IRI, The CoSort Company

Though XML is an increasingly popular file interchange format, it has not been a practical format for large files. Conversions to XML from legacy index and flat files -- and from XML to flat files -- rely on slower parsing technologies like XSLT and do not simultaneously enable processing. Transforms using XQuery cannot turn high volumes of XML data into meaningful information in XML (or any other format) quickly, if at all. There simply has been no efficient way to rapidly convert, process, protect, or create large XML transaction files.

For example, you may need to:

• Sort a huge XML file
• Extract data, or report, from an XML file
• Convert a CSV, LDIF, or other file to XML
• Convert XML to text, CSV, LDIF, ISAM, etc.
• Encrypt or de-identify fields in an XML file
• Load XML data to a spreadhseet or database
• Create an XML file from a legacy or extract file
• Generate test data in XML file formats

IRI delivers XML and other file conversion functionality in two packages, which you can choose based on the level of need:

XML File Conversion Only
Newly available from IRI is a low-cost, data migration product called NextForm. NextForm allows you to convert huge, flat XML files* to other formats (like CSV, LDIF, COBOL, text, etc.) or from those other formats into XML or other file types.

NextForm includes an XML file parser to automatically create the XDEF field layouts used in the file conversion scripts.

NextForm also supports data type conversion at the field level, and the remapping of record layouts.

Note that NextForm file definitions also work in SortCL so that you can re-use your metadata if you someday want to upgrade to CoSort's fast transformation, custom reporting, and/or data-centric protection functions for your files.


XML File Processing & Conversion
With the CoSort package, and its SortCL tool in particular, you can easily convert, transform, report from, and create valid, well-formed XML files that represent structured data at any volume level.

In fact, you can declare one or more XML and non-XML files for input and output as part of any CoSort job involving data:

• filtering (select, scrub, links to DQ tools)
• transformation (sort, join, aggregate, calc, etc.)
• conversion (data-type and file-format migrations)
• presentation (batch, summary, and delta reports)
• protection (field encryption, de-ID, masking)

CoSort makes all of these actions - one or more at a time - available to data architects who need to work with CSV, XML, LDIF, ISAM, Vision, text and other large flat files.


XML Test Data
Do you need test data in XML file formats? If so, see IRI's RowGen product. RowGen uses the same layout metadata as CoSort and NextForm so you can easily move between test data generation and real data transformation.


* You can process only XML data elements that conform to a flattened structure and extract one element of the same name at a given level. If you have multiple tags of the same name, NextForm and CoSort (SortCL) will extract the last occuring tag of a given name. Field names must be unique and comprise a single record with no additional dependencies.