XMLObject - Python Object interface to XML data

XMLObject - Easy Python Object interface to XML data

XMLObject does for XML data what SQLObject does for databases - it frees you of the cumbersome API normally used for manipulating XML files, and gives you a simple and much more Pythonic object interface.

(This borrows some concepts from the xml_objectify.py, but adds the ability to save changes).

Features

Create new XML files, or work with existing ones
Add, get and set tag attributes just like with Python
Iterate over given node objects, just like lists
Quickly find child tags by name, just like dicts
Save the modified XML file

Download

Download your copy here

Documentation

View the epydoc-generated manual

Example

Based on an xml file containing:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <rapsheets>
     <person name="John Smith" age="42">
        <!-- John Smith has an appeal in process against his last conviction -->
        <crime name="Armed robbery" date="March 11, 1994"/>
        <crime name="Aggravated burglary" date="June 9, 2001"/>
     </person>
     <person name="Mary Jones" age="33">
        <crime name="Prostitution" date="January 8, 1997"/>
        <crime name="Selling heroin" date="September 4, 2002"/>
        <crime name="Manslaughter" date="December 21, 2004"/>
     </person>
    </rapsheets>

Here we go:

>>> from xmlobject import XMLFile

# open up an existing XML file

>>> x = XMLFile(path="sample.xml)

>>> print x
<xmlobject.XMLFile instance at 0xb7ccc52c>

# root node is in the .root attribute

>>> print x.root
<XMLNode: rapsheets>

# display contents of this node

>>> print x.root._children
[<XMLNode: text>, <XMLNode: person>, <XMLNode: text>,
 <XMLNode: person>, <XMLNode: text>]

# access only <person...> nodes

>>> print x.root.person
[<XMLNode: person>, <XMLNode: person>]

# Easily access the node's tag attributes

>>> print x.root.person[0].name
John Smith

# get a ref to the first <person> node

>>> john = x.root.person[0]

# Easy to change existing attributes, or set new ones

>>> john.height = 184

# Also easy to insert sub-nodes (and text nodes, and comments)

>>> c = john._addNode("crime")

# populate this <crime...> sub-node we've just added

>>> c.name = "Grand Theft Auto"
>>> c.date = "4 May, 2005"

# Render out to xml, compare this output with the above xml file

>>> print x.toxml()
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<rapsheets>
 <person age="42" height="184" name="John Smith">
    <!-- John Smith has an appeal in process against his last conviction -->
    <crime date="March 11, 1994" name="Armed robbery"/>
    <crime date="June 9, 2001" name="Aggravated burglary"/>
    <crime date="4 May, 2005" name="Grand Theft Auto"/>
 </person>
 <person age="33" name="Mary Jones">
    <crime date="January 8, 1997" name="Prostitution"/>
    <crime date="September 4, 2002" name="Selling heroin"/>
    <crime date="December 21, 2004" name="Manslaughter"/>
 </person>
</rapsheets>

# Saving the changed xml tree back to a .xml file is a one-step operation

>>> x.save()

>>>