Standard XML Representations of Field Data

From IHRIS Wiki

This would create a standard way of representing form field data safely as structured xml. It would be used by the custom reporting module whenever export as XML is chosen. This would be added for version 4.1 of I2CE/iHRIS.

Justification Currently the reporting system for iHRIS exports data in XML in an unsafe way, namely it just dumps out the database value. For the currently limited uses of XML report this has not been too problematic. However there are some issues that need to be resolved so that XML based report exports can be more readily implemented and fully utilized. These issues include:

  • potential for exported data to itself can xml data which would make the xml export invalid
  • inability to export binary data (such as PDF files or photos) in a readable format
  • XSLT manipulation of structured data (such a mapped fields) is painful and ugly and prone to breakage as it can only the simple string manipulation functions available.


Note This will break existing XSLT transforms of exported XML data. In particular of the transforms used by Kenya and Zanzibar would need to be updated before they upgrade to 4.1 of iHRIS. This is intentional as we would now be able to use xpath queries to get at the needed data rather than perform string manipulations.

Requirements

  • Experience in creating new forms in iHRIS
  • Experience in object oriented PHP
  • Experience with XML

Deliverables

  • Fully functional, documented, and tested code that implements the code requirements as defined below.
  • Updates to the XSLT transforms used by Kenya and Zanzibar for SDMX-HD

API

I2CE_FormField

  • add in a (final) method getXMLData($as_node = false). Calls _getXMLData(). If $as_node == false, the simply pass it along. If $as_node == true, first convert it to a DOMNode and return that
  • add in a abstract method _getXMLData() which return strings

Sub-Classes of I2CE_FormField

  • each non-abstract class should implement _getXMLData()

XML Format

Each _getXMLData() should return a string that looks like <source lang='xml'><field type='XXX'>YYYY<field></source> where XXX is the form field type such as MAP, STRING, DATE_YMD, etc and YYY is as defined below

I2CE_FormField_BINARY_FILE

<source lang='xml'> <field type='BINARY_FILE'><value file-name='$filename' mime-type='$mimetype fmod-time='$mod_time'>base64($binary_data)></value></field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_DOCUMENT

Same as BINARY_FILE except type='DOCUMENT'

I2CE_FormField_IMAGE

Same as BINARY_FILE except type='IMAGE'

  • Possibly add the attribute width and height for easy processing

I2CE_FormField_ASSOC_FLOAT

Same as ASSOC_INT but with type='ASSOC_FLOAT'

I2CE_FormField_ASSOC_INT

<source lang='xml'> <field type='ASSOC_INT'><value key='$key0' >$value[$key0]<value>...<value key='$keyn'>$value[$keyn]</value></field> </source> where key0...keyn runs through the array keys

I2CE_FormField_ASSOC_LIST

<source lang='xml'> <field type='ASSOC_INT'><value key='$key0' >$string_value[$key0]<value>...<value key='$keyn'>$string_value[$keyn]</value></field> </source> where key0...keyn runs through the array keys. Here $string_value should follow the same rules is as in #I2CE_FormField_STRING_LINE adding in the attribute encode='base64' as needed

I2CE_FormField_ASSOC_PERCENT

Same as ASSOC_INT but with type='ASSOC_PERCENT'

I2CE_FormField_BOOL

same as YESNO but with the type='BOOL'

I2CE_FormField_DATE_HMS

<source lang='xml'> <field type='DATE_HMS'><hour>$hour</hour><minute>$minute</minute><second>$sec</second></field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_DATE_MD

<source lang='xml'> <field type='DATE_MD'><month>$month</month><day>$day</day></field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_DATE_TIME

<source lang='xml'> <field type='DATE_TIME'><year>$year</year><month>$month</month><day>$day</day><hour>$hour</hour><minute>$minute</minute><second>$sec</second></field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_DATE_Y

<source lang='xml'> <field type='DATE_Y'><year>$year</year></field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_DATE_YMD

<source lang='xml'> <field type='DATE_YMD'><year>$year</year><month>$month</month><day>$day</day></field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_INT

<source lang='xml'> <field type='INT'>$value</field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_INT_GENERATE

<source lang='xml'> <field type='INT_GENERATE'>$value</field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_INT_LIST

<source lang='xml'> <field type='INT_LIST'><value>$value[0]<value>...<value>$value[n]</value></field> </source> where 0...n runs through the array keys

I2CE_FormField_INT_RANGE

<source lang='xml'> <field type='INT_RANGE'>$value</field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_STRING_LINE

<source lang='xml'> <field type='STRING'>YYYY</field> </source> where YYYY is:

  • If the string is less than 1000 characters
    • If the string does not contain a "<" character, then <source lang='xml'>YYYY = <value>$value</value></source>
    • If the string contains as "<", then follow the rules for >= 1000 characters
  • If the string is >= 1000 characters:
    • If the $value contains CDATA a string, then <source lang='xml'>YYYY= <value encoding='base64'>base64($value)</value> </source>
    • If the $value does not contains "CDATA" then <source lang='xml'>YYYY= <value><![CDATA[$value]]><value></source>

I2CE_FormField_STRING_MLINE

same as STRING_LINE but with the type='STRING_MLINE'

I2CE_FormField_STRING_PASS

?Should we export this or should it be blank?

I2CE_FormField_STRING_TEXT

same as STRING_LINE but with the type='STRING_TEXT'

I2CE_FormField_TOGGLE

same as YESNO but with the type='TOGGLE'

I2CE_FormField_YESNO

  • if $value == 1 then <source lang='xml'><field type='YESNO'>1</value></source>
  • otherwise<source lang='xml'><field type='YESNO'>0</value> </source>

I2CE_FormField_PERCENT_INT

<source lang='xml'> <field type='INT'>$value</field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_FLOAT

<source lang='xml'> <field type='FLOAT'>$value</field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_PERCENT

<source lang='xml'> <field type='PERCENT'>$value</field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_MAP

<source lang='xml'> <field type='MAP'><value form='$form'>$id</value></field> </source> $id should be subject to the same rules as used for STRING_LINE adding the attribute encoding as needed

I2CE_FormField_MAP_MULT

<source lang='xml'> <field type='MAP_MULT'><value form='$form0'>$id1</value>...<value form='$formN'>$idN</value></field> </source>

I2CE_FormField_REFERENCE

Same as MAP but type='REFERENCE'

iHRIS_FormField_CURRENCY

If the currency form is 'currency' then <source lang='xml'><field type='CURRENCY'><value id='$currencyID'>$amount</value></field></source>

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