Converts a Python dictionary or other native data type into a valid XML string.
Supports item (int
, float
, long
, decimal.Decimal
, bool
, str
, unicode
, datetime
, none
and other number-like objects) and collection (list
, set
, tuple
and dict
, as well as iterable and dict-like objects) data types, with arbitrary nesting for the collections. Items with a datetime
type are converted to ISO format strings. Items with a none
type become empty XML elements.
The root object passed into the dicttoxml
method can be any of the supported data types.
To satisfy XML syntax, the method prepends an <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
element and wraps the output in a <root> ... </root>
element. However, this can be disabled to create XML snippets. Alternately, a custom root element can be specified by passing in the optional custom_root=foobar
argument.
For lists of items, if each item is also a collection data type (lists
, dict
), the elements of that item are wrapped in a generic <item> ... </item>
element.
Each element includes an optional type
attribute with the data type. By default, the type attribute it included but it can be excluded by passing an optional attr_type=False
argument when calling the dicttoxml
method.
Note: datetime
data types are converted into ISO format strings, and unicode
and datetime
data types get a str
attribute.
Python -> XML
integer int
long long
float float
Decimal number
string str
unicode str
datetime str
None null
boolean bool
list list
set list
tuple list
dict dict
Elements with an unsupported data type raise a TypeError exception.
If an element name is invalid XML, it is rendered with the name "key" and the invalid name is included as a name
attribute. E.g. { "^.{0,256}$": "foo" }
would be rendered <key name="^.{0,256}$">foo</key>
. An exception is element names with spaces, which are converted to underscores.
This module should work in Python 2.6+ and Python 3.
The dicttoxml module is published on the Python Package Index, so you can install it using pip
or easy_install
.
pip install dicttoxml
Or:
easy_install dicttoxml
Alternately, you can download the tarballed installer - dicttoxml-[VERSION].tar.gz
- for this package from the dist directory on github and uncompress it. Then, from a terminal or command window, navigate into the unzipped folder and type the command:
python setup.py install
That should be all you need to do.
Once installed, import the library into your script and convert a dict into xml by running the dicttoxml
function:
>>> import dicttoxml
>>> xml = dicttoxml.dicttoxml(some_dict)
Alternately, you can import the dicttoxml()
function from the library.
>>> from dicttoxml import dicttoxml
>>> xml = dicttoxml(some_dict)
That's it!
Let's say you want to fetch a JSON object from a URL and convert it into XML. Here's how you can do that:
>>> import json
>>> import urllib
>>> import dicttoxml
>>> page = urllib.urlopen('http://quandyfactory.com/api/example')
>>> content = page.read()
>>> obj = json.loads(content)
>>> print(obj)
{u'mylist': [u'foo', u'bar', u'baz'], u'mydict': {u'foo': u'bar', u'baz': 1}, u'ok': True}
>>> xml = dicttoxml.dicttoxml(obj)
>>> print(xml)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><root><mylist><item type="str">foo</item><item type="str">bar</item><item type="str">baz</item></mylist><mydict><foo type="str">bar</foo><baz type="int">1</baz></mydict><ok type="bool">true</ok></root>
It's that simple.
By default, dicttoxml includes a type attribute for each element. Starting in version 1.4, you can turn this off by passing an optional attr_type=False
argument to the dicttoxml
method.
Using our example:
>>> xml = dicttoxml.dicttoxml(obj, attr_type=False)
>>> print(xml)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><root><mydict><foo>bar</foo><baz>1</baz></mydict><mylist><item>foo</item><item>bar</item><item>baz</item></mylist><ok>true</ok></root>
As you can see, the only difference is that the type attributes are now absent.
By default, dicttoxml wraps all the elements in a <root> ... </root>
element. Starting in version 1.5, you can change the name of the root element to something else by passing an optional custom_root=some_custom_root
argument to the dicttoxml
method.
Using our example:
>>> xml = dicttoxml.dicttoxml(obj, custom_root=some_custom_root)
>>> print(xml)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><some_custom_root><mydict><foo>bar</foo><baz>1</baz></mydict><mylist><item>foo</item><item>bar</item><item>baz</item></mylist><ok>true</ok></some_custom_root>
As you can see, the name of the root element has changed to some_custom_root
.
You can also create an XML snippet for inclusion into another XML document, rather than a full XML document itself.
Continuing with the example from above:
>>> xml_snippet = dicttoxml.dicttoxml(obj, root=False)
>>> print(xml_snippet)
<mylist><item type="str">foo</item><item type="str">bar</item><item type="str">baz</item></mylist><mydict><foo type="str">bar</foo><baz type="int">1</baz></mydict><ok type="bool">true</ok>
With the optional root
argument set to False
, the method converts the dict into XML without including an <?xml>
prolog or a <root>
element to enclose all the other elements.
As they say, Python comes with batteries included. You can easily syntax-check and pretty-print your XML using Python's xml.dom.minidom
module.
