I believe z/OS (as of 2.1? 1.13) has built in XML services. Try here
http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zos/features/xml/ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bernd Oppolzer Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2016 12:08 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: COBOL parsing of "delimited files". BTW: at the company where I am working at the moment, we need to build "true" XLS files at the mainframe (no CSVs) which are then transferred to a Windows network drive, so that the clients (that is, Accounting people etc.) can fetch them from there. The problem with mainframe generated CSVs is that ExCel will do strange things when opening them; for example change numeric values to date values etc., because there is no way to specify type information in CSV. To build the XLS Files on the mainframe and to transfer them to Windows using FTP, we need a text format protocol, which survives text mode FTP and can be understood by ExCel. What we found, and what works very fine for us, is SYLK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SYmbolic_LinK_(SYLK) So we built a library on the mainframe which generates SYLK files from our mainframe applications and transfer them automatically (night Batch) to the Windows network drives, for daily, weekly or monthly reports. (The mainframe library is written in C, but that isn't very important, IMO; it could well be COBOL or PL/1 or ASSEMBLER). If the SYLK files have extension XLS on the network drives, ExCel will simply open them by double-click, and the user will see no difference from "normal" ExCel files. Of course, reading XLS which comes out of real ExCel will be much harder, if not impossible. Kind regards Bernd Am 17.11.2016 um 18:49 schrieb Paul Gilmartin: > On Thu, 17 Nov 2016 09:01:53 -0600, Bill Woodger wrote: > >> The only real problem with delimiters is when the delimiter can occur in the >> data. Often a good reason for avoiding commas. Tab can be good, as long as >> the data cannot contain tab (unlikely for Mainframe data). >> >> Delimiters in the data can be "protected" by enclosing the data of that >> field in double-quotes. This is only a genuine problem when the the "other >> end" can only process text-and-control-codes and when "any value is possible >> in the data". However, it can also be an issue due to "diktat" - "this >> delimiter must be used, otherwise the world will stop revolving". That's bad >> when the delimiter can appear in the data. >> > Monthly, another department publishes a .xlsx file which I wish to > parse with a script. I open it with LibreOffice and export as .html > and parse that with my script. (Ugh! The hard part is process documentation > of > the manual process.) No problem with dodging delimiters. .xml might > be a better choice than .html, but I knew I was familiar with .html. > > WTF!? Xcel can't export as .xml!? > > --gil > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send > email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ::DISCLAIMER:: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The contents of this e-mail and any attachment(s) are confidential and intended for the named recipient(s) only. E-mail transmission is not guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or may contain viruses in transmission. The e mail and its contents (with or without referred errors) shall therefore not attach any liability on the originator or HCL or its affiliates. Views or opinions, if any, presented in this email are solely those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of HCL or its affiliates. Any form of reproduction, dissemination, copying, disclosure, modification, distribution and / or publication of this message without the prior written consent of authorized representative of HCL is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error please delete it and notify the sender immediately. Before opening any email and/or attachments, please check them for viruses and other defects. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
