View Category
XML
Parsing

Process an XML document

Given the XML Document:

<shopping>
  <item name="bread" quantity="3" price="2.50"/>
  <item name="milk" quantity="2" price="3.50"/>
</shopping>

Print out the total cost of the items, e.g. $14.50
ruby
#!/usr/bin/env ruby

# needed to parse xml
require 'rexml/document'

# grab the file
file = File.new('shop.xml')

# load it as an xml document
doc = REXML::Document.new(file)

# initialize the total to 0 as a float
total = 0.0

# cycle through the items
doc.elements.each('shopping/item') do |item|

# add the price to the total
total += item.attributes['price'].to_f
end

# round the total to the nearest 0.01
total = (total*100.0).round/100.0

# pad the output with the proper number of trailing 0's
printf "$%.2f\n", total
erlang
-include_lib("xmerl/include/xmerl.hrl").
-export([get_total/1]).

get_total(ShoppingList) ->
{XmlElt, _} = xmerl_scan:string(ShoppingList),
Items = xmerl_xpath:string("/shopping/item", XmlElt),
Total = lists:foldl(fun(Item, Tot) ->
[#xmlAttribute{value = PriceString}] = xmerl_xpath:string("/item/@price", Item),
{Price, _} = string:to_float(PriceString),
[#xmlAttribute{value = QuantityString}] = xmerl_xpath:string("/item/@quantity", Item),
{Quantity, _} = string:to_integer(QuantityString),
Tot + Price*Quantity
end,
0, Items),
io:format("$~.2f~n", [Total]).
Creation

create some XML programmatically

Given the following CSV:

bread,3,2.50
milk,2,3.50

Produce the equivalent information in XML, e.g.:

<shopping>
  <item name="bread" quantity="3" price="2.50" />
  <item name="milk" quantity="2" price="3.50" />
</shopping>
ruby
# gem install builder
require 'builder'

xml = Builder::XmlMarkup.new
xml.shopping do
xml.item(:name => "bread", :quantity => 3, :price => "2.50")
xml.item(:name => "milk", :quantity => 2, :price => "3.50")
end
xml
erlang
to_xml(ShoppingList) ->
Items = lists:map(fun(L) ->
[Name, Quantity, Price] = string:tokens(L, ","),
{item, [{name, Name}, {quantity, Quantity}, {price, Price}], []}
end, string:tokens(ShoppingList, "\n")),
xmerl:export_simple([{shopping, [], Items}], xmerl_xml).