XML Table Constructor Kit - Page 2

Step 1 - Creating the XML table constructor

We begin by defining the format for the XML file which will define how our flash SWF should construct the table. In this case, we wanted to build a 6 column table for a real estate agency. Each column will be used to populate with listings. The advantage of using this methodology is that changes to back-end systems, column contents and order of the information delivered to the SWF does not require regenerating the FLA file. Here is the sample XML file:

<xml>
	<tabledef tablename="table">
		<columndef>
			<id>DOL</id>
			<title>Date of listing</title>
			<width>25</width>
			<wrap>No</wrap>
		</columndef>

		<columndef>
			<id>Source</id>
			<title>Listing Source</title>
			<width>30</width>
			<wrap>No</wrap>
		</columndef>

		<columndef>
			<id>City</id>
			<title>Listing City</title>
			<width>15</width>
			<wrap>No</wrap>
		</columndef>

		<columndef>
			<id>Status</id>
			<title>Activity Status</title>
			<width>8</width>
			<wrap>No</wrap>
		</columndef>

		<columndef>
			<id>Expires</id>
			<title>Expires</title>
			<width>10</width>
			<wrap>No</wrap>
		</columndef>

		<columndef>
			<id>Link</id>
			<title>Web Link</title>
			<width>12</width>
			<wrap>No</wrap>
		</columndef>
	</tabledef>
</xml>

tablename - the caption that will appear above the table

columndef - defines a column of data (id=identifier, to be used in the next tutorial, title=caption for the column,width=width of the column in %, sum of all column widths must be 100%, wrap=not yet used)