The XML descriptor

The XCONV toolkit handles record structure description with XML. The XML file contains the following elements:

It describes one structure. In other words it represents each 01 level COBOL filed.

It describes each COBOL field. Its attributes describe the field. If the field is an elementary one, the dataitem's attributes will also contain attributes describing its memory representation. If the field is a structured one, the element will contain child elements (of the same type)

attribute	required	description	Admittable values
name	yes	field name
level	yes	nested item level
redefines		name of the field redefined
occurs		max value indexed structure (default 1)
length		field size in bytes
picture		COBOL picture clause
usage		field usage	display comp binary comp-4 comp-1 comp-2 comp-3 packed comp-5 comp-x index pointer nchar japanese
signed		boolean indicator: true if field is signed
sign		sign type for signed fields	implicit trailing leading
conversion		conversion type. Auto default. You could force different type of conversion	auto binary packed char dbcs float
discardable		boolean indicator: false if field is a critical redefines