Things to check before integrating
Before you integrate
Move required attributes into explicit fields and flatten repeated nested groups before sending XML.
Before you integrate
A blank custom template can return help text; define the intended template and its escaping before production use.
Code examples
These examples send the sample as multipart/form-data and save the returned bytes unchanged. Set TABLECONVERT_API_KEY in your environment.
XML to custom text template API · cURL
curl --fail-with-body --max-time 40 \
'https://api.tableconvert.com/v2/convert/xml-to-magic' \
--header "Authorization: Bearer $TABLECONVERT_API_KEY" \
--form-string 'data=<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<dataset>
<record><sku>P101</sku><item>Notebook</item><quantity>12</quantity></record>
<record><sku>P102</sku><item>Marker</item><quantity>8</quantity></record>
</dataset>' \
--form-string 'output[headerTpl]={F |}
' \
--form-string 'output[rowsTpl]={F |}
' \
--form-string 'output[footerTpl]={F |}' \
--form-string 'output[builtin]=' \
--output 'xml-to-magic.txt'Requires cURL. Download the sample input first when this example uploads a file.
XML to custom text template API · Python
import os
from pathlib import Path
import requests
endpoint = "https://api.tableconvert.com/v2/convert/xml-to-magic"
headers = {"Authorization": "Bearer " + os.environ["TABLECONVERT_API_KEY"]}
fields = {
"data": (None, "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" ?>\n<dataset>\n <record><sku>P101</sku><item>Notebook</item><quantity>12</quantity></record>\n <record><sku>P102</sku><item>Marker</item><quantity>8</quantity></record>\n</dataset>"),
"output[headerTpl]": (None, "{F |}\n"),
"output[rowsTpl]": (None, "{F |}\n"),
"output[footerTpl]": (None, "{F |}"),
"output[builtin]": (None, ""),
}
response = requests.post(endpoint, headers=headers, files=fields, timeout=40)
response.raise_for_status()
Path("xml-to-magic.txt").write_bytes(response.content)Requires Python 3 and requests. Install it with pip install requests.
XML to custom text template API · Node.js
import { writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
const form = new FormData();
form.set("data", "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" ?>\n<dataset>\n <record><sku>P101</sku><item>Notebook</item><quantity>12</quantity></record>\n <record><sku>P102</sku><item>Marker</item><quantity>8</quantity></record>\n</dataset>");
form.set("output[headerTpl]", "{F |}\n");
form.set("output[rowsTpl]", "{F |}\n");
form.set("output[footerTpl]", "{F |}");
form.set("output[builtin]", "");
const response = await fetch("https://api.tableconvert.com/v2/convert/xml-to-magic", {
method: "POST",
headers: { Authorization: "Bearer " + process.env.TABLECONVERT_API_KEY },
body: form,
signal: AbortSignal.timeout(40_000),
});
if (!response.ok) {
throw new Error("HTTP " + response.status + ": " + await response.text());
}
await writeFile("xml-to-magic.txt", Buffer.from(await response.arrayBuffer()));Requires Node.js 20 or later with built-in fetch, FormData and Blob.
Authentication
Send Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY. Let the HTTP client set the multipart boundary; do not set Content-Type manually.
Keep production API keys in server-side environment variables.
Request parameters
The importer treats each direct child of the document root as a record and its child elements as fields. It is a record extractor, not a general XML schema or XSLT transformation.
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
data | string | — | Inline XML table content. Choose one of data, file or url. |
file | binary | — | Upload a xml file using multipart/form-data. |
url | string | — | A supported publicly accessible HTTP or HTTPS file URL. |
Send one source: data, file, or url. The examples below use the source mode appropriate for this format.
Output options
Apply TableConvert Magic row templates to tabular records. Magic is a substitution system for custom text, not a separate file format or an AI transformation.
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
output[headerTpl] | string | Empty string | Template used for the first row/header portion of the custom text export. |
output[rowsTpl] | string | Empty string | Template repeated for the custom export’s intermediate data rows. |
output[footerTpl] | string | Empty string | Template used for the last-row/footer portion of the custom text export. |
output[builtin] | string | Empty string | Populate the custom template from a built-in preset; explicit template fields remain authoritative. |
Conversion rules
| Case | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Mapping rule 1 | Root-level child records supply rows, and their child element names supply the union of columns. |
| Mapping rule 2 | Templates substitute cells and row counters into a header, repeated row body and footer. |
| Mapping rule 3 | Expose required XML attributes and nested fields as flat columns before using row-template placeholders. |
How the input is read
- Use a root element containing repeated record elements with child-element fields.
- Cell values use element textContent; attributes and deep tree structure are not emitted as separate columns.
- Repeated field names within one record overwrite earlier values; normalize repeating groups first.
- Review namespace-prefixed names before generating code identifiers or a new schema.
How the output is written
- Configure headerTpl, rowsTpl and footerTpl or select a built-in template.
- Column placeholders use the table position/header and row counters rather than arbitrary object traversal.
- The destination syntax and escaping remain your template’s responsibility; test a small sample first.
When to use this API
This conversion in practice
Use a record-oriented XML export as the starting dataset for an application-specific text export. Move required attributes into explicit fields and flatten repeated nested groups before sending XML.
Custom text template
Generate repeated text such as URL lists, command fragments or application-specific import lines.
Responses and errors
| HTTP status | Description |
|---|---|
200 | text/plain; charset=utf-8 |
400 | Invalid input or conversion parameters. |
402 | Insufficient credits for this request. |
403 | Missing or invalid API key. |
413 | The input exceeds the configured request limit. |
415 | Unsupported input media type. |
429 | Rate limit exceeded. |
500 | The conversion could not be completed. |
503 | The renderer is unavailable or the request timed out. |
Check the response before retrying. A new HTTP request is a new conversion and may use credits again.
Limits, billing and versions
Local previews accept up to 200 KB. The current API implementation allows one uploaded file up to 50 MiB, limits each multipart text field to 1 MiB, and gives v2 conversion tasks a 30-second deadline. Deployment limits may be stricter. Read the returned error before retrying; some parser or renderer failures return HTTP 500.
Live calls follow the API credit policy. Failed conversions are refunded; a completed conversion is not undone if the download connection later fails.
View API pricing and creditsUsing API v1?
This page documents v2, which returns the output directly. API v1 wraps the result in a JSON envelope. Check the overview before changing an existing integration.
API overviewReferences and format specifications
Format references explain the underlying syntax. The conversion rules and samples above describe TableConvert’s implementation.