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. 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 - the XML root element's name (string, mandatory)
• data - the data to be converted to XML; while the data object can contain arrays, it cannot itself be an array (object or JSON string, mandatory)
• options - module options (object, optional)
  • declaration - XML declaration options (object, optional)
    • include - specifies whether an XML declaration should be included (boolean, optional, default: true)
    • encoding - value of XML encoding attribute in declaration; a value of null represents no encoding attribute (string, optional, default: "UTF-8")
  • attributeString - the name of the property representing an element's attributes; note that any property with a name equal to the attribute string is ignored except in the context of XML attributes (string, optional, default: "@")
  • valueString - the name of the property representing an element's value; note that any property with a name equal to the value string is ignored except in the context of supplying a value for a tag containing attributes (string, optional, default: "#")
  • aliasString - the name of the property representing an element's alias; the name of the containing element will be replaced with the alias (string, optional, default: "=")
  • prettyPrinting - pretty-printing options (object, optional)
    • enabled - specifies whether pretty-printing is enabled (boolean, optional, default: true)
    • indentString - indent string (string, optional, default: "\t")
  • convertMap - maps object types (as given by the Object.prototype.toString.call method) to functions to convert those objects to a particular string representation; * can be used as a wildcard for all types of objects (object, optional, default: {})
  • useCDATA - specifies whether strings should be enclosed in CDATA tags; otherwise, illegal XML characters will be escaped (boolean, optional, default: false)

Examples

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>

This is a more complex example that builds on the first:

var js2xmlparser = require("js2xmlparser");

var data = {
    "@": {
      "type": "individual"
    },
    "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": "work"
            },
            "#": "123-555-4567",
            "=": "telephone"
        },
        {
            "@": {
                "type": "cell"
            },
            "#": "456-555-7890"
        }
    ],
    "email": function() {return "[e-mail]";},
    "notes": "John's profile is not complete."
};

console.log(js2xmlparser("person", data));

> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <person type="individual">
>     <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>
>     <telephone type="work">123-555-4567</telephone>
>     <phone type="cell">456-555-7890</phone>
>     <email>[e-mail]</email>
>     <notes>John&apos;s profile is not complete.</notes>
> </person>

This example uses the alias string feature:

var js2xmlparser = require("js2xmlparser");

var data = {
    "phone": [
        {
            "@": {
                "type": "home"
            },
            "#": "123-555-4567"
        },
        {
            "@": {
                "type": "work"
            },
            "#": "123-555-4567",
            "=": "telephone"
        },
        {
            "@": {
                "type": "cell"
            },
            "#": "456-555-7890"
        }
    ]
};

console.log(js2xmlparser("person", data));

> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <person>
> 	<phone type="home">123-555-4567</phone>
> 	<telephone type="work">123-555-4567</telephone>
> 	<phone type="cell">456-555-7890</phone>
> </person>

The following an example that uses the convert map feature:

var js2xmlparser = require("js2xmlparser");

var data = {
    "email": function() {return "[e-mail]";},
    "dateOfBirth": new Date(1964, 7, 26)
}

var options = {
    convertMap: {
        "[object Date]": function(date) {
            return date.toISOString();
        },
        "[object Function]": function(func) {
            return func.toString();
        }
    }
};

console.log(js2xmlparser("person", data, options));

> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <person>
>     <email>function () {return &quot;[e-mail]&quot;;}</email>
>     <dateOfBirth>1964-08-26T04:00:00.000Z</dateOfBirth>
> </person>

Here's an example that wraps strings in CDATA tags instead of escaping invalid characters:

var js2xmlparser = require("js2xmlparser");

var data = {
    "notes": {
        "@": {
            "type": "status"
        },
        "#": "John's profile is not complete."
    }
};

var options = {
    useCDATA: true
};

console.log(js2xmlparser("person", data, options));

> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <person>
>     <notes type="status"><![CDATA[John's profile is not complete.]]></notes>
> </person>

Tests

js2xmlparser comes with a set of tests that evaluate and verify the package's core functionality. To run the tests:

• Install the test dependencies with npm install.
• Run the tests with mocha.

License

js2xmlparser is licensed under the MIT license. Please see the LICENSE.md file for more information.

Changelog

0.1.7

• Added .gitattributes to .gitignore file
• Minor tweaks to examples