XMLGen

README

Purpose

XMLGen is a tool for generating native Golang types from XML. This automates what is otherwise a very tedious and error prone task when working with XML.

XMLGen is based on and using code from JSONGen.

Usage

$ xmlgen -h
Usage of xmlgen:
  -dump="NUL": Dump tree structure to file.
  -normalize=true: Squash arrays of struct and determine primitive array type.
  -title=true: Convert identifiers to title case, treating '_' and '-' as word boundaries.

Reading from stdin can be done as follows:

$ cat test.xml | xmlgen

Or a filename can be passed:

$ xmlgen test.xml

Using test.xml as input the example will produce:

➜ xmlgen git:(master) ✗ curl http://www.ibiblio.org/xml/examples/shakespeare/all_well.xml | xmlgen
type _ struct {
        PLAY struct {
                TITLE string `xml:"TITLE"`
                FM    struct {
                        P []string `xml:"P"`
                } `xml:"FM"`
                PERSONAE struct {
                        TITLE   string   `xml:"TITLE"`
                        PERSONA []string `xml:"PERSONA"`
                        PGROUP  struct {
                                PERSONA  []string `xml:"PERSONA"`
                                GRPDESCR string   `xml:"GRPDESCR"`
                        } `xml:"PGROUP"`
                        PERSONA []string `xml:"PERSONA"`
                        PGROUP  struct {
                                PERSONA  []string `xml:"PERSONA"`
                                GRPDESCR string   `xml:"GRPDESCR"`
                        } `xml:"PGROUP"`
                        PERSONA string `xml:"PERSONA"`
                } `xml:"PERSONAE"`
                SCNDESCR string `xml:"SCNDESCR"`
                PLAYSUBT string `xml:"PLAYSUBT"`
                ACT      []struct {
                        TITLE string `xml:"TITLE"`
                        SCENE []struct {
                                TITLE    string `xml:"TITLE"`
                                STAGEDIR string `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                SPEECH   []struct {
                                        SPEAKER  string `xml:"SPEAKER"`
                                        LINE     string `xml:"LINE"`
                                        STAGEDIR string `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                } `xml:"SPEECH"`
                                STAGEDIR string `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                SPEECH   []struct {
                                        SPEAKER  string   `xml:"SPEAKER"`
                                        LINE     []string `xml:"LINE"`
                                        STAGEDIR string   `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                } `xml:"SPEECH"`
                                STAGEDIR string `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                SPEECH   []struct {
                                        SPEAKER  string   `xml:"SPEAKER"`
                                        LINE     []string `xml:"LINE"`
                                        STAGEDIR []string `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                        LINE     []string `xml:"LINE"`
                                } `xml:"SPEECH"`
                                STAGEDIR string `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                SPEECH   struct {
                                        SPEAKER  string `xml:"SPEAKER"`
                                        LINE     string `xml:"LINE"`
                                        STAGEDIR string `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                } `xml:"SPEECH"`
                                STAGEDIR string `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                SPEECH   []struct {
                                        SPEAKER  string   `xml:"SPEAKER"`
                                        LINE     []string `xml:"LINE"`
                                        STAGEDIR string   `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                } `xml:"SPEECH"`
                                STAGEDIR string `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                SPEECH   struct {
                                        SPEAKER  string   `xml:"SPEAKER"`
                                        LINE     []string `xml:"LINE"`
                                        STAGEDIR string   `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                                } `xml:"SPEECH"`
                                STAGEDIR string `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                        } `xml:"SCENE"`
                        EPILOGUE struct {
                                TITLE  string `xml:"TITLE"`
                                SPEECH struct {
                                        SPEAKER string   `xml:"SPEAKER"`
                                        LINE    []string `xml:"LINE"`
                                } `xml:"SPEECH"`
                                STAGEDIR string `xml:"STAGEDIR"`
                        } `xml:"EPILOGUE"`
                } `xml:"ACT"`
        } `xml:"PLAY"`
}

Parsing

Field Names

• Field names are sanitized and written as exported fields of the generated type.
• If sanitizing produces an empty string the identifier is changed to _, this will need to be set by hand in order to properly decode the type.
• Spaces and - are converted to _.
• Field names are converted to title case treating _ and - as word boundaries along with spaces. This can be disabled using -title=false.

Types

Primitive

• Primitive types are parsed and stored as-is.
• Valid types are currently only strings

Object

• Object types are treated as structs.
• Fields of structures are sorted lexicographically by sanitized field name.

Lists

• A homogeneous list of recurring elements with the same name the primitive type e.g.: []string
• Lists with object elements are treated as a list of structs.
  • Fields of each element are "squashed" into a single struct. The result is an array of a struct containing all encountered fields.

Examples of all of the above can be found in test.xml.

Caveats

• Currently sibling field names are not guaranteed to be unique.

License

The source of this project is licensed under GNU GPL v3.0, according to http://choosealicense.com/licenses/gpl-3.0/:

Required:

• Disclose Source: Source code must be made available when distributing the software. In the case of LGPL, the source for the library (and not the entire program) must be made available.
• License and copyright notice: Include a copy of the license and copyright notice with the code.
• State Changes: Indicate significant changes made to the code.

Permitted:

• Commercial Use: This software and derivatives may be used for commercial purposes.
• Distribution: You may distribute this software.
• Modification: This software may be modified.
• Patent Grant: This license provides an express grant of patent rights from the contributor to the recipient.
• Private Use: You may use and modify the software without distributing it.

Forbidden:

• Hold Liable: Software is provided without warranty and the software author/license owner cannot be held liable for damages.
• Sublicensing: You may not grant a sublicense to modify and distribute this software to third parties not included in the license.

Feedback

If you find a case that produces incorrect results or you have a feature suggestion, let me know: submit an issue.

Creators

Remco Verhoef

• https://twitter.com/remco_verhoef
• https://twitter.com/dutchcoders

Douglas Hall is the creator of JSONGen. XMLGen is based and using code from JSONGen.