Dynamically Format XML Output?

[ziondreams]

I'm currently working on a system that will allow our 175+ clients that
store their data on our databases to export the data to their systems
(via webservice) and also call other web services to update pieces of
that data in our systems.

What I need help with is the ability to format the XML from the web
service differently and dynamically. For example, every client has
completely different data and data structures; I have to make it
available for them to:

1.) Get XML with "custom" tags. For example, perhaps they need the
property to read "firstName" instead of "member_first_name", etc.

2.) Get XML in a different structure than it is displayed relationally.

3.) Receive all or just a subset of the data that is available.

What I'm planning on doing is making the client provide us with an xsd
file if they wish to customize these parameters. Whenever the web
service is called, I will have to import that client's xsd file in
order to format the output as they want it. Am I even close to being on
the right track? (I just picked up web services not too long ago.) Can
the XML output from a webservice be formatted in this way? How do I go
about importing the xsd file?
Any ideas? Suggestions? Crazy Thoughts? Help?!

Thanks.

[Opa]

Hey Zion,

Hate to suggest another technology that you may not be familiar with, but
sounds like you should get familiar with XSLT. An XSLT engine allows you to
transform the XML from your web service to any format you would like.
All you need to do is create style sheets for clients that require some
specialized XML or other document formats. In my opinion, this is the best
solution for you problem.

Learning XSL can take a while. A decent book to get started on XSLT is
Beginning XSLT from Wrox (Apress).
Good Luck.

Opa

"ziondreams" wrote:

I'm currently working on a system that will allow our 175+ clients that
store their data on our databases to export the data to their systems
(via webservice) and also call other web services to update pieces of
that data in our systems.

What I need help with is the ability to format the XML from the web
service differently and dynamically. For example, every client has
completely different data and data structures; I have to make it
available for them to:

1.) Get XML with "custom" tags. For example, perhaps they need the
property to read "firstName" instead of "member_first_name", etc.

2.) Get XML in a different structure than it is displayed relationally.

3.) Receive all or just a subset of the data that is available.

What I'm planning on doing is making the client provide us with an xsd
file if they wish to customize these parameters. Whenever the web
service is called, I will have to import that client's xsd file in
order to format the output as they want it. Am I even close to being on
the right track? (I just picked up web services not too long ago.) Can
the XML output from a webservice be formatted in this way? How do I go
about importing the xsd file?
Any ideas? Suggestions? Crazy Thoughts? Help?!

Thanks.

[ziondreams]

Awesome. Thanks for the quick reply!

[ziondreams]

Awesome. Thanks for the quick reply!

[ziondreams]

OK. I've read up some on XSLT and I *think* it will work for me. Let
see if I've got this right: I'll be able to take the data returned from
the DB (in a DataSet), run that into an xml file (actually, probably
some sort of xml object as this will all be done automatically with
C#), format the xml with my xslt file (which I've already created) and
spit out the new xml from my webservice. Is that the logical process?
If so, could you (or anyone) provide me with some sample .Net code
(preferably C#) on how to do this? I've looked everywhere through these
newsgroups and I can't find any sample code on how to process this.
Thanks in advance for any help and/or input!