I'm experimenting with looking at the data in an exported
XML file from my club. When I take the XML file and import
it into Microsoft Access XP all the stock valuations end up
in a separate table with no key to associate them with the
appropriate stock.

Is that something that bivio would be interesting in
addressing (structuring exported XML data in such a way that
it's useful when imported into Access).

Thanks,
-Jim Thomas

Jim Thomas writes:
> Is that something that bivio would be interesting in
> addressing (structuring exported XML data in such a way that
> it's useful when imported into Access).

Cool! One of the nice things about XML is that I would never
have guessed anybody would try this, and we didn't have to program for
it either. :-)

Yes, we'll gladly look into this. The format is versioned, so we can
easily make it backwards compatible (unlike some accounting products
we know).

By Access XP, do you mean Access 2000 on Windows XP? That's what
we're running.

Thanks for being a creative user,
Rob

> Cool! One of the nice things about XML is that
> I would never have guessed anybody would try
> this, and we didn't have to program for it
> either. :-)
>
> Yes, we'll gladly look into this.
>
> By Access XP, do you mean Access 2000 on
> Windows XP? That's what we're running.

I mean Access 2002, which I happen to be
running on Windows 2000. But, if you make it
work in Access 2000 I imagine it would then
also work in Access 2002 (at least I'd like to think
so).

BTW ... The problem appears to be that in the
XML file the valuations appear as attributes
of the security, instead of as a separate "valuation"
entity that shares a key field with the "security"
entity. (I don't know if I'm using proper XML
terminology here.)

-Jim Thomas

Jim Thomas writes:
> I mean Access 2002, which I happen to be
> running on Windows 2000. But, if you make it
> work in Access 2000 I imagine it would then
> also work in Access 2002 (at least I'd like to think
> so).

I'm running Access 2002 so should be good.

> BTW ... The problem appears to be that in the
> XML file the valuations appear as attributes
> of the security, instead of as a separate "valuation"
> entity that shares a key field with the "security"
> entity. (I don't know if I'm using proper XML
> terminology here.)

This is the fun with XML, unfortunately. The valuations are actually
children of instrument records, which is really "the right" way to do
things in XML. That's not how people traditionally build relational
databases (like Access), so I suspect the key field approach is
necessary. We may be able to solve the problem another way, however.

We are mired in taxes right now, so don't expect anything soon.

Rob