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Request File Format

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Overall Structure of a Request File

A request file is an XML file that specifies the processing to be performed on the fusion_place server (XML files are text-based). The structure of a request file is as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="Windows-31J"?> (1)
  <requests> (2)
    <request type="IMPORT_VALUES" desc="Actual Import A"> (3)
      <!-- ... -->
    </request> (3)
    <request type="IMPORT_VALUES" desc="Actual Import B"> (3)
      <!-- ... -->
    </request> (3)
</requests> (2)
1 XML Declaration
2 Start and end of "Request Sequence"
3 Start and end of "Request"

XML Declaration

The "XML Declaration" (1) is placed as a single line at the beginning of the file, indicating that this file conforms to XML 1.0 specifications. The encoding="…​" attribute specifies the encoding used in this file. The available values depend on the OS environment, but commonly used ones include UTF-8 and Windows-31J (Shift JIS with Windows extensions).

Start and End Tags for "Request Sequence"

Excluding the XML declaration, the file consists of a sequence of "requests" (requests). The start and end of this sequence must be enclosed by the <requests> and </requests> tags (2).

Start and End Tags for "Request"

Within the "Request Sequence" (requests), multiple "Requests" (request) can be included. Each request must be enclosed within <request> and </request> tags (3). As shown in the example above, the <request> tag can specify two attributes: request type (type) and description (desc). The structure and attributes of the <request> tag are described in the following sections.

How to Write a Request

A request is written between the <request …​> and </request> tags.

<request type="IMPORT_VALUES" desc="Actual Import A"> (1)
  <parameters> (2)
    <parameter name="APPLICATION" value="SAMPLE1"/> (3)
    <parameter name="FORM" value="IMPORT_ACT1"/> (3)
    <parameter name="PARTICIPANT" value="#NONE"/> (3)
    <parameter name="POV" key="#FY" value="FY2009"/> (3)
  </parameters> (2)
  <contents> (4)
    FY2009, M1, S01, M01, PL1100, -5131123 (5)
    FY2009, M2, S01, M01, PL1100, -11224332 (5)
    <!-- ... -->
  </contents> (4)
</request> (1)
1 Start and end of "Request"
2 Start and end of "Parameter Sequence"
3 Parameters
4 Start and end of "Request Content"
5 Request content data

Start and End Tags for "Request"

The request start tag can include the following two attributes:

Attribute Required Description

type

Yes

Specifies the request type. See the description of each request type for specific values.
Case insensitive.

desc

No

An optional description of the request.

Start and End Tags for "Parameter Sequence"

Immediately after the request start tag, a sequence of parameters (parameters) must be placed. The start and end tags for the parameter sequence are <parameters> and </parameters>. Multiple parameters (parameter) can be placed within this section.

"Parameter" Tag

A parameter provides additional details about the request, specifying processing targets and conditions. Examples include APPLICATION for specifying the target application and FORM for specifying the form used for data import. The types of parameters are determined by the request type. Parameters can be mandatory or optional, and their order does not matter. The attributes available for parameter tags are as follows:

Attribute Required Description

name

Yes

Specifies the parameter name (e.g., APPLICATION, FORM).
Case insensitive.

key

(See Description)

If the parameter requires a "key," specify it here. Currently, only POV (point of view) uses keys. POV specifies the dimension label as the key and the member label of that dimension as the value.
Case insensitive.

value

Yes

Specifies the parameter value.
Case insensitive.

Requester supports embedding environment variable values in parameter values. This feature eliminates the need to modify request files for variable elements like fiscal years or relative periods before each execution. Note that this feature does not apply to [Web-API].

Request Content

Request content is enclosed within <contents> and </contents> tags and contains the actual data to be processed by the fusion_place server. The structure of this content depends on the request type.

For IMPORT_VALUES (data import using a form), the request content should be formatted in a manner readable by the specified form. The format differs between simple forms and full-featured forms.

Escaping Special Characters in Request Content

Since request content is embedded in an XML file, certain special characters used in XML (<, >, &) cannot be used directly. If these characters are required in the request content, they must be replaced (escaped) as follows:

  • < → &lt;

  • > → &gt;

  • & → &amp;

Each replacement starts with & (ampersand) and ends with ; (semicolon).

If escaping these characters is inconvenient, consider using External Mode, which avoids the need for escaping (this feature is available in Requester but not in [Web-API]).