COBOL Tutorial

COBOL XML-NNAMESPACE - Quick Reference

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Overview

XML-NNAMESPACE in COBOL refers to XML processing that does not involve namespace handling. This approach treats all XML elements as simple element names without namespace qualification, making it suitable for processing simple XML documents, legacy XML formats, or situations where namespace awareness is not required.

Key Features

Simple processing - Treats all elements as regular element names
No namespace awareness - Ignores namespace declarations and prefixes
Legacy compatibility - Works with older XML formats
Performance optimized - Simpler processing without namespace overhead

Syntax and Usage

XML-NNAMESPACE usage patterns for processing XML without namespace awareness.

Basic XML-NNAMESPACE Processing

cobol

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       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. XML-NNAMESPACE-EXAMPLE.
       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01  XML-DOCUMENT    PIC X(1000) VALUE
           "John Doe12345".
       01  XML-EVENT-TYPE  PIC X(20).
       01  XML-EVENT-NAME  PIC X(30).
       01  XML-EVENT-CONTENT PIC X(100).
       01  CUSTOMER-NAME   PIC X(30).
       01  CUSTOMER-ID     PIC 9(5).
       
       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
           XML PARSE XML-DOCUMENT
               PROCESSING PROCEDURE HANDLE-SIMPLE-XML
           END-XML
           
           DISPLAY "Customer Name: " CUSTOMER-NAME
           DISPLAY "Customer ID: " CUSTOMER-ID
           STOP RUN.
       
       HANDLE-SIMPLE-XML.
           EVALUATE XML-EVENT-TYPE
               WHEN "START-OF-ELEMENT"
                   IF XML-EVENT-NAME = "name"
                       MOVE "Y" TO PROCESSING-NAME
                   END-IF
               WHEN "CHARACTER-CONTENT"
                   IF PROCESSING-NAME = "Y"
                       MOVE XML-EVENT-CONTENT TO CUSTOMER-NAME
                       MOVE "N" TO PROCESSING-NAME
                   END-IF
           END-EVALUATE
           EXIT.

Basic XML-NNAMESPACE processing for simple XML documents without namespace awareness.

XML-NNAMESPACE with Ignored Prefixes

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       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. XML-IGNORE-PREFIXES.
       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01  XML-DOCUMENT    PIC X(1000) VALUE
           "
           John Doe
           12345
           ".
       01  XML-EVENT-TYPE  PIC X(20).
       01  XML-EVENT-NAME  PIC X(30).
       01  XML-EVENT-CONTENT PIC X(100).
       01  CUSTOMER-NAME   PIC X(30).
       01  CUSTOMER-ID     PIC 9(5).
       
       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
           XML PARSE XML-DOCUMENT
               PROCESSING PROCEDURE HANDLE-IGNORED-PREFIXES
           END-XML
           
           DISPLAY "Customer Name: " CUSTOMER-NAME
           DISPLAY "Customer ID: " CUSTOMER-ID
           STOP RUN.
       
       HANDLE-IGNORED-PREFIXES.
           EVALUATE XML-EVENT-TYPE
               WHEN "START-OF-ELEMENT"
                   * Treats "ns:name" as just "name"
                   IF XML-EVENT-NAME = "name"
                       MOVE "Y" TO PROCESSING-NAME
                   END-IF
                   IF XML-EVENT-NAME = "id"
                       MOVE "Y" TO PROCESSING-ID
                   END-IF
               WHEN "CHARACTER-CONTENT"
                   IF PROCESSING-NAME = "Y"
                       MOVE XML-EVENT-CONTENT TO CUSTOMER-NAME
                       MOVE "N" TO PROCESSING-NAME
                   END-IF
                   IF PROCESSING-ID = "Y"
                       MOVE XML-EVENT-CONTENT TO CUSTOMER-ID
                       MOVE "N" TO PROCESSING-ID
                   END-IF
           END-EVALUATE
           EXIT.

XML-NNAMESPACE processing that ignores namespace prefixes and treats them as regular element names.

XML-NNAMESPACE for Legacy XML

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       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. XML-LEGACY-PROCESSING.
       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01  XML-DOCUMENT    PIC X(1000) VALUE
           "John Doe
           Widget5
           ".
       01  XML-EVENT-TYPE  PIC X(20).
       01  XML-EVENT-NAME  PIC X(30).
       01  XML-EVENT-CONTENT PIC X(100).
       01  ORDER-DATA.
           05  CUSTOMER-NAME   PIC X(30).
           05  PRODUCT-NAME    PIC X(20).
           05  QUANTITY        PIC 9(3).
       
       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
           XML PARSE XML-DOCUMENT
               PROCESSING PROCEDURE HANDLE-LEGACY-XML
           END-XML
           
           DISPLAY "Customer: " CUSTOMER-NAME
           DISPLAY "Product: " PRODUCT-NAME
           DISPLAY "Quantity: " QUANTITY
           STOP RUN.
       
