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XMLite: simple XML parser.

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11 Oct 2004CPOL3 min read 725.4K   15.6K   132   192
Easy to access and simple XML parser

Sample Image - XMLite1.gif

Why XMLite?

In my previous project, I needed some simple XML parser. I worked with Jabber server. Because I had no time I worked with Jabber client library called Jabbercom, a Win32 COM based DLL module. Jabber protocol is based on XML. But that library was not a complete XML parser for my project.

First, it couldn't support Korean text (maybe other languages too) and there is no escape character processing, and no entity encode/decode supports. I had to replace XML parser engine, but I can't use MSXML and Expat, and it had a heavy installation or was hard to use. So I decided to make XMLite. It is not a fully supported XML parser, but it is simple and small, so I hope it helps someone.

Using XMLite

Simply, XMLite has two main data structures, XNode and XAttr. XNode is for XML element node and XAttr is for XML attribute node. XNode has child XNodes and own attributes list XAttrs. If you see my source code, you'll think code is so easy to understand and use. The code is simple.

  1. XML parsing

    XMLite can parse one XML tag node plain text like below. You can check for parsing error. If XNode::Load returns NULL, then simply you can know plain XML text has some error. If you want to know more error information, then go to section 4 - error handling.

    CString sxml;
    sxml = _T("\
    <TAddress desc='book of bro'>\
    <TPerson type='me'><Name>Cho,Kyung Min</Name><Nick>bro</Nick></TPerson>\
    <TPerson type='friend'><Name>Baik,Ji Hoon</Name><Nick>bjh</Nick></TPerson>\
    <TPerson type=friend><Name>Bak,Gun Joo</Name><Nick>dichter</Nick></TPerson>\
    <TInformation count='3'/>\
    </TAddress>");
    
    XNode xml;
    if( xml.Load( sxml ) )
        AfxMessageBox(xml.GetXML());
    else
        AfxMessageBox(_T("error")); // simple parsing error check

    The result is shown in the picture above.

  2. Traveling with parsed XML

    CString sxml;
    sxml = _T("\
    <TAddressBook description=\"book of bro\">\
    <TPerson type='me'><Name>Cho,Kyung Min</Name><Nick>bro</Nick></TPerson>\
    <TPerson type='friend'><Name>Baik,Ji Hoon</Name><Nick>bjh</Nick></TPerson>\
    <TPerson type=friend><Name>Bak,Gun Joo</Name><Nick>dichter</Nick></TPerson>\
    <TInformation count='3'/>\
    </TAddressBook>");
    
    XNode xml;
    xml.Load( sxml );
    
    int i;
    XNodes childs;
    
    // DOM tree Childs Traveling 
    // method 1: Using GetChildCount() and GetChild()
    // Result: Person, Person, Person, Information
    LPXNode child;
    for( i = 0 ; i < xml.GetChildCount(); i++)
    {
        child = xml.GetChild(i);
        AfxMessageBox( child->GetXML() );
    }
    
    // method 2: LPXNodes and GetChilds() ( same result with method 1 )
    // Result: Person, Person, Person, Information
    childs = xml.GetChilds();
    for( i = 0 ; i < childs.size(); i++)
        AfxMessageBox( childs[i]->GetXML() );
    
    // method 3: Selected Childs with GetChilds()
    // Result: Person, Person, Person
    childs = xml.GetChilds(_T("Person") );
    for( i = 0 ; i < childs.size(); i++)
    {
        AfxMessageBox( childs[i]->GetXML() );
    }
    
    // method 4: Get Attribute Vaule of Child
    // Result: 3
    AfxMessageBox( xml.GetChildAttrValue( _T("Information"), _T("count") ) );
    int count = XStr2Int( xml.GetChildAttrValue( _T("Information"), 
                                                         _T("count") ));
    ASSERT( count == 3 );
  3. DOM Modify

    CString sxml;
    sxml = _T("\
    <TAddressBook description=\"book of bro\">\
    <TPerson type='me'><Name>Cho,Kyung Min</Name><Nick>bro</Nick></TPerson>\
    <TPerson type='friend'><Name>Baik,Ji Hoon</Name><Nick>bjh</Nick></TPerson>\
    <TPerson type=friend><Name>Bak,Gun Joo</Name><Nick>dichter</Nick></TPerson>\
    <TInformation count='3'/>\
    </TAddressBook>");
    
    XNode xml;
    xml.Load( sxml );
    
    // remove 'bro node'
    LPXNode child_bro = xml.GetChild(0);
    xml.RemoveChild( child_bro );
    
    AfxMessageBox(xml.GetXML());

    Result: there is no bro node.

