• Chapter 1: Getting Started with Stylus Studio
• Chapter 2: Editing and Querying XML
• Chapter 3: Converting Non-XML Files to XML
  • Overview
  • Choosing an Input File
  • The Convert to XML Editor
  • Parts of an Input File
  • Working with Regions
  • Working with Fields
  • Controlling XML Output
  • Creating a Convert to XML Converter
  • Using Converters in Stylus Studio
  • Properties Reference
• Chapter 4: Working with XSLT
• Chapter 5: Creating XSLT Using the XSLT Mapper
• Chapter 6: Debugging Stylesheets
• Chapter 7: Defining XML Schemas
• Chapter 8: Defining Document Type Definitions
• Chapter 9: Writing XPath Expressions
• Chapter 10: Working with XQuery in Stylus Studio
• Chapter 11: Composing Web Service Calls
• Chapter 12: Accessing Relational Data as XML
• Chapter 13: Extending Stylus Studio
• Chapter 14: Stylus Studio Reference

Home > Online Product Documentation > Table of Contents > Regions

Regions

A region is the largest organizational component in an input file. Regions can be interpreted by Stylus Studio when the input file is first read into the Convert to XML Editor, and you can define your own.

An input file can contain one or more regions; every input file has at least one region that starts at offset 0. Multiple regions are common in binary files, which often contain a fixed-size header and then one or more records containing the actual data.

In the Convert to XML Editor, regions are numbered, starting with 1, followed by the row number. For example, in an input file with two regions, you might see rows labeled as follows: 1:1, 1:2, 1:3; 2:1, 2:2, 2:3, and so on. A region's row markers are displayed in alternating colors - row markers for odd-numbered regions are shown in one color, and row markers for even-numbered regions in another. The number of the current region is also shown in the Region Number property, one of the navigational properties.

Regions can be fixed-width or line-oriented. Every row in a fixed-width region has the same length. Stylus Studio uses a default value of 80 characters for fixed-width regions, but you can adjust this as required from within the Convert to XML Editor. See Adjusting Fixed-Width Regions for more information.

Managing Regions

Stylus Studio provides tools that let you create new regions, and join one region with another. See Defining and Joining Regions. You can also change a region's type. See Converting the Region Type for more information.