140.7. XML Serialization for IDoc

Overview

An IDoc message body can be serialized into an XML string format, with the help of a built-in type converter.

XML namespace

Each serialized IDoc is associated with an XML namespace, which has the following general format: 
http://sap.fusesource.org/idoc/repositoryName/idocType/idocTypeExtension/systemRelease/applicationRelease
Both the repositoryName (name of the remote SAP meta-data repository) and the idocType (IDoc document type) are mandatory, but the other components of the namespace can be left blank. For example, you could have an XML namespace like the following: 
http://sap.fusesource.org/idoc/MY_REPO/FLCUSTOMER_CREATEFROMDATA01///

Built-in type converter

The Camel SAP component has a built-in type converter, which is capable of converting a Document object or a DocumentList object to and from a String type.
For example, to serialize a Document object to an XML string, you can simply add the following line to a route in XML DSL: 
<convertBodyTo type="java.lang.String"/>
You can also use this approach to a serialized XML message into a Document object. For example, given that the current message body is a serialized XML string, you can convert it back into a Document object by adding the following line to a route in XML DSL: 
<convertBodyTo type="org.fusesource.camel.component.sap.model.idoc.Document"/>

Sample IDoc message body in XML format

When you convert an IDoc message to a String, it is serialized into an XML document, where the root element is either idoc:Document (for a single document) or idoc:DocumentList (for a list of documents). Example 140.2, “IDoc Message Body in XML” shows a single IDoc document that has been serialized to an idoc:Document element.

Example 140.2. IDoc Message Body in XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ASCII"?>
<idoc:Document
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:FLCUSTOMER_CREATEFROMDATA01---="http://sap.fusesource.org/idoc/XXX/FLCUSTOMER_CREATEFROMDATA01///"
    xmlns:idoc="http://sap.fusesource.org/idoc"
    creationDate="2015-01-28T12:39:13.980-0500"
    creationTime="2015-01-28T12:39:13.980-0500"
    iDocType="FLCUSTOMER_CREATEFROMDATA01"
    iDocTypeExtension=""
    messageType="FLCUSTOMER_CREATEFROMDATA"
    recipientPartnerNumber="QUICKCLNT"
    recipientPartnerType="LS"
    senderPartnerNumber="QUICKSTART"
    senderPartnerType="LS">
  <rootSegment xsi:type="FLCUSTOMER_CREATEFROMDATA01---:ROOT" document="/">
    <segmentChildren parent="//@rootSegment">
      <E1SCU_CRE parent="//@rootSegment" document="/">
        <segmentChildren parent="//@rootSegment/@segmentChildren/@E1SCU_CRE.0">
          <E1BPSCUNEW parent="//@rootSegment/@segmentChildren/@E1SCU_CRE.0"
              document="/"
              CUSTNAME="Fred Flintstone" FORM="Mr."
              STREET="123 Rubble Lane"
              POSTCODE="01234"
              CITY="Bedrock"
              COUNTR="US"
              PHONE="800-555-1212"
              EMAIL="fred@bedrock.com"
              CUSTTYPE="P"
              DISCOUNT="005"
              LANGU="E"/>
        </segmentChildren>
      </E1SCU_CRE>
    </segmentChildren>
  </rootSegment>
</idoc:Document>