Transforming FM's xml output to a different format

[Thirdwaver]

This need I have seems so common that I can't believe that a two day combing of the Internet has turned up dry. My need is fairly simple. I'm making a charting application in Flex that is using FMPro as a datasource. I retrieve the data I need via URL. Filemaker is returning results like this:

	

	

	











	

		02/01/2007

	



	

		02/01/2007

	



	

		321A

	





{...repeats record tag over and over...}

But what I want is this:

	

	

	













	

		02/01/2007

	



	

		02/01/2007

	



	

		321A

	

	

I'm fairly certain this is accomplished with XSL, but I'm no XSL programmer. Does someone have a cookie cutter XSL document that does this? Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for any guidance

Sean

[comment]

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a a cookie cutter XSL document - a stylesheet has to be tailor-made. Now the question is, how much of that Filemaker mumbo-jumbo do you really need for your charting app? It's easier to work with the minimum requirements, instead of minimum changes.

For example, if you could do with the result of:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>





02/01/2007





02/01/2007





321A

your stylesheet could be as simple as:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>



xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

[Thirdwaver]

The minimal requirements are fine as is the sample you provided. The code you provided did not work, however. Was I supposed to substitute anything in your code with some specifics from my solution? The output you showed is exactly what I want but when I tried to export or use it via the web, all I get returned is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

Thanks again for your help! I'm all thumbs when it comes to XSL and I feel like I'm actually getting close to overcoming this roadblock with your help.

Sean

[comment]

It works as a transformation stylesheet. I am not sure where exactly in your chain you are trying to apply it. If this were a direct export from Filemaker, you could specify a XSL sheet to apply during the export (it would have to be a slightly different sheet, though - because the XML export format is different).

Here, I just took your source and my stylesheet, and fed them to a XML processing application (TestXSLT), receiving the above result.

[Thirdwaver]

Well, I tried two methods:

1) I placed the source code you provided in a text file called "test.xsl" and placed it in the xslt-template-files folder. Then I called my url like this:

http://webserver.domain.com/fmi/xsl/tasks/test.xsl?-grammar=fmresultset&-db=dbasename&-lay=&layoutname&Date_Opened=2/1/2007&Date_Opened.op=gte&-find

The browser returned:

XML Parsing Error: no element found

Location: http://webserver.domain.com/fmi/xsl/tasks/test.xsl?-grammar=fmresultset&-db=dbasename&-lay=&layoutname&Date_Opened=2/1/2007&Date_Opened.op=gte&-find

Line Number 3, Column 1:

2) I tried going to Filemaker directly, locating the records in a found set then exporting them and specifying the "test.xsl" file as the stylesheet and that didn't work either (probably for the reasons you mentioned).

Any ideas?

Thanks so much!

Sean

[comment]

I am afraid I can't help you with the first method, because I don't have access to a server, so I am not able to recreate your attempt. Perhaps someone else might clear this up.

If the second option is a viable one, I will try and modify the sheet to fit that.

[Thirdwaver]

Unfortunately, it's the first method that I need to use. My flex charting tool will get it's data via an xml query via the web. Automating an export (method two) would be quite a pain. Thanks for the help though! I know I'm getting close :

Sean

[new2fm]

Hi:

I am also trying to connect a Flex solution to data hosted by FileMaker Server Advanced (8.0), but I am having problems in generating correctly the request from Flex.

Can you please explain us what Flex code are you using to request data from FMSA8. I have tried mx:HTTPService

(mx:HTTPService id="grillaService" url="(http://192.168.1.102/fmi/xml/fmresultset.xml?-db=sincopy&-lay=Grillas_Posicion&-findall)")

but I get many errors.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Thirdwaver]

I don't know if you're still getting errors, but if you tell me what they are I can help you try to get the query right. Mine is still not working due to the XSL problem, but my query is working.