XMLExample
to Create Exchequer Account and Import Exchequer Transaction:
The
following XML will create or update an account, with AltCode = COMTLONGCODE198,
then post 2 line SOR for COMTLONGCODE198.
<?xml
version="1.0" ?>
<ExchequerData>
<Account>
<!-- Create/Update Exchequer Account record,
from XML file -->
<!-- Note use of acAltCode, allowing long account code -->
<acAltCode>COMTLONGCODE198</acAltCode>
<acCompany>Comtek Accounts</acCompany >
<acAddress1>Venture House</acAddress1>
<acAddress2>Venture Court</acAddress2>
<acAddress3>Bolness Rd.</acAddress3>
<acAddress4>Wisbech</acAddress4>
<acAddress5>Cambs</acAddress5>
<acPostCode>PE13 2QL</acPostCode>
<acContact>Sam Smith</acContact>
<acGeneralNotes>General Note can be imported against the
Account/Transaction </acGeneralNotes>
</Account>
<TransactionHeader>
<!-- Create Exchequer SOR Transaction, in XML -->
<!-- Note use of acAltCode, allowing long account code -->
<thDocType>SOR</thDocType>
<thAcCode>COMTLONGCODE198</thAcCode>
<thTransDate>1/11/2005</thTransDate>
<thDueDate>1/12/2005</thDueDate>
<thYourRef>4571025</thYourRef>
<thCostCentre>East Division</thCostCentre>
<thDepartment>Jane Smith</thDepartment>
<thLocation>Main wharehouse</thLocation>
<TransactionLine>
<!-- This line specifies Stock code and Price and VAT -->
<tlStockCode>ALARMSYS-DOM-1</tlStockCode>
<tlQty>1</tlQty>
<tlDescr>Labour2</tlDescr>
<tlNetValue>57.45</tlNetValue>
<tlVATCode>Standard</tlVATCode>
<tlVATAmount>10.05</tlVATAmount >
<tlGLCode>SALES</tlGLCode>
</TransactionLine>
<TransactionLine>
<!-- All price, VAT will be automatically calculated -->
<tlStockCode>CAMERA-BRACKET</tlStockCode>
<tlQty>5</tlQty>
</TransactionLine>
</TransactionHeader>
</ExchequerData>
Document
Type Definition (DTD)
DTD PostTransXML.xsd
The
DTD defines the data structure that PostTransXML will expect in the XML file,
which closly relates to the
The
XML file can contain one or more records/entities of same, or of different
types:
<?xml
version="1.0" ?>
<ExchequerData>
<Account>
…
</Account>
<Account>
…
</Account>
<Stock>
…
</Stock>
<Job>
…
</Job>
<TransactionHeader>
<!-- Note All Account fields can be specified in Transaction Header -->
…
<TransactionLine>
….
</TransactionLine>
<TransactionLine>
….
</TransactionLine>
</TransactionHeader>
</ExchequerData>
The
order of the elements, within the entities, is not important
Accounts,
Stock and Jobs must created before a transaction is posted to it.
TransactionLine is a child record of Transaction. All XML Data files
should have unique filenames.
Data
type format
As
specified by the W3C for XML
Warning
when creating XML Data files using VB, Delphi, etc
Special
characters such as “<>&” are not allowed in XML. If
not using an XML writer, then this
can be overcome by using the CDATA statement, to encapsulate text data, in the
XML data:
<acCompany>CDATA[Comtek Accounts & Sons]</acCompany>
<acAddress1>CDATA[Venture House,]</acAddress1>
All
dates should be in ISO 8601 date format as above.
YYYY-MM-DD
Conversion
of Codes
Exchequer
Software Codes such as Location, CostCentre, Location, Department, GLCode,
Currency and VATCode are converted using bespoke conversion list.
This list can either be specified globally in the System settings or against
each field:
For
example in system settings we may have:
<ConversionSetttings>
<!-- The following list allows the importer to convert codes from the
external -->
<!-- system to the Exchequer codes,
any errors will be logged and e-mailed -->
<!-- Currency codes 1-89 -->
<Currency>GB=1,EUR=2,DOL=3,Others</Currency>
<!-- CostCentre code conversion -->
<CostCentre>East Division=AAA,West Division=WST,North
Division=NOT,Others</CostCentre>
<!-- Department code conversion -->
<Department>Jim Marsh=JIM,Jane Smith=SMT,Others</Department>
<!-- VATCodes code conversion -->
<VATCode>Standard=S,Zero=Z,Others</VATCode>
<!-- Location code conversion -->
<Location>Main wharehouse=AAA,VAN=VAN,Others</Location>
<!-- Job Type code conversion -->
<JobType>east=EAT,Others</JobType>
<!-- GL code conversion -->
<GLcode>BANK=2010,SALES=52010,COSTS=62010,Others</GLcode>
</ConversionSetttings>
Therefore,
values in our file are converted to Exchequer Software codes:
<thCostCentre>East
Division</thCostCentre> = AAA
<thDepartment>Jane
Smith</thDepartment> = SMT
<tlVATCode>Standard</tlVATCode>
= S
<tlGLCode>SALES</tlGLCode>
= 52010
Note
: "Others" can be specified in conversion list, in which case, values
not found will be passed through to Exchequer Software COM Toolkit. See
GLCode example above.
For
Testing "SetTo=" can be used, to always set value, for example:
<!-- GL code conversion -->
<GLcode>BANK=2010,SALES=52010,COSTS=62010,Others,SetTo=990</GLcode>
Always
sets GL to 990, so we do not have define the complete GL structure while testing
Element
properties
All
XML Elements properties are stored in simple MS Access Database, called
“XMLSettings.mdb” in the main program directory. This allows the
name of each Element to be changed; by default they are the same as the name
used within the Exchequer Software COM Toolkit, but can be easily changed to
match external systems. A conversion list can be defined for each
individual Element, or mapped to a global conversion list defined in system
settings.
Other
considerations
When
the external system creates the XML Data file, it is advisable to create the
file in another directory, then data file copy to the PostTransXML
directory. This will help avoid file-locking problems.
It
is advisable to breakdown operations into as smaller operations as possible, so
if account fails to update, due to record lock, then the transaction does not
post.
Account
Entity
This
represents a Customer/Supplier record within Exchequer Software.
These fields can also be specified in Transaction Entity
