Python XML

What is XML?

XML stands for "Extensible Markup Language". It is mainly used in webpages, where the data has a specific structure and is understood dynamically by the XML framework.

XML creates a tree-like structure that is easy to interpret and supports a hierarchy. Whenever a page follows XML, it can be called an XML document.
XML documents have sections, called elements, defined by a beginning and an ending tag. A tag is a markup construct that begins with < and ends with > . The characters between the start-tag and end-tag, if there are any, are the element's content. Elements can contain markup, including other elements, which are called "child elements".
The largest, top-level element is called the root, which contains all other elements.

Attributes are name–value pair that exist within a start-tag or empty-element tag. An XML attribute can only have a single value and each attribute can appear at most once on each element. To understand this a little bit better, take a look at the following (shortened) XML file:

    
<collection shelf="New Arrivals">
<movie title="Enemy Behind">
   <type>War, Thriller</type>
   <format>DVD</format>
   <year>2003</year>
   <rating>PG</rating>
   <stars>10</stars>
   <description>Talk about a US-Japan war</description>
</movie>
<movie title="Transformers">
   <type>Anime, Science Fiction</type>
   <format>DVD</format>
   <year>1989</year>
   <rating>R</rating>
   <stars>8</stars>
   <description>A schientific fiction</description>
</movie>
   <movie title="Trigun">
   <type>Anime, Action</type>
   <format>DVD</format>
   <episodes>4</episodes>
   <rating>PG</rating>
   <stars>10</stars>
   <description>Vash the Stampede!</description>
</movie>
<movie title="Ishtar">
   <type>Comedy</type>
   <format>VHS</format>
   <rating>PG</rating>
   <stars>2</stars>
   <description>Viewable boredom</description>
</movie>
</collection>

From what you have read above, you see that <collection> is the single root element: it contains all the other elements, such as <genre>, or <movie>, which are the child elements or subelements. As you can see, these elements are nested.
Note that these child elements can also act as parents and contain their own child elements, which are then called "sub-child elements".
You'll see that, for example, the element contains a couple of "attributes", such as favorite title that give even more information!

Python XML

Python XML


#!/usr/bin/python

import xml.sax

class MovieHandler( xml.sax.ContentHandler ):
   def __init__(self):
      self.CurrentData = ""
      self.type = ""
      self.format = ""
      self.year = ""
      self.rating = ""
      self.stars = ""
      self.description = ""

   # Call when an element starts
   def startElement(self, tag, attributes):
      self.CurrentData = tag
      if tag == "movie":
         print ("*****Movie*****")
         title = attributes["title"]
         print ("Title:", title)

   # Call when an elements ends
   def endElement(self, tag):
      if self.CurrentData == "type":
         print ("Type:", self.type)
      elif self.CurrentData == "format":
         print ("Format:", self.format)
      elif self.CurrentData == "year":
         print ("Year:", self.year)
      elif self.CurrentData == "rating":
         print ("Rating:", self.rating)
      elif self.CurrentData == "stars":
         print ("Stars:", self.stars)
      elif self.CurrentData == "description":
         print ("Description:", self.description)
      self.CurrentData = ""

   # Call when a character is read
   def characters(self, content):
      if self.CurrentData == "type":
         self.type = content
      elif self.CurrentData == "format":
         self.format = content
      elif self.CurrentData == "year":
         self.year = content
      elif self.CurrentData == "rating":
         self.rating = content
      elif self.CurrentData == "stars":
         self.stars = content
      elif self.CurrentData == "description":
         self.description = content
  
if ( __name__ == "__main__"):
   
   # create an XMLReader
   parser = xml.sax.make_parser()
   # turn off namepsaces
   parser.setFeature(xml.sax.handler.feature_namespaces, 0)

   # override the default ContextHandler
   Handler = MovieHandler()
   parser.setContentHandler( Handler )
   
   parser.parse("movie.xml")

Output:

    
*****Movie*****
Title: Enemy Behind
Type: War, Thriller
Format: DVD
Year: 2003
Rating: PG
Stars: 10
Description: Talk about a US-Japan war
*****Movie*****
Title: Transformers
Type: Anime, Science Fiction
Format: DVD
Year: 1989
Rating: R
Stars: 8
Description: A schientific fiction
*****Movie*****
Title: Trigun
Type: Anime, Action
Format: DVD
Rating: PG
Stars: 10
Description: Vash the Stampede!
*****Movie*****
Title: Ishtar
Type: Comedy
Format: VHS
Rating: PG
Stars: 2
Description: Viewable boredom