Any Transformation from XSD to MSchema

Question

Hi there,

looking at the current bits i can see a transform from M to XML.
But what seems to be missing is a transform from (XSD+XML) => M Schema + M

Any plans for this?

I think you need to support this scenario as most metadata (or models as you call them)
is now encoded as XML

Thanks

Tim

Answer 1

Timothy--sorry for the delay in acknowledging your post and working on a response. As you might have seen, we just got the next CTP out which was occupying our energies. Anyway, thanks for your patience as I get an answer for you.

.Kraig

Answer 2

Tim,

There is no tool at this time. However, a number of the people who work on M used to work on XML, so this is a scenario that is important to us. If I get any additional information, I'll update this post.

Thanks for the feedback and your interest!

David

Answer 3

David is exactly right.

In fact you've inspired me to blog a bit about it in more detail. http://tinyfinger.blogspot.com/2009/05/m-interop-with-xml-and-others.html.

---

-- pinky --/ http://www.tinyfinger.com/

Answer 4

Hey Pinky,

thank you for taking care of this and even blogging ;-).

Quote:
>>We also think about interop at the schema level. For example, if we transform an MGraph to XML, then wouldn't it be great to transform the representative >>schema for that data into XSD? That's something we haven't quite done yet, but again I don't think that it would be hard, just work. We don't really have >>that booked to implement right now. Do people see a huge need?

I have one thought on this as it is besides the original request probably the second most interesting. Indeed the question arises a bit. I assume when you store to SQL and get it back you can get an MGraph. I Also assume you can get it back directly from sql server in future as sql server can execute .net code. This means that when i have java program i can ask sql server for MGraph of a stored model  and get it back as XML + XSD eventually.
Why would i want XSD? Well if i have XSD i can generate classes for reading and wrting that xml similar as xsd.exe /classes does in .NET Framework.

I think you need to support Java, PHP and possibly even Oracle based scenarios in future.

This is something that can help

Tim

Answer 5

The 'M promise' is to establish a toolchain and modeling environment that supercedes what exists today. To prove the theory, demonstrating that 'M' can support existing languages (e.g. C#, Java, XML) and models (e.g. UML, XSD) is important. Not to mention the migration and interoperability challenges mentioned in the blog comments here. If my team is building a system in 'M', and they obtain an XML or XML Schema definition from a third party, how do they integrate the external 'model' into the system? Lack of XSD/XML interoperability limits the value of MUrl and M.