    XML
    <TAddressBook description='book of bro' >
        <TPerson type='friend' >
            <Name>Baik,Ji Hoon</Name>
            <Nick>bjh</Nick>
        </TPerson>
        <TPerson type='friend' >
            <Name>Bak,Gun Joo</Name>
            <Nick>dichter</Nick>
        </TPerson>
        <TInformation count='3' />
    </TAddressBook>
  4. Error Handling

    XMLite has xml error handling, but it's not complete.

    CString serror_xml;
    serror_xml = _T("<XML>\
    <NoCloseTag type='me'><Name>Cho,Kyung Min</Name><Nick>bro</Nick>\
    </XML>");
        
    XNode xml;
    PARSEINFO pi;
    xml.Load( serror_xml, &pi );
    
    if( pi.erorr_occur ) // is error_occur?
    {
        //result: '<NoCloseTag> ... </XML>' is not wel-formed.
        AfxMessageBox( pi.error_string );
        AfxMessageBox( xml.GetXML()  );
    }
    else
        ASSERT(FALSE);

    then, result is

    '<NoCloseTag> ... </XML>' is not wel-formed.
  5. Entity and Escape Char Test

    XMLite has escape process. But this updated version has no escape for general case. But still you can use escape character with parsing value.

    pi.escape_value = '\\' 

    Upper case, escape character is:

    '\'
    like C/C++. And it has entity processing. Entity table is like shown below:
    Special characterSpecial meaningEntity encoding
    >Begins a tag.>
    <Ends a tag.<
    "Quotation mark."
    'Apostrophe.&apos;
    &Ampersand.&
    CString sxml;
    sxml = _T("<XML>\
    <TAG attr='<\\'asdf\\\">'>asdf</TAG>\
    </XML>");
    
    XNode xml;
    PARSEINFO pi;
    pi.escape_value = '\\'  // using escape character on value string
    xml.Load( sxml, &pi );
    
    AfxMessageBox( xml.GetXML()  );

    Result:

    XML
    <XML>
        <TAG attr='<&apos;asdf">' >asdf</TAG>
    </XML>
  6. Configurate Parse and Display

    XMLite can trim when parsing and add newline for display (default).

    CString sxml;
    sxml = _T("<XML>\
    <TAG attr='   qwer      '>        asdf       </TAG>\
    </XML>");
    
    XNode xml;
    
    xml.Load( sxml );
    AfxMessageBox( xml.GetXML()  );
    
    PARSEINFO pi;
    pi.trim_value = true; // trim value
    xml.Load( sxml, &pi );
    AfxMessageBox( xml.GetXML()  );
    
    DISP_OPT opt;
    opt.newline = false; // no new line
    
    AfxMessageBox( xml.GetXML( &opt )  );

    Result:

    first,

    XML
    <XML>
        <TAG attr='   qwer      ' >        asdf       </TAG>
    </XML>

    after,

    <XML><TAG attr='qwer' >asdf</TAG></XML>
  7. Custom entity table

    XMLite can customize entity table for special parsing and display. You can define new entity table for customized parsing.

    CString sxml;
    sxml = _T("<XML>\
    <TAG attr='&asdf>'></TAG>\
    </XML>");
    
    // customized entity list
    static const XENTITY entity_table[] = {
            { '<', _T("<"), 4 } ,
            { '&', _T("&"), 5 }
        };
    XENTITYS entitys( (LPXENTITY)entity_table, 2 ) ;
    
    PARSEINFO pi;
    XNode xml;
    pi.entity_value = true; // force to use custom entitys
    pi.entitys = &entitys;
    xml.Load( sxml, &pi );
    AfxMessageBox( xml.GetXML()  );
    
    DISP_OPT opt;
    opt.entitys = &entitys;
    opt.reference_value = true; // force to use custom entitys
    
