Export File Format

Uniface exports data as well-formed, well-defined XML in which objects that have aggregation relationships are nested. By default, the data is exported to files with an .xml extension, which can optionally be compressed into a zip archive to reduce the size. A Uniface DTD describing the export file format is provided.

Uniface Repository definitions or user data are exported as XML 1.0 using the UTF-8 character set. Each Uniface export file includes a header that identifies the file as an export file, the XML encoding engine version, the Uniface version, and other compatibility information.

The file is Unicode-enabled. Uniface writes a Unicode Byte-Order-Mark (BOM), a special character to recognize the encoding when creating an XML export file.

XML is a self-describing mark-up language that is understood by many applications, including both browsers and databases. XML readers that can handle well-formed XML can read Uniface export files without the DTD. For reader that require the DTD (for example, Microsoft Internet Explorer), you can copy the DTD (UnifaceInstallDir\uniface\misc\uniface.dtd) to the same directory as the export file. XML files can be formatted by cascading style sheets for further readability.

The structured XML format is especially useful for source control functionality. The export format enables conflict-handling and merge functionality, while the import/export functionality provides easy synchronization with work areas.

The XML format can result in very large files, especially for large applications and complex models. By writing export files to zip archives, you can reduce the file size. Uniface supports direct export to (and import from) zip archives.

When you import definitions, they are imported from the export file and compiled.

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