What is it?

cXML is a streamlined protocol intended for consistent communication of business documents between procurement applications, e-commerce hubs and suppliers. http://cxml.org/

cXML Reference Guide (PDF): http://xml.cxml.org/current/cXMLReferenceGuide.pdf

Status

CXML Version	Status Test
1.2.050	OK
1.2.053	OK

Getting Started

Installation

$ composer require friendsofcxml/cxml-php

Then include Composer’s autoloader:

require_once 'vendor/autoload.php';

Get current dtd definition files

1. Download get current Specification from http://cxml.org/downloads.html
2. Extract files
3. Use cXML.dtd for validation (see below)

Quickstart

Identity and credentials

//we use a basic registry here. You could use your own (db-based?) repository that implements CredentialRepositoryInterface
$credentialRegistry = new \CXml\Credential\Registry();

$someSupplier = new \CXml\Model\Credential('DUNS', 12345);
$credentialRegistry->registerCredential($someSupplier);

$someBuyer = new \CXml\Model\Credential('my-id-type', "[email protected]");
$credentialRegistry->registerCredential($someBuyer);

$someHub = new \CXml\Model\Credential('my-id-type', "[email protected]", "abracadabra");
$credentialRegistry->registerCredential($someHub);

Register Handler

$handlerRegistry = new \CXml\Handler\HandlerRegistry();

$handlerRegistry->register(new CXml\Handler\Request\SelfAwareProfileRequestHandler(...));
$handlerRegistry->register(new CXml\Handler\Request\StaticStartPagePunchOutSetupRequestHandler(...));
$handlerRegistry->register(new MyOrderRequestHandler());
$handlerRegistry->register(new MyStatusUpdateRequestHandler());
...

Build cXML

//$payload = new \CXml\Model\Message\...Message(...);
//or...
//$payload = new \CXml\Model\Request\...Request(...);
//or...
$payload = new \CXml\Model\Response\...Response(...);

$cXml = \CXml\Builder::create()
    ->payload($payload)
    ->build();

$payload = new \CXml\Model\Request\...Request(...);
$cXml = \CXml\Builder::create()
    ->payload($payload)
    ->from(...)
    ->to(...)
    ->sender(...)
    ->build();

Register outgoing cXML documents

You may want to register sent-out documents so they can be referenced by subsequent request-documents via payloadId.

$documentRegistory = new MyDocumentRegistry(); //implements CXml\Document\DocumentRegistryInterface

$documentRegistory->register($cXml);

Process incoming cXML documents

$headerProcessor = new \CXml\Processor\HeaderProcessor($credentialRegistry, $credentialRegistry);

$cXmlProcessor = new \CXml\Processor\Processor(
  $headerProcessor, 
  $handlerRegistry,
  $builder
);

$cXmlProcessor->process($cXml);

Putting it all together

$credentialRegistry = new \CXml\Credential\Registry();
//TODO register...

$handlerRegistry = new \CXml\Handler\HandlerRegistry();
//TODO register...

$builder = \CXml\Builder::create();

$headerProcessor = new \CXml\Processor\HeaderProcessor($credentialRegistry, $credentialRegistry);
$cXmlProcessor = new \CXml\Processor\Processor(
  $headerProcessor, 
  $handlerRegistry,
  $builder
);

$pathToDtd = '.'; //point the directory with extracted contents of zip-file with the DTDs, downloaded from cxml.org
$dtdValidator = new \CXml\Validation\DtdValidator($pathToDtd);

$endpoint = new \CXml\Endpoint(
    $dtdValidator,
    $cXmlProcessor
);

//$xmlString could be the body of an incoming http request
$xmlString = '<cXML>...</cXML>';
$result = $endpoint->parseAndProcessStringAsCXml($xmlString);

//$result could be null (i.e. for a Response or Message) or another CXml object which would be the Response to a Request
//you would have to handle the transport yourself

Handling Date vs DateTime

The cXML specification is not perfectly clear about the format of dates and times. The specification says that dates should be formatted "in the restricted subset of ISO 8601". That means that the format could either be a full ISO 8601 format with time and timezone information (i.e. 2015-04-14T13:36:00-08:00) or a format without time and timezone (2015-04-14).

With some fields the actual time of day is not relevant and could lead to confusion. For example, the requestedDeliveryDate field in ItemOut. Real-world experience shows that here it is common to only specify the date. Althout one could argue that the time of day is still relevant here for real tight on-point deliveries.

To solve this problem we introduced a determined CXml\Model\Date class in case of using an explicit date (without time). This class extends DateTime and is therefore compatible with the rest of the model. The class enforces a date-only representation (Y-m-d).

Serialization

You should use the CXml\Model\Date class when generating your object-graph in cases you want to output a date-only value.

Deserialization

When parsing a date-property from a cXML document, the CXml\Model\Date will be instantiated if a date-only value was discovered (Y-m-d).

Credits

• Markus Thielen (https://github.com/mathielen)