Merging 2 XML files

[Marcus]

Is it possible two merge 2 files with identical id tags in. However they are
children of different parent tags that are also at different depths. I can
merge two documents that have identical treesm but can i do it with unidentical
trees?

[Rohit Wason]

Marcus,

When it comes to "merging" or "comparing" XML documents/strings, its a bit
more tricky than it may seem.

I feel that in these scenarios if you:

1) lay down your merging and comparision rules
2) make a utility that does follow your *rules*, accepts two xml-documents
and merges them into a third resultant document.

...you are done.

But such *rules* need a considerable time (and in the order of the size and
complexity of the xml documents we are talking about). also, I amnot aware
of any ready-made utility that does this for you : to define the rules etc.

I suggest you can have a look at the xml documents you have in hand, identigy
their key sections (like <Employee> tag or "DateOfBirth" attributes etc.)
and try to make an entry in a table per such rule.

you may then make a utility in any simple language like VB to use dom to
then apply these rules to the xml-strings and "merge" them...

all the best,

Cheers
Rohit



"Marcus" <mglynn@filenet.com> wrote:
>
>Is it possible two merge 2 files with identical id tags in. However they
are
>children of different parent tags that are also at different depths. I can
>merge two documents that have identical treesm but can i do it with unidentical
>trees?