Working with cXML

Introduction:

cXML (commerce eXtensible Markup Language) is a protocol, created by Ariba in 1999, intended for communication of business documents between procurement applications, e-commerce hubs and suppliers. cXML is based on XML and provides formal XML schemas for standard business transactions, allowing programs to modify and validate documents without prior knowledge of their form. Each cXML document is constructed based on XML Document Type Definitions (DTDs). Acting as templates, DTDs define the content model of a cXML document, for example, the valid order and nesting of elements, and the data types of attributes.

You can find more information on cXML at www.cxml.org

How to obtain the cXML DTD:

All the versions of cXML DTD’s are present in the cxml.org website. Please see the table below for details:

Example:

I need version 1.2.011 in my project, so to get all the details I need to use the URL’s below:

Use any tools to convert the DTD into an XSD

In SAP PI, Import the XSD as an External Definition in the required namespace. I have imported it as cXML_1_2_011

When choosing the message in message mapping, choose cXML.

Disable nodes that you are not using in the mapping.

When selection the Operation Interface choose cXML

The rest of the steps for building the interface are the same…

References:

1. www.cxml.org