ServingXML is a markup language for expressing XML pipelines, and an extensible Java framework for defining the elements of the language.

ServingXML currently comes with a console app, and also documents an API for imbedding the software in a standard Java or J2EE application.

ServingXML supports reading content as XML files, flat files, SQL queries or dynamically generated SAX events, transforming it with XSLT stylesheets and custom SAX filters, and writing it as XML, HTML, PDF or mail attachments.

This software is especially suited for converting flat file or database records to XML, with its support for namespaces, variant record types, multi-valued fields, segments and repeating groups, hierarchical grouping of records, and record-by-record validation with XML Schema.

ServingXML works as an "inversion of control" container for assembling components from a variety of projects - Apache FOP, Sun MSV and others - and making them work together to process records and XML.

Here are some key features of "ServingXML":
· Convert flat files to XML and vice versa.
· Convert database records to XML and vice versa.
· Convert flat files from one layout to another.
· Transform and validate XML with SAX filters, XSLT stylesheets, and schema validation.

What's New in This Release:
Bug Fixes:

- Relative urls in import statements
of xsds used in msv:recordValidator
and msv:msvFilter not resolved
correctly - fixed.

Enhancements:

- Updated msv extension to MSV
continuous build #41

- Nested start/end record delimiters
are now supported.
sx:segmentDelimiter now allows
start and end attributes, like
sx:recordDelimiter. The new
element sx:repeatingSegment
supports reading a sequence of
segments enclosed in start/end
segment delimiters. See the
new Flat to XML example,
"Converting flat files with nested
start/end record and segment
delimiters and name/value pairs"

- The name attribute in
sx:flatRecordType now allows
substitution expressions, which
allows record type names to be
assigned from field values in
the input file. See the above
mentioned example.


- New elements sx:tagDelimiter
and sx:repeatingTaggedFields
have been added to support
reading name/value pairs
separated by tag delimiters.
See the above mentioned example.

Changes:

- msv:msvFilter renamed to
msv:schemaValidator (the old
name is deprecated but still works)

- sx:runService now uses a service
attribute to refer to a service,
rather than an sx:service child
element (which has been deprecated
but is still supported.) The
service attribute allows
substitution expressions with
parameter values.

Changes to target distribution:
- samples moved one level up,
under deploy, now a sibling to
servingxml binary package.