Choosing a Document Format

When you work with an XML document, you must know the format to use when mapping the document to InterSystems IRIS classes. Similarly, when you create an XML document, you specify the document format to use when writing the document. The XML document formats are as follows:

Literal means that the document is a literal copy of the object instance. In most cases, you use literal format, even when working with SOAP.
Except where otherwise noted, the examples in the documentation use literal format.
Encoded means encoded as described in the SOAP 1.1 standard or the SOAP 1.2 standard. For links to these standards, see XML Standards.
The details are slightly different for SOAP 1.1 and SOAP 1.2.

The following subsections show the differences between these document formats.

Literal Format

The following sample shows an XML document in literal format:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Root>
   <Person>
      <Name>Klingman,Julie G.</Name>
      <DOB>1946-07-21</DOB>
      <GroupID>W897</GroupID>
      <Address>
         <City>Bensonhurst</City>
         <Zip>60302</Zip>
      </Address>
      <Doctors>
         <DoctorClass>
            <Name>Jung,Kirsten K.</Name>
         </DoctorClass>
         <DoctorClass>
            <Name>Xiang,Charles R.</Name>
         </DoctorClass>
         <DoctorClass>
            <Name>Frith,Terry R.</Name>
         </DoctorClass>
      </Doctors>
   </Person>
</Root>

Encoded Format

In contrast, the following example shows the same data in encoded format:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Root xmlns:SOAP-ENC="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/" 
xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
...
   <DoctorClass id="id2" xsi:type="DoctorClass">
      <Name>Jung,Kirsten K.</Name>
   </DoctorClass>
...
   <DoctorClass id="id3" xsi:type="DoctorClass">
      <Name>Quixote,Umberto D.</Name>
   </DoctorClass>
...
   <DoctorClass id="id8" xsi:type="DoctorClass">
      <Name>Chadwick,Mark L.</Name>
   </DoctorClass>
...
   <Person>
      <Name>Klingman,Julie G.</Name>
      <DOB>1946-07-21</DOB>
      <GroupID>W897</GroupID>
      <Address href="#id17" />
      <Doctors SOAP-ENC:arrayType="DoctorClass[3]">
         <DoctorClass href="#id8" />
         <DoctorClass href="#id2" />
         <DoctorClass href="#id3" />
      </Doctors>
   </Person>
   <AddressClass id="id17" xsi:type="s_AddressClass">
      <City>Bensonhurst</City>
      <Zip>60302</Zip>
   </AddressClass>
...
</Root>

Note the following differences in the encoded version:

The root element of the output includes declarations for the SOAP encoding namespace and other standard namespaces.
This document includes person, address, and doctor elements all at the same level. The address and doctor elements are listed with unique IDs that are used by the person elements that refer to them. Each object-valued property is treated this way.
The names of the top-level address and doctor elements are named the same as the respective classes, rather than being named the same as the property that refers to them.
Encoded format does not include any attributes. The GroupID property is mapped as an attribute in the Person class. In literal format, this property is projected as an attribute. In the encoded version, however, the property is projected as an element.
Collections are treated differently. For example, the list element has the attribute ENC:arrayType.
Each element has a value for the xsi:type attribute.

Note:

For SOAP 1.2, the encoded version is slightly different. To easily distinguish the versions, check the declaration for the SOAP encoding namespace:

For SOAP 1.1, the SOAP encoding namespace is "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
For SOAP 1.2, the SOAP encoding namespace is "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap12/"

Parser Behavior

Character Encoding of Input and Output