Simple and lightweight XML parser for iOS written in Swift
AEXML is a minion which consists of three classes:
| Class | Description |
|---|---|
| AEXMLElement | Base class |
| AEXMLDocument | Inherited from AEXMLElement |
| AEXMLParser | Simple wrapper around NSXMLParser |
This is not robust full featured XML parser (at the moment), but rather really simple, smart and very easy to use utility for casual XML handling (it just works).
- Read XML data
- Write XML string
- I believe that's all
Let's say this is some XML data you picked up somewhere and made data: NSData of it.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<animals>
<cats>
<cat breed="Siberian" color="lightgray">Tinna</cat>
<cat breed="Domestic" color="darkgray">Rose</cat>
<cat breed="Domestic" color="yellow">Caesar</cat>
</cats>
<dogs>
<dog breed="Bull Terrier" color="white">Villy</dog>
<dog breed="Bull Terrier" color="white">Spot</dog>
<dog breed="Golden Retriever" color="yellow">Betty</dog>
<dog breed="Miniature Schnauzer" color="black">Kika</dog>
</dogs>
</animals>This is how you can use AEXML for working with this data:
// works only if data is successfully parsed
// otherwise prints information about error with parsing
var error: NSError?
if let xmlDoc = AEXMLDocument(xmlData: data, error: &error) {
// prints the same XML structure as original
println(xmlDoc.xmlString)
// prints cats, dogs
for child in xmlDoc.rootElement.children {
println(child.name)
}
// prints Tinna (first element)
println(xmlDoc.rootElement["cats"]["cat"].value)
// prints Kika (last element)
println(xmlDoc.rootElement["dogs"]["dog"].last.value)
// prints Betty (3rd element)
println(xmlDoc.rootElement["dogs"].children[2].value)
// prints Tinna, Rose, Caesar
for cat in xmlDoc.rootElement["cats"]["cat"].all {
println(cat.value)
}
// prints Villy, Spot
for dog in xmlDoc.rootElement["dogs"]["dog"].all {
if let color = dog.attributes["color"] as? NSString {
if color == "white" {
println(dog.value)
}
}
}
// prints Siberian
println(xmlDoc.rootElement["cats"]["cat"].attributes["breed"]!)
// prints <cat breed="Siberian" color="lightgray">Tinna</cat>
println(xmlDoc.rootElement["cats"]["cat"].xmlStringCompact)
// prints element <badexample> not found
println(xmlDoc["badexample"]["notexisting"].value)
} else {
println("description: \(error?.localizedDescription)\ninfo: \(error?.userInfo)")
}Let's say this is some SOAP XML request you need to generate.
Well, you could just build ordinary string for that?
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<soap:Header>
<m:Trans xmlns:m="http://www.w3schools.com/transaction/" soap:mustUnderstand="1">234</m:Trans>
</soap:Header>
<soap:Body>
<m:GetStockPrice>
<m:StockName>AAPL</m:StockName>
</m:GetStockPrice>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>Yes, but, you can also do it in a more structured and elegant way with AEXML:
// prints the same XML structure as original
let soapRequest = AEXMLDocument()
let attributes = ["xmlns:xsi" : "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance", "xmlns:xsd" : "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"]
let envelope = soapRequest.addChild("soap:Envelope", attributes: attributes)
let header = envelope.addChild("soap:Header")
let body = envelope.addChild("soap:Body")
header.addChild("m:Trans", value: "234", attributes: ["xmlns:m" : "http://www.w3schools.com/transaction/", "soap:mustUnderstand" : "1"])
let getStockPrice = body.addChild("m:GetStockPrice")
getStockPrice.addChild("m:StockName", value: "AAPL")
println(soapRequest.xmlString)class AEXMLElement
let name: Stringvar value: Stringvar attributes: [NSObject : AnyObject]var parent: AEXMLElement?var children: [AEXMLElement] = [AEXMLElement]()
name, value, attributes by example:
<name attributeName="attributeValue">value</name>
parent - everyAEXMLElementhas it's parent, instead ofAEXMLDocument:(
children - array of all child elements
init(_ name: String, value: String = String(), attributes: [NSObject : AnyObject] = [NSObject : AnyObject]())
designated initializer has default values for value and attributes, but name is required
subscript(key: String) -> AEXMLElementvar last: AEXMLElementvar all: [AEXMLElement]
get the first element with some name like this:
xmlDoc["someName"]
last - returns the last element with name asself.name
all - returns all of the elements with name asself.name
func addChild(child: AEXMLElement) -> AEXMLElementfunc addChild(name: String, value: String = String(), attributes: [NSObject : AnyObject] = [NSObject : AnyObject]()) -> AEXMLElementfunc addAttribute(name: NSObject, value: AnyObject)var xmlString: Stringvar xmlStringCompact: String
addChild - add child to
self.children(then return that child)
addAttribute - add attribute toself.attributes
xmlString - complete hierarchy ofselfandchildrenin XML formatted String
xmlStringCompact - same asxmlStringbut without\nand\tcharacters
class AEXMLDocument: AEXMLElement
let version: Doublelet encoding: Stringvar rootElement: AEXMLElement
version and encoding - used only for the first line in
xmlStringproperty:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
rootElement - returns the first child element of XML document
init(version: Double = 1.0, encoding: String = "utf-8")convenience init?(version: Double = 1.0, encoding: String = "utf-8", xmlData: NSData, inout error: NSError?)
designated initializer has default values for version and encoding properties
convenience initializer also automatically calls readXMLData with givenNSData
func readXMLData(data: NSData) -> NSError?
readXMLData - create instance of
AEXMLParserand start parsing given XML data, returnNSErrorif parsing is not successfull, otherwisenil
- Xcode 6+
- iOS 7.0+ / Mac OS X 10.9+
- AEXML doesn't require any additional libraries for it to work.
Just drag AEXML.swift into your project and start using it.
AEXML is released under the MIT license. See LICENSE for details.