ODI and XML - how can I get this to work?

Question

Hi all.
I'm working on a new dwh solution where the main source of data will come from XML-files. The problem is that we are having difficulties with the use of abstract types in the xsd-file.
We currently use ODI to read the XML-files and to store the data in our database, but all fields from the XML-files are not visible in the target tables.
The problem can be simplified like this example:
We have a main element, testElement, which can contain one or more publications.
Publication is of type PublicationType, and PublicationType is an abstract that contains title, author and date.
We have four other types which extends PublicationType; BookType, MagazineType, NewspaperType and AdsType. They all contain additional fields.
XSD-file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<schema xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
targetNamespace="urn:testing:kontroll:example:oppgave:v1"
xmlns:tns="urn:testing:kontroll:example:oppgave:v1"
xmlns:xdb="http://xmlns.oracle.com/xdb"
elementFormDefault="qualified">
     <element name="testElement" type="tns:TestElementType" xdb:defaultTable="TEST_TAB" />
     <complexType name="TestElementType">
          <sequence>
               <element name="publication" type="tns:PublicationType" minOccurs="1"
                    maxOccurs="unbounded" />
          </sequence>
     </complexType>
     <complexType name="PublicationType" abstract="true">
          <sequence>
               <element name="title" type="string"/>
               <element name="author" type="string" minOccurs="0"
                    maxOccurs="unbounded" />
               <element name="date" type="string"/>
          </sequence>
     </complexType>
     <complexType name="BookType">
          <complexContent>
               <extension base="tns:PublicationType">
                    <sequence>
                         <element name="ISBN" type="string"/>
                         <element name="publisher" type="string"/>
                    </sequence>
               </extension>
          </complexContent>
     </complexType>
     <complexType name="MagazineType">
          <complexContent>
               <extension base="tns:PublicationType">
                    <sequence>
                         <element name="editor" type="string"/>
                         <element name="period" type="string" minOccurs="0"
                              maxOccurs="1"/>
                    </sequence>
               </extension>
          </complexContent>
     </complexType>
     <complexType name="NewspaperType">
          <complexContent>
               <extension base="tns:PublicationType">
                    <sequence>
                         <element name="daily" type="boolean"/>
                         <element name="owner" type="string" minOccurs="0"
                              maxOccurs="1"/>
                    </sequence>
               </extension>
          </complexContent>
     </complexType>
     <complexType name="AdsType">
          <complexContent>
               <extension base="tns:PublicationType">
                    <sequence>
                         <element name="company" type="string"/>
                         <element name="article" type="string" />
                    </sequence>
               </extension>
          </complexContent>
     </complexType>
</schema>
XML-file
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<tns:testElement xmlns:tns="urn:testing:kontroll:example:oppgave:v1" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="urn:testing:kontroll:example:oppgave:v1 ExampleXMLSchema.xsd ">
<tns:publication xsi:type="tns:BookType">
<tns:title>Boken</tns:title>
<tns:author>Arne Svendsen</tns:author>
<tns:date>2001</tns:date>
<tns:ISBN>78979797</tns:ISBN>
<tns:publisher>The Company Ltd</tns:publisher>
</tns:publication>
<tns:publication xsi:type="tns:MagazineType">
<tns:title>Fancy Magazine</tns:title>
<tns:author>Mads Madsen</tns:author>
<tns:date>2011</tns:date>
<tns:editor>Svante Svantesen</tns:editor>
<tns:period>weekly</tns:period>
</tns:publication>
</tns:testElement>
Can anybody tell me if this should work (and why it doesn`t)? Or if the XSD/XML looks wrong in some way?
Is this a known limitation in Oracle or ODI etc.?
Any pointers to documentation describing similar problems would also be helpful.
Thanks,
Bjørn
Edited by: Bob1 on Dec 22, 2011 7:01 AM
Edited by: Bob1 on Dec 22, 2011 7:03 AM

Answer 1

From what I found in the document http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E25054_01/integrate.1111/e12644.pdf (section B.7.2.6), ODI does not support abstract=true for complextypes. The driver simply ignore them.
We made a new xsd without these tags and were able to generate the required tables.
I am a bit surprised that ODI don't support these abstract-tags.
Regards Bjørn
Edited by: Bob1 on Jan 2, 2012 1:45 PM