DFDL

Since Camel 4.11

The DFDL Data Format allows you to transform the fixed format data such as EDI message from/to XML using Data Format Description Language, also known as DFDL. DFDL schema is an XML schema annotated with DFDL elements and attributes.

While DFDL schema defines the XML representation of the data structure, it also defines how the conversion between the fixed format and XML is processed using DFDL annotations.

This component uses Apache Daffodil as an underlying DFDL implementation.

Maven users will need to add the following dependency to their pom.xml for this data format:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
    <artifactId>camel-dfdl</artifactId>
    <version>x.x.x</version>
    <!-- use the same version as your Camel core version -->
</dependency>

Usage

Unmarshal (Fixed format to XML)

Below is an example of using the DFDL Data Format to unmarshal an EDI message into an XML DOM Document:

  • Java

  • YAML

from("direct:unmarshal")
    .unmarshal().dfdl("X12-837P.dfdl.xsd")
    .log("Unmarshalled X12 837P message: ${body}");
- from:
    uri: direct:unmarshal
    steps:
      - unmarshal:
          dfdl:
            schemaUri: X12-837P.dfdl.xsd
      - log: "Unmarshalled X12 837P message: ${body}"

Marshal (XML to fixed format)

Below is an example of using the DFDL Data Format to unmarshal an EDI message into an XML DOM Document:

  • Java

  • YAML

from("direct:marshal")
    .marshal().dfdl("X12-837P.dfdl.xsd")
    .log("Marshalled X12 837P message: ${body}");
- from:
    uri: direct:marshal
    steps:
      - marshal:
          dfdl:
            schemaUri: X12-837P.dfdl.xsd
      - log: "Marshalled X12 837P message: ${body}"

DFDL Data Format Options

The DFDL dataformat supports 3 options, which are listed below.

Name Default Java Type Description

schemaUri (common)

String

Required The path to the DFDL schema file.

rootElement (advanced)

String

The root element name of the schema to use. If not specified, the first root element in the schema will be used.

rootNamespace (advanced)

String

The root namespace of the schema to use.

Spring Boot Auto-Configuration

When using dfdl with Spring Boot make sure to use the following Maven dependency to have support for auto configuration:

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.camel.springboot</groupId>
  <artifactId>camel-dfdl-starter</artifactId>
  <version>x.x.x</version>
  <!-- use the same version as your Camel core version -->
</dependency>

The component supports 7 options, which are listed below.

Name Description Default Type

camel.component.dfdl.autowired-enabled

Whether autowiring is enabled. This is used for automatic autowiring options (the option must be marked as autowired) by looking up in the registry to find if there is a single instance of matching type, which then gets configured on the component. This can be used for automatic configuring JDBC data sources, JMS connection factories, AWS Clients, etc.

true

Boolean

camel.component.dfdl.enabled

Whether to enable auto configuration of the dfdl component. This is enabled by default.

Boolean

camel.component.dfdl.lazy-start-producer

Whether the producer should be started lazy (on the first message). By starting lazy you can use this to allow CamelContext and routes to startup in situations where a producer may otherwise fail during starting and cause the route to fail being started. By deferring this startup to be lazy then the startup failure can be handled during routing messages via Camel’s routing error handlers. Beware that when the first message is processed then creating and starting the producer may take a little time and prolong the total processing time of the processing.

false

Boolean

camel.dataformat.dfdl.enabled

Whether to enable auto configuration of the dfdl data format. This is enabled by default.

Boolean

camel.dataformat.dfdl.root-element

The root element name of the schema to use. If not specified, the first root element in the schema will be used.

String

camel.dataformat.dfdl.root-namespace

The root namespace of the schema to use.

String

camel.dataformat.dfdl.schema-uri

The path to the DFDL schema file.

String
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