       HANDLE-LEGACY-XML.
           EVALUATE XML-EVENT-TYPE
               WHEN "START-OF-ELEMENT"
                   EVALUATE XML-EVENT-NAME
                       WHEN "name"
                           MOVE "Y" TO PROCESSING-NAME
                       WHEN "product"
                           MOVE "Y" TO PROCESSING-PRODUCT
                       WHEN "qty"
                           MOVE "Y" TO PROCESSING-QTY
                   END-EVALUATE
               WHEN "CHARACTER-CONTENT"
                   IF PROCESSING-NAME = "Y"
                       MOVE XML-EVENT-CONTENT TO CUSTOMER-NAME
                       MOVE "N" TO PROCESSING-NAME
                   END-IF
                   IF PROCESSING-PRODUCT = "Y"
                       MOVE XML-EVENT-CONTENT TO PRODUCT-NAME
                       MOVE "N" TO PROCESSING-PRODUCT
                   END-IF
                   IF PROCESSING-QTY = "Y"
                       MOVE XML-EVENT-CONTENT TO QUANTITY
                       MOVE "N" TO PROCESSING-QTY
                   END-IF
           END-EVALUATE
           EXIT.

XML-NNAMESPACE processing for legacy XML documents without namespace requirements.

Processing Types

Simple XML

Basic XML without namespaces.

xml

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  John Doe
  12345

Ignored Prefixes

XML with prefixes that are ignored.

xml

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  John Doe
  12345

Legacy XML

Older XML formats without namespaces.

xml

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  John
  Widget

Mixed Content

XML with both namespaced and non-namespaced content.

xml

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  John Doe
  Widget

Best Practices

Use for simple XML - Choose XML-NNAMESPACE for simple, non-namespaced XML
Legacy compatibility - Use for processing older XML formats
Performance consideration - Use when namespace awareness is not needed
Document requirements - Ensure your XML documents don\'t require namespace handling
Error handling - Provide error handling for potential naming conflicts

XML-NNAMESPACE Quick Reference

Processing Type	Behavior	Use Case
Simple XML	Direct element processing	Basic XML documents
Ignored Prefixes	Prefixes treated as part of element name	Namespaced XML without namespace awareness
Legacy XML	Traditional XML processing	Older XML formats
Mixed Content	Uniform processing regardless of namespace	Documents with mixed namespace usage

Test Your Knowledge

1. What is the primary purpose of XML-NNAMESPACE in COBOL?

To generate XML documents
To handle XML processing without namespace support or for non-namespaced XML documents
To validate XML schemas
To format XML output

2. When would you use XML-NNAMESPACE instead of XML-NAMESPACE?

When processing simple XML documents without namespace declarations
When you want to ignore namespace information
When working with legacy XML formats that don't use namespaces
All of the above

3. What is the main difference between XML-NNAMESPACE and XML-NAMESPACE?

XML-NNAMESPACE is faster
XML-NNAMESPACE ignores namespace declarations and processes elements without namespace awareness
XML-NNAMESPACE only works with specific XML formats
There is no difference

4. How does XML-NNAMESPACE handle elements with prefixes?

It treats them as namespace-qualified elements
It ignores the prefixes and treats them as regular element names
It generates an error
It skips them entirely

5. What is a common use case for XML-NNAMESPACE?

Processing complex multi-namespace documents
Processing simple, legacy XML documents without namespace requirements
Validating namespace declarations
Generating namespace-aware XML

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Concepts

XML Processing

XML and JSON processing in COBOL.

XML-NAMESPACE

Namespace-aware XML processing.

XML-EVENT

XML parsing events and handling.

Legacy Systems

Working with legacy systems and formats.

Data Processing

Data processing and manipulation techniques.

XML-NAMESPACE XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX

COBOL Tutorial

COBOL XML-NNAMESPACE - Quick Reference

Overview

Key Features

Syntax and Usage

Basic XML-NNAMESPACE Processing

XML-NNAMESPACE with Ignored Prefixes

XML-NNAMESPACE for Legacy XML

Processing Types

Simple XML

Ignored Prefixes

Legacy XML

Mixed Content

Best Practices

XML-NNAMESPACE Quick Reference

Test Your Knowledge

Frequently Asked Questions

Is XML-NNAMESPACE available in all COBOL compilers?

What happens to xmlns attributes in XML-NNAMESPACE processing?

Can XML-NNAMESPACE handle documents with mixed namespace and non-namespace content?

What are the performance implications of using XML-NNAMESPACE?

When should you choose XML-NNAMESPACE over XML-NAMESPACE?

Related Concepts

XML Processing

XML-NAMESPACE

XML-EVENT

Legacy Systems

Data Processing

Related Pages