We have some fairly rigorous requirements for an XML/XSL module as listed below. Having modified a version to cope with these it would be betetr if the official module could do the same.
They are as follows.
1) Capture posted form item values.
There are many times when we need to control an HTTPXML call using values posted from a form
It would be very useful if the posted values could be used to construct the query string (and also the URL - see item 4).
2) Required values.
Because sometimes the HTTPXML url+querystring cannot have a default value until set by the user the XML/XSL module needs to allow for certain Parameters to be "Required". If the "Required" value is
Null (which may cause the response to be an error) then the module should not post. This action requires point 3 to be present.
3) Default XML
In the situation above when a "Required" value is Null then no XML is returned so a default XML value needs to be available for the XSL to transform. This could be optionally set via a textarea value or a static XML file. This process could also take over when the URL returns a server error. obviously it would also be nice to have a series of default XML depending on the response.
4) Alter base URL based on parameters
There are some situations where a site supplying an XML feed has several URLs for different calls and one module needs to connect to these different URLs.
The ability to insert a posted value into the URL would solve this. This parameter would obviously need to be a "Required" value.
This same process could be used to fetch different static XML files based on a posted value.
As a really excellent (if a bit complex) enhancement it would be very good if posted values could be translated to stored values. So that the actual page name or file name (for example) does not
have to be exposed on the client page. As an example we have an application where we do not want to show the page name of a URL so would like to post an ID that is then translated into a page name
for inserting into a URL. Nice but not essential.
5) Not add parameter pair if value is Null
In a situation where the URL returns an error when a parameter is either Null or not valid (i.e when it is used for a different URL - see point 4). The XML/XSL module needs to suppress the addition
of a parameter pair (Name + value) when the value is Null.
6) Default values for parameters if posted value is Null.
In certain circumstances it might be useful to set a default value for a parameter when no value is posted (Null).
In the above cases an empty string should be treated as Null