Again, continuing with our example:
>>> from xml.dom.minidom import parseString
>>> dom = parseString(xml)
>>> print(dom.toprettyxml())
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<root>
<mylist type="list">
<item type="str">foo</item>
<item type="str">bar</item>
<item type="str">baz</item>
</mylist>
<mydict type="dict">
<foo type="str">bar</foo>
<baz type="int">1</baz>
</mydict>
<ok type="bool">true</ok>
</root>
This makes the XML easier to read. If it is not well-formed, the xml parser will raise an exception.
Starting in version 1.1, you can set an optional ids
parameter so that dicttoxml gives each element a unique id
attribute.
With the ids
flag on, the function generates a unique randomly-generated ID for each element based on the parent element in the form parent_unique
. For list items, the id is in the form parent_unique_index
.
Continuing with our example:
>>> xml_with_ids = dicttoxml.dicttoxml(obj, ids=True)
>>> print(parseString(xml_with_ids).toprettyxml())
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<root>
<mylist id="root_160980" type="list">
<item id="mylist_609405_1" type="str">foo</item>
<item id="mylist_609405_2" type="str">bar</item>
<item id="mylist_609405_3" type="str">baz</item>
</mylist>
<mydict id="root_140407" type="dict">
<foo id="mydict_260437" type="str">bar</foo>
<baz id="mydict_111194" type="int">1</baz>
</mydict>
<ok id="root_612831" type="bool">true</ok>
</root>
Note that the default XML output remains the same as previous, so as not to break compatibility for existing uses.
Starting in version 1.3, dicttoxml accepts dict-like objects that are derived from the dict
base class and treats them like dicts. For example:
>>> import collections
>>> dictlike = collections.OrderedDict({'foo': 1, 'bar': 2, 'baz': 3})
>>> xml = dicttoxml.dicttoxml(dictlike)
>>> print(xml)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><root><baz type="int">3</baz><foo type="int">1</foo><bar type="int">2</bar></root>
Also starting in version 1.3, dicttoxml accepts iterable objects and treats them like lists. For example:
>>> myiterator = xrange(1,11)
>>> xml = dicttoxml.dicttoxml(myiterator)
>>> print(xml)
'<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><root><item type="int">1</item><item type="int">2</item><item type="int">3</item><item type="int">4</item><item type="int">5</item><item type="int">6</item><item type="int">7</item><item type="int">8</item><item type="int">9</item><item type="int">10</item></root>'
As always, this remains compatible with arbitrary nesting of objects and types.
You can also enable debugging information.
>>> import dicttoxml
>>> dicttoxml.set_debug()
Debug mode is on. Events are logged at: dicttoxml.log
>>> xml = dicttoxml.dicttoxml(some_dict)
By default, debugging information is logged to dicttoxml.log
, but you can change this:
>>> dicttoxml.set_debug(filename='some_other_filename.log')
Debug mode is on. Events are logged at: some_other_filename.log
To turn debug mode off, just call set_debug
with an argument of False
:
>>> dicttoxml.set_debug(False)
Debug mode is off.
If you encounter any errors in the code, please file an issue on github: https://github.com/quandyfactory/dicttoxml/issues.
- Author: Ryan McGreal
- Email: [email protected]
- Repository: http://github.com/quandyfactory/dicttoxml
- Version: 1.6.6
- Release Date: 2015-04-09
- Release Date: 2015-04-09
- Changes:
- PyPi does not want to upload version 1.6.5. It's returning an
Upload failed (500): Internal Server Error
message when I try to upload the code. I'm incrementing the version by one and reinstalling it to see if that fixes the issue.
- PyPi does not want to upload version 1.6.5. It's returning an
- Release Date: 2015-04-09
- Changes:
- Fixed issue #37, elements with boolean values were getting a "number" type attribute. The issue was that
isinstance(True, numbers.Number)
returnsTrue
. I modified theget_xml_type()
function to test forboolean
before testing fornumbers.Number
. Thanks to badsequel for identifying and reporting the issue.
- Fixed issue #37, elements with boolean values were getting a "number" type attribute. The issue was that
- Release Date: 2015-03-11
- Changes:
- Release Date: 2015-03-05
- Changes:
- Updated README.markdown to reflect changes made in v. 1.6.2.
- Release Date: 2015-03-05
- Changes:
- Fixed issue #35, dicttoxml fails to identify a
decimal.Decimal
as a number. This is done by replacingtype(val).__name__ in ('int', 'long')
with the more genericisinstance(val, number.Number)
. Thanks to jmagnusson for finding and fixing the error.
- Fixed issue #35, dicttoxml fails to identify a
- Release Date: 2015-03-05
- Changes:
- Merged pull request #34, fix misleading TypeError in
convert_dict()
. Thanks to jmagnusson for finding and fixing the error.
- Merged pull request #34, fix misleading TypeError in
- Release Date: 2015-02-23
- Changes:
- Fixed issue #32, duplication in test for list-like data types.
- Release Date: 2015-02-23
- Changes:
- Merged pull request #33 to replace invocations of
logging
withLOG
. Thanks to mfriedenhagen for identifying the issue with the logger, and to seyhuns for supplying a pull request that could be merged automatically.
