XML Parsing Structure

Archived
1

So the documentation for the roXMLElement object and parsing is fairly quiet and minimal on this issue.

http://sdkdocs.roku.com/display/sdkdoc/roXMLElement

Given an example XML file


<?xml .... ?>
<feed>
    <foo att="something">
        <bar>text</bar>
        <test>text</test>
    </foo>
    <foo att="something2">
        <bar>text2</bar>
        <test>text2</test>
    </foo>
</feed>

What does the structure look like when parsed through the roXMLElement command?


rsp = CreateObject("roXMLElement")
rsp.Parse(html)

I know you can call it like “rsp.foo[1]” and "rsp.foo[1].bar, but how do you extend that to attributes?

2

“DukeOfMarshall” wrote:
I know you can call it like “rsp.foo[1]” and "rsp.foo[1].bar, but how do you extend that to attributes?
Attributes are accessed either via the @ shortcut or the GetAttributes() method. So, given you example above, you can get to “att” on the first “foo” element with “rsp.foo[0]@att”.

3

Thanks for the help. I’m calling it like this “rsp.foo[0]@att.gettext()”, but the debugger reports


Member function not found in BrightScript Component or interface

Do I have something else incorrect here?

4

Never mind. I changed it to “rsp.foo[0]@att.tostr()” and it’s working

5

So here’s a follow up. Why does this not work when simply printing to the debugger


print "Image => "+rsp.foo[0]@att.gettext()

But this DOES work when printing to debugger


print "Image => "+rsp.foo[0]@att.tostr()

But neither work when setting the attribute


o.SDPosterUrl = rsp.foo[0]@att.gettext()
o.HDPosterUrl = rsp.foo[0]@att.tostr()

Instead I have to do this


hd_image = rsp.foo[0]@att
o.HDPosterUrl = hd_image

What in the world?

6

“DukeOfMarshall” wrote:
So here’s a follow up. Why does this not work when simply printing to the debugger


print "Image => "+rsp.foo[0]@att.gettext()

But this DOES work when printing to debugger


print "Image => "+rsp.foo[0]@att.tostr()

But neither work when setting the attribute


o.SDPosterUrl = rsp.foo[0]@att.gettext()
o.HDPosterUrl = rsp.foo[0]@att.tostr()

Instead I have to do this


hd_image = rsp.foo[0]@att
o.HDPosterUrl = hd_image

What in the world?
The @ shortcut returns a string, not an roXmlElement. Calling .toStr() is redundant in this case. This should work just fine:

o.SDPosterUrl = rsp.foo[0]@att
o.HDPosterUrl = rsp.foo[0]@att
7

If you prefer working with nested arrays and dictionaries instead, you can try this converter viewtopic.php?f=34&t=75809#p462597 - on your example it will return

[ 
  { },
  { att: "something", bar: "text", test: "text"  },
  { att: "something2", bar: "text2", test: "text2" }
]

and then can access as

o.HDPosterUrl = rsp[1].att
8

Native is always better and it’s faster not using plugins. But thanks for the information anyways.