As an exercise I am trying to create an XML parser using the built-in flow services and some custom Java services. I want to create a generic XML parser that can go through multiple levels of nested tags and map them into a hash table, creating a flat structure. To achieve this I have created an recursive flow service that takes the XML file as a document(pub: xml: xmlNodeToDocument) and moves through the tags using a custom Java service and an IData Cursor. As I am stuck with my solution I wanted to get some fresh ideas. So if you wanted to create a generic XML parser to get the tags into a flat structure (like a hash table) how would you do it?

Example Input:

Example Output:
Body/Record/Employee: John
Body/Record/Student: Jill
Body/Date: 2020

Why rely on XML ?
Convert the document to a document with xmlNodeToDocument and then use a java service to convert it to a map. I have posted code from own webMethods tools

	 /**
* Extracts all strings found in the IData record and returns them in a map. Sub records are also scanned.
* Repeating key/value pairs overwrite previous pairs.
*
* @param record The IData record to convert to a map
* @return Map A map of all key/value pairs in the IData structure without those pairs indicated by excludeList
*/
public static Map<String, String> convertIDataStringsToMap(IData record)
{
return convertIDataStringsToMap(record, null);
}

/**
* Extracts all strings found in the IData record and returns them in a map. Sub records are also scanned.
* Repeating key/value pairs overwrite previous pairs.
*
* @param record The IData record to convert to a map
* @param excludeList The names of keys to ignore, ie don't put in map
* @return Map A map of all key/value pairs in the IData structure without those pairs indicated by excludeList
*/
public static Map<String, String> convertIDataStringsToMap(IData record, String[] excludeList)
{
if (record == null)
return null;

IDataCursor cursor = record.getCursor();
Map<String, String> stringMap = new HashMap<String, String>();

while (cursor.next())
{
String key = cursor.getKey();
Object value = cursor.getValue();

if (value instanceof String && (excludeList == null || !isStringInArray(excludeList, key)))
stringMap.put(key, (String) value);
else if (value instanceof IData)
stringMap.putAll(convertIDataStringsToMap((IData) value, excludeList));
}

cursor.destroy();

return stringMap;
}

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, We are now trying really hard to make sure someone will respond more time to questions raised here
regards,
John.