Error (11781) message references empty namespace URI

Executing a Web service in an ABL client raises an error similar to "Malformed XML fragment: Only a default namespace can have an empty URI. 'xmlns:mynamespace' have empty URI at line 2 and column 59 (11781)"

Aug 24, 2016
Knowledge

Title

URL Name

Error-11781-message-references-empty-namespace-URI

Article Number

000177808

Environment

Product: OpenEdge Version: 10.x, 11.x OS: All supported platforms Other: XML, SOAP Web services

Question/Problem Description

Error similar to the one below is raised when executing a Web service in an ABL client:

Malformed XML fragment: Only a default namespace can have an empty URI. 'xmlns:mynamespace' have empty URI at line 2 and column 59 (11781)

Code uses WRITE-XML method of a ProDataSet handle to generate XML which is passed as a LONGCHAR input parameter to the Web service. Code is similar to:

lReturn = DATASET MyDataset:WRITE-XML ("LONGCHAR",lcRequest,TRUE,?,?,FALSE,FALSE).

The same error may occur when WRITE-XML is executed directly on the handle of a temp-table in the ProDataSet, for example:

lReturn = TEMP-TABLE:MyTT:WRITE-XML ("LONGCHAR",lcRequest,TRUE,?,?,FALSE,FALSE).

The temp-table is defined with code similar to:

DEFINE TEMP-TABLE MyTT NO-UNDO
XML-NODE-NAME "mynamespace:MyXMLNode"
FIELD Field1 AS CHARACTER XML-NODE-NAME "F1"
...

Error may occur after upgrading to OpenEdge 11.6 from an earlier version when the temp-table is part of a ProDataSet defined with XML-NODE-TYPE "HIDDEN".

Steps to Reproduce

Clarifying Information

Error Message

Malformed XML fragment: Only a default namespace can have an empty URI. 'xmlns:<namespace name>' have empty URI at line <line number> and column <column number> (11781)

Defect Number

Enhancement Number

Cause

A namespace is embedded in the XML-NODE-NAME value, but no NAMESPACE-URI attribute is defined for the temp-table. This causes WRITE-XML to generate XML that looks like the following:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<mynamespace:MyXMLNode xmlns:mynamespace="" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">;
<F1>My field value</F1>
...

However, in a well-formed XML document a non-default namespace such as "mynamespace" is not allowed to have an empty URI.

Resolution

Depending on the Web service contract (WSDL) and other application needs, choose one of the following solutions:

Do not define XML-NODE-NAME on the temp-table. The serialized XML node representing the temp-table will have the same name as the temp-table, and the default namespace will be used.
Define XML-NODE-NAME without embedding a namespace in the node name string. The serialized XML node representing the temp-table will have an unqualified name, and the default namespace will be used.
Define XML-NODE-NAME without embedding a namespace in the node name string. and define NAMESPACE-PREFIX and NAMESPACE-URI with the desired values. This will produce well-formed XML output, but all nodes representing temp-table fields will be produced with a namespace prefix.

Workaround

Notes

In OpenEdge versions before 11.3, this issue may be masked due to defect PSC00257061 which causes XML-NODE-NAME to be ignored by WRITE-XML. If a namespace is embedded in XML-NODE-NAME but XML-NODE-NAME is not respected due to PSC00257061, the default namespace will be used in the generated XML and the error will not occur.

References to Other Documentation:

OpenEdge Development: ABL Reference
OpenEdge Development: Working with XML

W3C Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Core Specification, "Appendix B: Namespaces Algorithms > B.2 Namespace Prefix Lookup"
https://www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-3-Core/namespaces-algorithms.html#lookupNamespacePrefixAlgo

Progress Articles:

XML-NODE-NAME ignored when ProDataSet XML-NODE-TYPE is "HIDDEN"

Keyword Phrase

Last Modified Date

11/20/2020 7:21 AM

Error (11781) message references empty namespace URI

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