XML Session Input

A second tab in the Data Pathway dialog box, Incoming allows configuring automatic processing rules for sessions received in XML format from other applications. Using this method, Pocket PC Creations can be fully integrated into a larger solution that both provides and accepts data for use on mobile devices.

To enable the XML Session Input system, a source folder and filespec need to be specified. The source folder is where Pocket PC Creations will look for new XML documents. The filespec, which by default is *.xml, specifies the type of file to look for. When Pocket PC Creations finds a file in the source folder that matches the filespec, it will parse it.

Note: The XML Session Input options require MSXML, which can be obtained from Microsoft Corporation. If problems are experienced using these features, download and install the MSXML components.

Once incoming sessions have been parsed, they can either be stored in the internal results window for manual processing, marked as queued for subsequent dispatch, or dispatched to one or more Pocket PCs via the wireless network.

Where the wireless dispatch option must be enabled to support incoming XML, irrespective of whether there will be wireless dispatch. Three dispatch methods are available in wireless mode: dispatch to a single random available Pocket PC, dispatch to all available Pocket PCs, and dispatch to a specific Pocket PC.

Where a specific target Unit ID needs to be specified, for example where an incoming session is to be dispatched to a specific device, an extra element can be included in the XML document:

<UnitID>my_unit_id</UnitID>
...

Note that once an incoming session has been successfully processed, the source file will be removed from the file system. If an error occurs and the session cannot be processed, or cannot be dispatched to the appropriate Pocket PC, the source file will remain either until the problem is corrected, or failing that, indefinitely.