will import without requiring any transformation - so there is no need for it to "create its own XSL for (re-importing) the Records it converted to XML".
 

Keep in mind that XSLT is an entire programming language of its own. It's true that in 80% of the cases of exporting from FMP you only need to know 20% (or less) of it. Still, I don't see how you could fit even that in "a simple text window". And I certainly would not want to be restricted to such limited subset. On the contrary, I would welcome Filemaker finally abandoning its antiquated XSLT 1.0 processor (which isn't even implemented correctly) in favor of a modern engine that supports XSLT 3.0 (so that, for example, we would be able to import JSON data directly instead of having to download it and parse it all by ourselves).

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by comment