Buyer-Hosted Catalogs

This section describes the XML specification for loading the iProcurement unified catalog from external sources. The specification supports the following functionality:

• Catalog schema (item classification data) modifcation
  • Add, rename, or delete a category

  • Add, rename, or delete a descriptor (a category attribute)

• Item addition and category assignment

• Item deletion and modification

Document Type Definition (DTD)

Special characters and non-XML markup must be escaped for the XML parser to function correctly. Specifically, the & and <> characters must be escaped with a CDATA tag.

<![CDATA[ your data here ]]> inserted in any tag for special characters.

<SCHEMA>
   <CATEGORY ACTION="DELETE">
       <NAME><![CDATA[Pen & Pencil Gifts Sets]]></NAME>
   </CATEGORY>
</SCHEMA>

Also, if there are any " (double quote) characters within the data itself, these should be replaced by the following character sequence: &quot;

For example:

<itemDescription><![CDATA[6&quot; diameter pipe]]></itemDescription>

Catalog information is divided into three main categories:

• DTD Admininistrative Information: <ADMIN>

• DTD Schema Information: <SCHEMA>

• DTD: Item Information

Figure 10-3 shows the DTD hierarchical diagram of the catalog:

Figure 10-3 Buyer-Hosted Catalog: DTD Hierarchical Diagram

iProcurement Example 1: DTD for Buyer-Hosted Catalog

Here is the Buyer-Hosted catalog DTD:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE CATALOG [

<!ELEMENT CATALOG ( ADMIN, SCHEMA?, DATA? ) >
<!ATTLIST CATALOG xml:lang NMTOKEN #IMPLIED >

<!ELEMENT ADMIN ( NAME, INFORMATION) >
<!ELEMENT SCHEMA (CATEGORY | The  DESCRIPTOR)* >
<!ELEMENT DATA (ITEM)*>

<!ELEMENT NAME (#PCDATA) >
<!ELEMENT INFORMATION ( DATE, SOURCE )  >
<!ELEMENT DATE (#PCDATA) >
<!ELEMENT SOURCE (#PCDATA) >

<!ELEMENT CATEGORY (NAME | KEY | TYPE | UPDATE  )* >
<!ATTLIST CATEGORY ACTION (ADD|DELETE|UPDATE) #REQUIRED> 
<!ELEMENT DESCRIPTOR (NAME | KEY | UPDATE | OWNER  | TYPE )* >
<!ATTLIST DESCRIPTOR ACTION (ADD|DELETE|UPDATE) #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT OWNER (NAME?, KEY? ) >
<!ELEMENT KEY (#PCDATA) >
<!ELEMENT TYPE (#PCDATA) >

<!ELEMENT ITEM (OWNER?, NAMEVALUE*, UPDATE ) >
<!ATTLIST ITEM ACTION (ADD | DELETE | UPDATE) #REQUIRED>
<!ELEMENT UPDATE (NAME | KEY | NAMEVALUE )* > 

<!ELEMENT NAMEVALUE ( NAME, VALUE ) >
<!ELEMENT VALUE (#PCDATA)* >
]>

Note: iProcurement does not validate the DTD during the parsing process and therefore does not require a copy of the DTD in the code tree. It is provided here for reference only.