IBM Rational Insight XML data configuration

XML data configuration maps XML data to the table columns in a relational database. This mapping is used by the XML ODBC driver to provide data in relational form to the extract, transform, and load framework of IBM® Rational® Insight (Rational Insight).

XML data configuration

XML data configuration defines the mapping between the XML source data and the target relational database tables. You can use this tool to create and manage the XML data configuration files. These configuration files specify the location of the XML source (data service server or any XML document), and how to map the data elements from an XML source to the relational table structures expected by the IBM Cognos® Data Manager (Data Manager) and the IBM Rational Insight report server (Rational Insight report server). When parsing an XML schema, XML data configuration supports the following:
  • Single XML schema with imports
  • XML schema elements: element, group, attribute, attributeGroup, complexType, simpleType, complexContent, extension, restriction, sequence, choice and all
  • reference attribute for the following elements: element, complexType, attribute, attributeGroup and group

XML ODBC driver

Rational Insight provides an XML ODBC driver, and a starter set of ODBC data sources. The XML ODBC driver uses the configuration file provided by the XML Data Configuration tool to transform the XML data into relational form, which is what the Data Manager and Rational Insight report server components expect. You can then use the XML ODBC driver at run time to access that XML data from the Data Manager, or from the Rational Insight report server for operational (or "live") reports.

The ODBC driver has limited SQL support. Simple "column select" and "where" commands are possible, such as:

SELECT *|column1[,column2…] 
FROM["catalog".]"schema"."table" 
[WHERE FilteringExpression]
[WITH pagesize=xxx].

You can use the SELECT command with the "*" character for a wildcard search from a single table. Use the WHERE clause only to compare with a constant value. You can use a simple filtering expression, such as [modifiedsince=xxx [AND]] column1 =|<|> value [AND|OR ...]. Here modifiedsince is a special parameter. If you are using a Rational Insight Data Service that supports delta load, you can pass a timestamp in standard internet date time format as value for this parameter in the SQL to retrieve data which has been modified after the specified time only. To fetch data page by page, use the WITH clause and specify a number for the page size.


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