Specifies the data model to use when parsing XML documents and generating the database metadata.

Possible Values

Data Type

string

Default Value

"Document"

Remarks

The add-in splits XML documents into rows based on elements that repeat at the same level.

Flattening Nested XML

By default, the add-in projects columns over the properties of objects and returns arrays as XML aggregates.

• Object: Any parent element that does not repeat at the same height.
• Array: Any element that repeats at the same height.

In the following example, jobs is a primitive array:

<jobs>sales</jobs>
<jobs>marketing</jobs>

In the following example, maintenance is an object array, since each maintenance node has child elements.

<maintenance>
  <date>07-17-2017</date>
  <desc>oil change</desc>
</maintenance>
<maintenance>
  <date>01-03-2018</date>
  <desc>new tires</desc>
</maintenance> 

Selecting a Data Modeling Strategy

The following DataModel configurations are available. See Parsing Hierarchical Data for examples of querying the data in the different configurations.

• Document

  Returns a single table representing a row for each top-level object. In this data model, any nested object arrays will not be flattened and will be returned as aggregates. Unless an XPath value is explicitly specified, the add-in will identify and use the top-most object array found as the XPath.

• FlattenedDocuments

  Returns a single table representing a JOIN of the available documents in the file. In this data model, nested XPath values will act in the same manner as a SQL JOIN. Additionally, nested sibling XPath values (child paths at the same height), will be treated as a SQL CROSS JOIN. Unless explicitly specified, the add-in will identify the XPath values available by parsing the file and identifying the available documents, including nested documents.

• Relational

  Returns multiple tables, one for each XPath value specified. In this data model, any nested documents (object arrays) will be returned as relational tables that contain a primary key and a foreign key that links to the parent table. Unless explicitly specified, the add-in will identify the XPath values available by parsing the file and identifying the available documents (including nested documents).

See Also

• XPath: Explicitly set the paths to the documents you want to include.
• FlattenArrays and FlattenObjects: Use these properties to horizontally flatten the data. This enables customization of the columns that will be identified for each of these data models.
• Parsing Hierarchical Data: Shows how to query data using each of the DataModel configurations.
• Modeling XML Data: Provides a map to the different data modeling strategies.
• Connecting to XML Data Sources: Follow this configuration guide for an overview of the properties you need to connect.