- Merged pull request #33 to replace invocations of
- Release Date: 2015-01-06
- Changes:
- Fixed issue #30 via pull request #31. Thanks to isaac-councill for identifying the issue and providing a fix.
- Release Date: 2014-12-09
- Changes:
- Release Date: 2014-08-18
- Changes:
- Release Date: 2014-06-16
- Changes:
- Fixed issue #21. Thanks to lichenbo for identifying the issue and providing a fix.
- Abstracted setting XML type attribute into a function,
get_xml_type()
. - Standardized variable names inside functions (e.g.
k
->key
,v
->val
). - Cleaned up README so it works as both Markdown (for github) and ReStructuredText (for PyPi)
- Release Date: 2014-06-03
- Changes:
- Release Date: 2014-06-08
- Changes:
- Minor updates to README.markdown
- Release Date: 2014-06-03
- Changes:
- Minor updates to README.markdown
- Release Date: 2014-06-03
- Changes:
- Minor updates to README.markdown
- Release Date: 2014-06-03
- Changes:
- Added ability to set a custom root element, as per issue #18 by murielsilveira.
- Release Date: 2014-06-03
- Changes:
- Element type attribute made optional via pull request from [gauravub](https://github.com/gauravub] to resolve issue #17.
- Release Date: 2014-04-21
- Changes:
- Updated
MANIFEST.in
andsetup.py
so the licence and readme are properly included in the distribution.
- Updated
- Release Date: 2014-04-21
- Changes:
- Added
MANIFEST.in
to include theLICENCE.txt
andREADME.markdown
files in the distribution, as per issue #15.
- Added
- Release Date: 2014-04-14
- Changes:
dicttoxml()
accepts[None]
as a parameter and returns a valid XML object, as per issue #13.
- Release Date: 2014-04-14
- Changes:
dicttoxml()
now acceptsNone
as a parameter and returns a valid XML object, as per issue #13.
- Release Date: 2014-04-14
- Changes:
- Automatically converts spaces in key names to underscores, as per issue #12.
- Release Date: 2014-04-14
- Changes:
- Added convert_none() function to convert a null value into XML
- Added
key_is_valid_xml()
function to test if a key is valid XML - Updated
convert_kv()
,convert_bool()
andconvert_none()
functions to test whether the key is a valid XML name and, if it is not, to render it as<key name="{invalidname}">value</key>
. This addresses issue 10.
- Release Date: 2013-07-12
- Changes:
- Updated README to note support for dict-like and iterable objects.
- Release Date: 2013-07-12
- Changes:
- Release Date: 2013-07-11
- Changes:
- Fixed typo in convert_list() exception raise as per issue 8.
- Release Date: 2013-05-06
- Changes:
- Renamed github repo from dict2xml to dicttoxml to match PyPI name.
- Release Date: 2013-05-06
- Changes:
- Fixed README.markdown
- Release Date: 2013-05-06
- Changes:
- Added an optional
ids
argument to give each element a unique, randomly generated id attribute. - All elements now inlcude a
type
attribute. - Updated readme with more examples and Python 3 compatible syntax.
- Thanks to cpetz for suggesting this feature.
- Added an optional
- Release Date: 2013-03-04
- Changes:
- Replaced debug function with
logging
module. - Converted code to work in Python 2.6+ and Python 3.
- Fixed unresolved isoformat reference in
convert_list
. - Bug thanks to regisd for forking code and making several important fixes!
- Replaced debug function with
- Release Date: 2013-03-03
- Changes:
- Merged pull request from regisd to fix issue #5, in which special XML characters were not being escaped properly.
- Release Date: 2013-02-27
- Changes:
- Added support for tuples.
- Release Date: 2013-02-23
- Changes:
- Changed name to dicttoxml and published to the Python Package Index (PyPI).
- Release Date: 2012-09-12
- Changes:
- Fixed issue #4 - thanks to PaulMdx for finding it and suggesting a fix.
- Release Date: 2012-07-13
- Changes:
- Merged pull request from 0902horn on github to escape special XML characters.
- Release Date: 2012-02-28
- Changes:
- Added support for datetime objects (converts them into ISO format strings) and sets (converts them into lists).
- Fixed bug 2 by raising an exception on unsupported data types.
- Release Date: 2012-01-26
- Changes:
- Added optional
root
argument (defaultTrue
) on whether to wrap the generated XML in an XML declaration and a root element. - Added ability to convert a root object of other data types - int, float, str, unicode, list - as well as dict.
- Corrected
license
attribute insetup.py
. - Renamed
notify()
function todebug_notify()
and made it more comprehensive.
- Added optional
- Release Date: 2012-01-24
- Changes:
- Fixed inconsistent str/string attributes.
- Release Date: 2012-01-24
- Changes:
- Fixed bug in list items.
- Added element attribute with data type.
- Release Date: 2012-01-24
- Changes:
- First commit.
Copyright 2012 by Ryan McGreal.
Released under the GNU General Public Licence, Version 2:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html