node-xmlreader

An xml reader for node that uses a different approach than all other xml readers/parsers out there.

Install

You can install xmlreader using the Node Package Manager (npm):

npm install xmlreader

Introduction

I wanted a xml reader that's easy to use and that doesn't require tricks to access the attributes and text values of xml nodes. Most xml parsers out there use some kind of prefix, but that's not a sound solution.

I'm using functions to differentiate the attributes and text from the nodes:

node.attributes() and node.text()

I also wanted a xml parser that can handle multiple nodes of the same name. Most parsers out there just ignore those or threat every node as an array.

I'm using functions to get to nodes of the same name. The same functions can also be used to get to nodes where there's only one of them:

nodes.count(), nodes.at(0) and nodes.each()

I'm using sax js created by Isaac to do all the hard work of actually parsing the xml :-)

Warning

Apparently, javascript cannot distinguish between functions and objects. Therefor nodes with names like text, count, at, each cannot be traversed. If someone comes up with a sound solution for this, just let me know!

Functions

get the attributes of a node

node.attributes()

get the text of a node

node.text()

note: if CDATA is found, CDATA is returned as text()

get the number of nodes with the same name

nodes.count()

get node i of a series of nodes with the same name

nodes.at(i)

loop through the nodes of the same name

nodes.each(callback)

with: callback = function(index, node)

get the parent node of a node

node.parent()

Example

var xmlreader = require('xmlreader');

var someXml = 	'<response id="1" shop="aldi">'
			+ 		'This is some other content'
			+		'<who name="james">James May</who>'
			+ 		'<who name="sam">'
			+			'Sam Decrock'
			+			'<location>Belgium</location>'
			+		'</who>'
			+ 		'<who name="jack">Jack Johnsen</who>'
			+		'<games age="6">'
			+			'<game>Some great game</game>'
			+			'<game>Some other great game</game>'
			+		'</games>'
			+		'<note>These are some notes</note>'
			+	'</response>'

xmlreader.read(someXml, function (err, res){
	if(err) return console.log(err);

	// use .text() to get the content of a node:
	console.log( res.response.text() );

	// use .attributes() to get the attributes of a node:
	console.log( res.response.attributes().shop );

	console.log("");

	// using the .count() and the .at() function, you can loop through nodes with the same name:
	for(var i = 0; i < res.response.who.count(); i++){
		console.log( res.response.who.at(i).text() );
	}

	console.log("");

	// you can also use .each() to loop through the nodes of the same name:
	res.response.who.each(function (i, who){
		console.log( who.text() );
	});

	console.log("");

	console.log( res.response.who.at(1).text() ) ;
	console.log( res.response.who.at(1).location.text() );

	// you can also use .at() to get to nodes where there's only one of them:
	console.log( res.response.note.at(0).text() );

	console.log("");

	// or loop through them as if they were a series of nodes with the same name:
	res.response.note.each(function (i, note){
		console.log( note.text() );
	});

	console.log("");

	// you can also get the parent of a node using .parent():
	console.log( res.response.who.at(1).parent().attributes().id ) ;
});