13
Dealing with Data in Different XML Formats
Although XFA’s default data loading mechanism is quite generalized, there are times when it is not
appropriate for a particular XML document. XFA provides alternate data loading behaviors, described in
“Extended Mapping Rules” on page 362.
For most (but not all) of these extended mapping rules the
behavior on input and output is symmetrical, so that round-tripping is automatically accommodated. In
addition XFA also supports the use of XSLT to transform the data document before it is loaded and/or after
it is unloaded, as described in
“XSLT Transformations” on page 399.
Extended Mapping Rules
This specification provides a number of rules that are not in effect by default, but are made available by the
implementation as overrides or extensions to the default mapping rules. These extended mapping rules
may be invoked via configuration settings in the XFA Configuration DOM or via namespaced attributes in
the XML data document. The extended mapping rules are described in detail in the following sections.
The following table summarizes the relationship between the extended mapping rules.
Sequence
indicates
the order in which the rules are applied to the data as it is loaded from an XML data document into the XFA
Data DOM, processed, and subsequently unloaded from the XFA Data DOM into a new XML data
document.
Category
is a rough grouping of rules that are similar in character.
Description
indicates the
specific rule.
Governed By
indicates what part of the XFA Configuration DOM controls the invocation of the
rule.
The phrases in the
Category
column have the following meanings:
Data Binding.
Modifies data in the XFA Data DOM but not until data binding is performed
Document Range.
Alters what portion of the original XML data document is mapped into the XFA Data
DOM during load and back out again during unload
Transform.
Modifies data in the XFA Data DOM and possibly the XML data DOM
Sequence
1
2
3
4
Category
Document Range
Document Range
Document Range
Transform
Description
Nominate start element, which is
described on
page 394
Exclude namespaces
Map attributes to
dataValue
nodes
Omit content based on element
name
Force mapping to a
dataValue
node or
dataGroup
node, as
described on
page 366
Governed By
startNode
element in
configuration
excludeNS
element in
configuration
attributes
element in
configuration
presence
element in
configuration with value
ignore
or
dissolve
xfa:dataNode
attribute in
XML data document
5
Transform
362