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Appendix D. Enabling TXMLDocument for C++Builder Professional

by Paul Gustavson

IN THIS APPENDIX

TXMLDocument VCL Registration Support
TXMLDocument VCL Package Assembly

The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is a technology standard that literally has exploded within the information technology industry. XML provides a way to describe structured data in a very powerful and simple way. It can be used as a standard text-based format for information exchange among businesses and applications.

Seizing on the capabilities of XML, Borland developed a VCL component called TXMLDocument that allows you, as a developer, to take advantage of XML documents within your applications. TXMLDocument is a component-based wrapper to an external DOM (Document Object Model) parser, such as the Microsoft XML Parser, the Open XML parser, or the IBM Xerces parser. Disappointingly though, Borland chose not to include the TXMLDocument as a registered "VCL" component in either C++Builder 6 Professional or Delphi 6 Professional.

The reason sited as to why the TXMLDocument component was not originally considered for the Professional version is that XML and XML technologies such as SOAP are oriented more toward client/server development, which is targeted exclusively by the Enterprise version. Logically, there's no reason why Borland shouldn't have included it as a component since TXMLDocument 's scope is NOT limited to client/server enterprise development. To their credit however, Borland did include the TXMLDocument class with the Professional version, which can be used as a data type within your code. But, having been spoiled by the VCL constructs, users prefer a TXMLDocument component that can be grabbed off the VCL palette and modified using design-time property editors provided through the Object Inspector.

The good news is that there's a way to expose the TXMLDocument on your C++Builder Professional palette. In this appendix, we will look at an "above-board" approach to register the TXMLDocument class as a component and install it on the palette. Note: the solution we'll describe works for both C++Builder 6 Pro and Delphi 6.02 Pro users.

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