js2xmlparser

What is js2xmlparser?

The js2xmlparser npm package is a library that allows users to convert JavaScript objects into XML. It is particularly useful for creating XML data from JSON format, supporting various customization options to handle complex data structures and attributes.

What are js2xmlparser's main functionalities?

Basic XML Conversion

Converts a simple JavaScript object into XML. The example shows converting a person object with first and last names into an XML string.

const js2xmlparser = require('js2xmlparser');
let person = {
  firstName: 'John',
  lastName: 'Doe'
};
let xml = js2xmlparser.parse('person', person);
console.log(xml);

XML with Attributes

Demonstrates how to include attributes in the XML output. The '@' property is used to specify attributes for the XML element.

const js2xmlparser = require('js2xmlparser');
let person = {
  '@': {
    id: '12345'
  },
  firstName: 'John',
  lastName: 'Doe',
  email: '[e-mail]'
};
let xml = js2xmlparser.parse('person', person);
console.log(xml);

Handling Arrays

Shows how to handle JavaScript arrays to produce nested XML elements. Each object in the 'members' array becomes a separate XML element.

const js2xmlparser = require('js2xmlparser');
let family = {
  lastName: 'Doe',
  members: [
    {
      firstName: 'John',
      relationship: 'Father'
    },
    {
      firstName: 'Jane',
      relationship: 'Mother'
    }
  ]
};
let xml = js2xmlparser.parse('family', family);
console.log(xml);

Other packages similar to js2xmlparser

xml2js

xml2js is another popular npm package that primarily focuses on converting XML data to JavaScript objects but also supports XML building. It differs from js2xmlparser by providing bi-directional conversion (XML to JS and JS to XML) and has a slightly different API for handling options.

xmlbuilder

xmlbuilder is an npm package that provides an easy interface to build XML documents from JavaScript. Unlike js2xmlparser, which is more focused on converting existing JS objects to XML, xmlbuilder allows for more dynamic creation of XML documents through a fluent interface.

README

js2xmlparser

Overview

js2xmlparser is a Node.js module that parses JavaScript objects into XML.

Features

Since XML is a data-interchange format, js2xmlparser is designed primarily for JSON-type objects, arrays and primitive data types, like many of the other JavaScript to XML parsers currently available for Node.js.

However, js2xmlparser is capable of parsing any object, including native JavaScript objects such as Date and RegExp, by taking advantage of each object's toString function or, if this function does not exist, the String constructor.

js2xmlparser also has support for the Map and Set objects introduced in ECMAScript 2015, treating them as JSON-type objects and arrays respectively. Support for Maps is necessary to generate XML with elements in a specific order, since JSON-type objects do not guarantee insertion order. Map keys are always converted to strings using the method described above.

js2xmlparser also supports a number of constructs unique to XML:

• attributes (through an attribute property in objects)
• mixed content (through value properties in objects)
• multiple elements with the same name (through arrays)

js2xmlparser can also pretty-print the XML it outputs.

Installation

The easiest way to install js2xmlparser is using npm:

npm install js2xmlparser

You can also build js2xmlparser from source using npm:

git clone https://github.com/michaelkourlas/node-js2xmlparser.git
npm install
npm run-script build

The build script will build the production variant of js2xmlparser, run all tests, and build the documentation.

You can build the production variant without running tests using the script prod. You can also build the development version using the script dev. The only difference between the two is that the development version includes source maps.

Usage

The documentation for the current version is available here.

You can also build the documentation using npm:

npm run-script docs

Examples

The following example illustrates the basic usage of js2xmlparser:

var js2xmlparser = require("js2xmlparser");

var obj = {
    "@": {
        type: "natural",
    },
    firstName: "John",
    lastName: "Smith",
    dateOfBirth: new Date(1964, 7, 26),
    address: {
        "@": {
            type: "home",
        },
        streetAddress: "3212 22nd St",
        city: "Chicago",
        state: "Illinois",
        zip: 10000,
    },
    phone: [
        {
            "@": {
                type: "home",
            },
            "#": "123-555-4567",
        },
        {
            "@": {
                type: "cell",
            },
            "#": "890-555-1234",
        },
        {
            "@": {
                type: "work",
            },
            "#": "567-555-8901",
        },
    ],
    email: "[e-mail]",
};

console.log(js2xmlparser.parse("person", obj));

This example produces the following XML:

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<person type='natural'>
    <firstName>John</firstName>
    <lastName>Smith</lastName>
    <dateOfBirth>Wed Aug 26 1964 00:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Summer Time)</dateOfBirth>
    <address type='home'>
        <streetAddress>3212 22nd St</streetAddress>
        <city>Chicago</city>
        <state>Illinois</state>
        <zip>10000</zip>
    </address>
    <phone type='home'>123-555-4567</phone>
    <phone type='cell'>890-555-1234</phone>
    <phone type='work'>567-555-8901</phone>
    <email>[e-mail]</email>
</person>

Additional examples can be found in the examples directory.

Tests

js2xmlparser includes a set of tests to verify core functionality. You can run the tests using npm:

npm run-script test-prod

The only difference between the test-prod and test-dev scripts is that the development version includes source maps.

License

js2xmlparser is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Changelog

5.0.0

• Allow typeHandlers to be used with bare text and attribute values
• Clarify that typeHandlers cannot be used with aliases in documentation