    AfxMessageBox( xml.GetXML( &opt )  );
  8. branch copy (deep-copy)

    Now XMLite can copy branch.

    void CTestXMLiteDlg::OnButton9() 
    {
        // TODO: Add your control notification handler code here
        CString sxml;
        sxml = _T("<addressbook description=""\"</span>book"" />\
    <person type=""me"" /><NAME>Cho,Kyung Min</NAME><NICK>bro</NICK></person />\
    <person type=""friend"" /><NAME>Baik,Ji Hoon</NAME><NICK>bjh</NICK></person />\
    <person type=""friend"" /><NAME>Bak,Gun Joo</NAME><NICK>dichter</NICK></person />\
    <information count=""3"" />\
    </addressbook />");
    
        XNode xml;
        xml.Load( sxml );
        AfxMessageBox( xml.GetXML()  );
    
            // copy one level node with its own attributes
        XNode xml2;
        xml2.CopyNode( &xml );
        AfxMessageBox( xml2.GetXML()  );
           
            // copy branch of other node (deep-copy)
        XNode xml3;
        //same with xml3 = xml;
        xml3.CopyBranch( &xml );
        AfxMessageBox( xml3.GetXML()  );
    
            // append copied-branch of other node as my child
        XNode xml4;
        //same with xml3.CopyBranch( &xml );
        xml4.AppendChildBranch( &xml );
        AfxMessageBox( xml4.GetXML()  );
    }
  9. Parsing xml with PI/CDATA/Comment

    Now XMLite can parse with PI/CDATA/Comment. But Still XMLite doesn't support PI's encoding function.

    void CTestXMLiteDlg::OnButton10() 
    {
     // TODO: Add your control notification handler code here
     CString sxml;
     sxml = _T("<?xml version='1.0'?>\
    \
    <![CDATA[some data]]>\
    <a>\
     <![CDATA[some data]]>\
     value\
     <![CDATA[some data2]]>\
    </a><!-- comment2-->");
     
     XNode xml;
     xml.Load( sxml );
    
     AfxMessageBox( xml.GetXML()  );
    }
  10. Parsing un-welformed xml (like HTML)

    Now XMLite can parse un-welformed xml like HTML with 'force_parse' attribute

    void CTestXMLiteDlg::OnButton11() 
    {
     // TODO: Add your control notification handler code here
     CString sXML = "\
    < html>\
      < body width='100'>\
         Some times I got say...\
      \
      \
      < p>\
      Thanks\
      < /body>\
    < /html>";
    
     XDoc xml;
    
     PARSEINFO pi;
     pi.force_parse = true;
     if( xml.Load( sXML, &pi ) )
     {
      LPXNode root = xml.GetRoot();
      //root->AppendChild( _T("child"), _T("value") );
      AfxMessageBox( xml.GetXML() );
     }
    
     // you can't not parse without force_parse on un-welformed xml!
     XNode node;
     if( node.Load( sXML ) )
     {
      AfxMessageBox( node.GetXML() );
     } 
    }
  11. Deep-Find

    XMLite's node can search own all children with tag name.

    CString sXML = "\
    <a>\
     
      \
     
      <C/>\
     
      <D/>\
     
      \
    </a>";
    
     XNode node;
     if( node.Load( sXML ) )
     {
      AfxMessageBox( node.GetXML() );
    
      LPXNode found = NULL;
      found = node.Find( _T("D") );
      if( found )
      {
       AfxMessageBox( found->GetXML() );
      }
     }

History

// XMLite : XML Lite Parser Library
// by bro ( Cho,Kyung Min: bro@shinbiro.com ) 2002-10-30
// History.
// 2002-10-29 : First Coded. Parsing XMLElelement and Attributes.
//              get xml parsed string ( looks good )
// 2002-10-30 : Get Node Functions, error handling ( not completed )
// 2002-12-06 : Helper Funtion string to long
// 2002-12-12 : Entity Helper Support
// 2003-04-08 : Close,
// 2003-07-23 : add property escape_value. (now no escape on default)
// 2003-10-24 : bugfix) attribute parsing <TAG \r\n a="1" /> is now ok
// 2004-03-05 : add branch copy functions

License

Sometimes I get email about license of XMLite. You can use/modify/redistribute XMLite for commercial/noncomercial. But please give me thanks email with your project information.
Then I will be happy and add it to references of XMLite. If you fix or update XMLite then give it to me for all to have. Thanks.

