Using Namespaces with XMLports

When using the XMLport to import or export an XML document, you can set up multiple namespaces on the XMLport to make it compatible with the XML schema that is used system that provides or consumes Dynamics NAV data. Namespaces are used to avoid XML element name conflicts. You can define multiple namespaces.

For example, the following code is a portion of a simple XML document for transferring sales order information. The XML includes namespaces for mapping fields from the Sales Header table.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>  
<Root xmlns="urn:nav:schema:all" xmlns:navField="urn:nav:schema:field" xmlns:navTable="urn:nav:schema:table">  
  <navTable:SalesHeader>  
    <navField:DocType>Order</navField:DocType>  
    <navField:DocNo>101005</navField:DocNo>  
    <navField:SellToCustNo>30000</navField:SellToCustNo>  
    <navField:SellToCustName>John Haddock Insurance Co.</navField:SellToCustName>  
    <navField:BillToCustNo>30000</navField:BillToCustNo>  
    <navField:BillToCustName>John Haddock Insurance Co.</navField:BillToCustName>  
  </navTable:SalesHeader>  
...  
</Root>  

The <root> element contains the namespace declarations. Each namespace has the syntax xmlns:prefix="namespacename".

• The namespacename is a string of characters, often referred to as a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), which uniquely identifies an Internet resource. This is typically a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or Universal Resource Name (URN).

• The prefix is a short string of characters that acts as an alias for the namespacename. The prefix is applied to specific elements in the XML document. The example includes the prefixes navField and navTable.

• A namespace that does not include a prefix declares the default namespace. In the example, the default namespace is urn:nav:schema:all. The default prefix is applied to all elements that do not include a prefix.

  To set up namespaces on an XMLport, you can use the properties Namespaces, Namespaceprefix, DefaultNamespace, and UseDefaultNamespace as described in the following sections.

Adding Namespaces on an XMLport

To set up namespaces on an XMLport, do the following:

1. Define the namespaces in the Namespaces property of the XMLport.

   For each namespace, you specify a prefix and a namespace name. For more information, see Namespaces Property.

2. Apply the prefixes to the XMLport elements of by setting the NamespacePrefix property.

   You can only apply a prefix on Element node types, not Attribute node types.

   For more information, see NamespacePrefix Property.

   For detailed steps about how to set these properties, see How to: Create XMLports.

Adding a Default Namespace to an XMLport

A default namespace is a namespace that does not include a prefix. When you set up a default namespace, any elements that are note applied a prefix are assumed to belong to the default namespace. You can set up a default namespace one of the following ways:

• In the Namespace property, add a namespace that has no prefix.

• Specify the namespace in the DefaultNamespace property, and set the UseDefaultNamespace property to Yes.

  For more information, see DefaultNamespace Property and UseDefaultNamespace Property.

XMLport Example

The following example creates an XMLport that supports the XML document example in the introduction of this topic. Copy the code into a text editor, such as Notepad, save the file as .txt type file, and then import the file in the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Development Environment.

OBJECT XMLport 90010 Sales Document Sample  
{  
  OBJECT-PROPERTIES  
  {  
    Date=;  
    Time=;  
    Modified=Yes;  
    Version List=;  
  }  
  PROPERTIES  
  {  
    Namespaces=[=urn:nav:schemaall;  
        navTable=urn:nav:schema:table;  
        navField=urn:nav:schema:field];  
  }  
  ELEMENTS  
  {  
    { [{9827B702-7694-48F4-A925-97849E2766B7}];  ;Root                ;Element ;Text     }  
  
    { [{AF69A186-5A31-4A60-B594-5DF633965504}];1 ;SalesHeader         ;Element ;Table   ;  
                                                  SourceTable=Table36;  
                                                  NamespacePrefix=navTable }  
  
    { [{B1DA8310-AAFB-47B9-827B-4936589DAC7C}];2 ;DocType             ;Element ;Field   ;  
                                                  DataType=Option;  
                                                  SourceField=Sales Header::Document Type;  
                                                  NamespacePrefix=navField }  
  
    { [{8715B36A-82B8-40B5-A67E-184F6DDA7998}];2 ;DocNo               ;Element ;Field   ;  
                                                  DataType=Code;  
                                                  SourceField=Sales Header::No.;  
                                                  NamespacePrefix=navField }  
  
    { [{80B0F630-EDDC-4A0F-87CD-4B8739A8AD81}];2 ;SellToCustNo        ;Element ;Field   ;  
                                                  DataType=Code;  
                                                  SourceField=Sales Header::Sell-to Customer No.;  
                                                  NamespacePrefix=navField }  
  
    { [{FCE5D19F-BD09-41FF-9FF1-EDB8A29BCFB8}];2 ;SellToCustName      ;Element ;Field   ;  
                                                  DataType=Text;  
                                                  SourceField=Sales Header::Sell-to Customer Name;  
                                                  NamespacePrefix=navField }  
  
    { [{B3F85EB5-64BB-42B0-A39B-35778443BCFE}];2 ;BillToCustNo        ;Element ;Field   ;  
                                                  DataType=Code;  
                                                  SourceField=Sales Header::Bill-to Customer No.;  
                                                  NamespacePrefix=navField }  
  
    { [{AC807456-23F0-42DB-9628-210196C14AD1}];2 ;BillToCustName      ;Element ;Field   ;  
                                                  DataType=Text;  
                                                  SourceField=Sales Header::Bill-to Name;  
                                                  NamespacePrefix=navField }  
  
  }  
  EVENTS  
  {  
  }  
  REQUESTPAGE  
  {  
    PROPERTIES  
    {  
    }  
    CONTROLS  
    {  
    }  
  }  
  CODE  
  {  
  
    BEGIN  
    END.  
  }  
}  

See Also

Designing XMLports