Everything You Need to Know About the XML Mapper

When it comes to application designs, whether it is part of a Windows application development, a mobile app, or a web-based application, XML file plays a crucial role. Generally, with XML, you can conveniently upgrade or modify your application design. Most technology today comes with built-in XML support that automatically reads and processes XML data files so that you can make changes without having to reformat your entire database. For Embarcadero, the RAD Studio ships with the XML Mapper.

Described as a Swiss knife for transforming and mapping XML files, this tool has been around for quite a long time. Unfortunately, despite its great use, it is not well-documented yet. In this video, we will learn more about XML Mapper. From the Coding Bootcamp 2023, Roger Swann will walk us through this design time tool and showcase what exactly this tool is capable of.

What is XML Mapper and how to use it?

The video will give us a simple and brief overview of how to use Embarcadero’s XML Mapper. Generally, XML Mapper is an Embarcadero IDE Plugin for both Delphi and C++ programming languages. At design time, it defines the mappings between generic XML documents and the data packets that client datasets use. For this video, Roger Swann will walk us through the process of creating a transformation file using the XML Mapper.

XML Mapper generates a transformation file which we can use in a transform component that transforms the data into a TclientDataSet. After getting the transformation file, Swann will also demonstrate the process of getting the XML data into the FireDac system so that we can process it and save it to databases. This is done in the VCL runtime application to populate a FireDAC table with data from an XML file.

The webinar also concludes with a Q&A session with Roger Swann and Ian Barker. To learn more about XML Mapper, feel free to watch the video below.