xml.md

Simple XML parser and formatter

Transforms back and forth between XML and JS. Tries to generate a JS object which is as simple as possible, without losing information.

Uses the following rules when converting from XML to JS:

• all values are returned as strings. No attempt to convert numbers and booleans
• attributes are mapped to a $ subobject.
• simple values are mapped to an object with a $value property if the tag has attributes.
• simple values are mapped to a string if the tag does not have attributes.
• repeating tags are mapped to an array.
• CDATA sections are mapped to an object with a $cdata property.
• self-closing tags are returned as an empty object.

Some examples:

<a>hello world</a>  --> { a: "hello world" }
<a x="hello">world</a>  --> { a: { $: { x: "hello" }, $value: "world" } }
<a><b>hello</b><c>world</c></a>  --> { a: { b : "hello", c: "world" } }
<a><b>hello</b><b>world</b></a>  --> { a: { b : ["hello", "world"] }
<a></a>  --> { a: "" }
<a/>  --> { a: {} }

See the test/server/xml-test._js unit test for more examples.

API

import * as ez from 'ez-streams'

• transform = ez.transforms.xml.parser(options)
  creates a parser transform. The following options can be set:
  • tags: the list of tags that enclose each item returned by the reader
• transform = ez.transforms.xml.formatter(options)
  creates a formatter transform. The following options can be set:
  • tags: the list of tags that enclose each item returned by the reader
  • indent: optional indentation string, should only contain spaces.