Reference

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer
Korea (Republic of) Korea (Republic of)
This member has not yet provided a Biography. Assume it's interesting and varied, and probably something to do with programming.

Comments and Discussions

 
Questionis this code working at visual studio 2015 community ? Pin
digeratilove22-Nov-16 12:58
digeratilove22-Nov-16 12:58 
QuestionVS2015 MFC 64 bit Dialog Unicode application Pin
Andrew Truckle15-Oct-15 5:45
professionalAndrew Truckle15-Oct-15 5:45 
AnswerRe: VS2015 MFC 64 bit Dialog Unicode application Pin
Andrew Truckle15-Oct-15 5:57
professionalAndrew Truckle15-Oct-15 5:57 
QuestionLicense CPOL Pin
Member 1111524328-Sep-14 0:14
Member 1111524328-Sep-14 0:14 
Bugwellformed tab indentation with opt.newline = true / SaveFile and LoadLoad functions Pin
Thomas Mielke14-Jun-14 7:51
Thomas Mielke14-Jun-14 7:51 
QuestionThanks ! it is a good tool for me! Pin
marsfreak2-Apr-12 21:45
marsfreak2-Apr-12 21:45 
QuestionVisual Studio 2008 Pin
william basser6-Jul-11 7:57
william basser6-Jul-11 7:57 
AnswerRe: Visual Studio 2008 Pin
Thomas Mielke13-Feb-14 2:35
Thomas Mielke13-Feb-14 2:35 
GeneralXML String without ⎡ Pin
fonny28-Feb-10 21:49
fonny28-Feb-10 21:49 
GeneralPure C Version Pin
Igino M Chaves19-Jan-10 1:25
Igino M Chaves19-Jan-10 1:25 
GeneralXMLite ANSI to UNICODE conversion [modified] Pin
Theo Buys14-Jan-10 3:48
Theo Buys14-Jan-10 3:48 
GeneralBug in GetAttrs function. Pin
Priya_Sundar6-Jan-10 23:51
Priya_Sundar6-Jan-10 23:51 
GeneralRe: Bug in GetAttrs function. Pin
Theo Buys14-Jan-10 21:07
Theo Buys14-Jan-10 21:07 
GeneralUnicode version of XMLite Pin
G.Muruganandam30-Nov-09 15:40
G.Muruganandam30-Nov-09 15:40 
GeneralRe: Unicode version of XMLite Pin
Theo Buys14-Jan-10 21:13
Theo Buys14-Jan-10 21:13 
QuestionIs it possible to create childs that over the 5 deeps..? Pin
zzigee17-Aug-09 17:00
zzigee17-Aug-09 17:00 
AnswerRe: Is it possible to create childs that over the 5 deeps..? Pin
Cho, Kyung-min17-Aug-09 19:47
Cho, Kyung-min17-Aug-09 19:47 
QuestionWin CE Version Pin
infosarang28-Apr-09 23:16
infosarang28-Apr-09 23:16 
Questiongnu gcc version of this? Pin
noone2316-Mar-09 13:55
noone2316-Mar-09 13:55 
AnswerRe: gnu gcc version of this? Pin
infosarang27-Mar-09 1:18
infosarang27-Mar-09 1:18 
AnswerRe: gnu gcc version of this? Pin
Cho, Kyung-min17-Aug-09 20:20
Cho, Kyung-min17-Aug-09 20:20 
Generalnice, but. Pin
malleor13-Mar-09 5:27
malleor13-Mar-09 5:27 
GeneralRe: nice, but. but but but. Pin
malleor13-Mar-09 7:08
malleor13-Mar-09 7:08 
GeneralThanks a lot! Pin
snowtiger912712-Mar-09 20:15
snowtiger912712-Mar-09 20:15 
QuestionXMLite not compiled in VC++ 2005 Pin
infosarang22-Feb-09 22:24
infosarang22-Feb-09 22:24 

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