1. Data Management Guide
  2. Introduction to DB.XML

Introduction to DB.XML

DB.XML (Database-centric XML) is an XML file format for importing and exporting Oracle Transportation Management data.

The DB.XML functionality provides the ability to query/insert/update/delete data directly from/to the Transportation and Global Trade Management Cloud database tables. As such, this functionality should only be used by privileged individuals who understand the responsibilities and capabilities that come with using this functionality. Each import or export request is limited to 100 MB.

Note: Updates made directly to the Transportation and Global Trade Management Cloud through the DB.XML Import functionality can only ensure data consistency with respect to the standard database constraints, e.g. Primary Key, Foreign Key, and Check constraints. Imports don't flow through the main application logic for updates, and so cannot check that the business context of a particular change makes sense. For example, the status of a particular object (e.g. LOCATION STATUS) can be updated. Import can only check that the status GID is valid but not that the status, possibly in association with other status values, constitutes an appropriate state for the object to be in.

Why do I Want to use DB.XML?

You want to use DB.XML functionality if you have Transportation and Global Trade Management data you need to move in or out of the application. The XML format follows XML standards on portability, structure, correctness, and directly maps XML element names to database table names with the XML element attribute names directly mapping to the database columns. The XML element attribute values are the values for the database column. When compared to the CSV (Comma Separated Values) format, DB.XML doesn’t require each individual value to be separated, quoted, or in the same column order. Both DB.XML and CSV support manipulation of parent-child records as a unit, however it is more straightforward with DB.XML. These give DB.XML advantages compared to CSV when inserting or updating any records especially rate information. DB.XML also supports column values that contain line breaks and commas, which cannot be imported from a CSV file.

How can I use DB.XML?

There are a few ways to perform a DB.XML export or import:

  • Transportation and Global Trade Management Cloud User Interface
  • HTTP POST to servlet on Transportation and Global Trade Management Cloud application server (requires authentication)
  • SOAP web service

See the DB.XML chapter for details.

DB.XML Format

In the DB XML file, there can be more than one parent element for each business object contained within what is called a Transaction Set. The TRANSACTION_SET element is used to contain these parent elements. The parent element itself may contain one or more child element. DB XML Import and Export can work with complete parent-child table relationships all in one file by using corresponding parent-child elements. The attribute values on each element correspond to column values.

Note: The convention used here is that a table is called the "child" table if it contains a foreign key to another table. The table referenced by the foreign key is called the "parent".

These parent elements typically correspond to the primary Transportation and Global Trade Management Cloud data objects – AGENT, LOCATION, etc., and child elements typically correspond to associated child tables. For example, for the LOCATION parent table, the child table could be LOCATION_REFNUM, LOCATION_STATUS, etc.

In the case where the transaction set is used for data import, each parent element will, by default, be treated as a distinct transaction, i.e. the parent element and all its child elements are saved to the database as one atomic transaction. If one child element fails, the parent element transaction fails. The failure of one parent element does not directly affect the transactions for other parent elements. Additionally, all parent elements can be treated as one unit of work i.e. if one element fails, ALL elements in the ‘set’ will fail. The details on how this is achieved are covered in the DB.XML chapter.

Oracle Transportation Management ignores element and attribute names that do not correspond to valid database table or column names. This allows you to comment your DB.XML file without affecting what is imported.

Performance Considerations

The primary use case for DB.XML import and export was for the setup of configuration data needed for implementation of business processes. The amount of data that can be imported and exported will be limited by default to 100 MB (megabytes) in order to protect the server and avoid excessive data retrieval or updates which could affect stability.

The limit can not increased.

Migration Project

The Migration Project feature is a standard way to define and manage one or more datasets for the purpose of migrating data from one Oracle Transportation Management instance to another.

Although the Oracle Transportation Management application is fully functional “out of the box”, an operational system will typically require some configuration. Best practice would be for such a configuration to be developed and tested in a pre-production environment, accepted by product and business/operational experts and then promoted to the production environment.

At a high level, an "Export" migration project is defined on source system. This migration project contains data sets which represent object groups and objects that are to be migrated. There are two ways to import this data set on to the target system.

  • Migration using Zip File
  • Migration using Web Service (Supported only for Oracle Logistics Cloud)

Migration Process will create or update corresponding ‘Import’ migration project on the target system to list the imported data and the success and failures.

For more information on the Migration Project Process see the About the Promote to Production (P2P) Process help.