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: 'john.doe@example.com'
};
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.
node-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. Functions are a special case where the return value of the function
itself is used instead of the toString function, if available.
js2xmlparser also supports a number of constructs unique to XML:
- attributes (through a unique attribute property in objects)
- mixed content (through a unique value property in objects)
- multiple elements with the same name (through arrays)
js2xmlparser can also pretty-print the XML it outputs with the option of customizing the indent string.
Installation
The easiest way to install js2xmlparser is to use npm: npm install js2xmlparser
.
Alternatively, you may download the source from GitHub and copy it to a folder named "js2xmlparser" within your
"node_modules" directory.
Usage
The js2xmlparser module contains one function which takes the following arguments:
root
- string containing the root element of the XMLdata
- object or JSON string to be converted to XMLoptions
- object containing options (optional)
declaration
- XML declaration options object (optional)
include
- boolean representing whether an XML declaration is included (optional, default: true)encoding
- string representing the XML encoding for the corresponding attribute in the declaration; a value
of null represents no encoding attribute (optional, default: "UTF-8")
attributeString
- string containing the attribute property (optional, default: "@")valueString
- string containing the value property (optional, default: "#")prettyPrinting
- pretty-printing options object (optional)
enabled
- boolean representing whether pretty-printing is enabled (optional, default: true)indentString
- string representing the indent (optional, default: "\t")
Example
The following example illustrates the basic usage of js2xmlparser:
var js2xmlparser = require("js2xmlparser");
var data = {
"firstName": "John",
"lastName": "Smith"
};
console.log(js2xmlparser("person", data));
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <person>
> <firstName>John</firstName>
> <lastName>Smith</lastName>
> </person>
Here's a more complex example that builds on the first:
var js2xmlparser = require("js2xmlparser");
var data = {
"firstName": "John",
"lastName": "Smith",
"dateOfBirth": new Date(1964, 07, 26),
"address": {
"@": {
"type": "home"
},
"streetAddress": "3212 22nd St",
"city": "Chicago",
"state": "Illinois",
"zip": 10000
},
"phone": [
{
"@": {
"type": "home"
},
"#": "123-555-4567"
},
{
"@": {
"type": "cell"
},
"#": "456-555-7890"
}
],
"email": function() {return "john@smith.com";}
}
console.log(js2xmlparser("person", data));
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <person>
> <firstName>John</firstName>
> <lastName>Smith</lastName>
> <dateOfBirth>Wed Aug 26 1964 00:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight 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">456-555-7890</phone>
> <email>john@smith.com</email>
> </person>