XML Parser Processing

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When a user uploads an XML document, Windows SharePoint Services examines the document to determine if the built-in XML parser should be invoked. If the document meets the requirements, Windows SharePoint Services invokes the parser to promote the appropriate document properties to the document library.

For more information on the requirements for Windows SharePoint Services invoking the built-in XML parser for a document, see XML Document Property Promotion and Demotion.

After the XML parser is invoked, it examines the document to determine the document content type, and then accesses the document's content type definition. The content type definition includes information about each column in that content type; this information can include the following:

  • The document property that maps to a given column, if one exists

  • The location where the document property is stored in the document itself

For more information about specifying this information in the content type definition, see Using Content Types to Specify XML Document Properties.

Using this information, the XML parser can extract each document property from the correct location in the document, and pass these properties to Windows SharePoint Services. Windows SharePoint Services then promotes the appropriate document property to the matching column included in the content type.

Likewise, Windows SharePoint Services can also invoke the built-in XML parser to demote properties from the content type columns, on the document library, into the document itself. When Windows SharePoint Services invokes the demotion function of the parser, it passes to the parser the document and the column values to be demoted into the document. Once again, the parser accesses the document's content type definition. The parser uses the content type definition to determine the following:

  • Which document properties map to the column values passed to it for demotion

  • The location of those document properties in the document

Using this information, the parser writes the column values into the applicable document property locations in the document.

Enabling Property Demotion

To be able to demote a document property, the column to which it is mapped must be defined with its ReadOnly attribute set to false.

See Also

Concepts

XML Document Property Promotion and Demotion

Using Content Types to Specify XML Document Properties

Determining Document Content Type for XML Parsing

Specifying Document Content Type for XML Parsing