Parse XML item "Category" into an NSArray with NSDictionary

Question

Question:

The generated XML file from an .XSD template produces the output pasted below. Since category's keys are image, my standard way of parsing the image items wont work on category. I would like to place the category name="Category #" into an array, How can I make an array from the category fields.

What I need:

What I want is an array of dictionaries. Each position contains a dictionary representing one category, and each dictionary contains images for that category.

Array: @"Category 1",@"Category 2",@"Category 3";

For each Array, a Dictionary with: <image> and everything in between </image>

Basically, I need to create a plist like the following image, from the XML data source

enter image description here

XML Output:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<app xmlns="http://www.wrightscs.com/_xml_.xsd" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.wrightscs.com/_xml_.xsd" name="Testing" unlock_product_id="com.wrightscs.all">
    <bannerImg>http://www.wrightscs.com</bannerImg> 
    <category name="Category 1" icon="http://www.wrightscs.com">
        <image>
                <title>title</title>
                <thumbUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</thumbUrl>
                <sampleUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</sampleUrl>
                <imageUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</imageUrl>
                <description>These items / keys not an issue.</description>
                <infoUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</infoUrl>
                <license>http://www.wrightscs.com</license>
                <licenseUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</licenseUrl>
        </image>
    </category>
    <category name="Category 2" icon="http://www.wrightscs.com">
        <image>
                <title>title</title>
                <thumbUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</thumbUrl>
                <sampleUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</sampleUrl>
                <imageUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</imageUrl>
                <description>These items / keys not an issue.</description>
                <infoUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</infoUrl>
                <license>http://www.wrightscs.com</license>
                <licenseUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</licenseUrl>
        </image>
    </category> 
    <category name="Category 3" icon="http://www.wrightscs.com">
        <image>
                <title>title</title>
                <thumbUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</thumbUrl>
                <sampleUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</sampleUrl>
                <imageUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</imageUrl>
                <description>These items / keys not an issue.</description>
                <infoUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</infoUrl>
                <license>http://www.wrightscs.com</license>
                <licenseUrl>http://www.wrightscs.com</licenseUrl>
        </image>
    </category>
</app>

Note: none of the other items / keys are an issue, I am only interested in making category into an array. The URL's in this example are also replaced from the original content.

Your title indicates your question has been answered, what's the solution? — Nick Weaver, Apr 30 '11 at 22:47
@Nick http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5797736/parse-xml-item-category-into-an-nsarray-with-nsdictionary-solved/5845371#5845371 — WrightsCS, Apr 30 '11 at 23:45

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 27 '11 at 01:32

1

take a look to xpath and this: http://blog.objectgraph.com/index.php/2010/02/24/parsing-html-iphone-development/

in this case the xpath you need is

//category/@name

this with the library mentioned above should return the categories names in a array.

for more xpath syntax, check this: http://www.w3schools.com/xpath/default.asp

answered Apr 27 '11 at 01:32

Diego Torres

5,308
5
25
29

1

Don't like hpple too much, but I revised my question. – WrightsCS Apr 27 '11 at 02:51

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 30 '11 at 23:44

The Solution:

#pragma mark -
#pragma mark Delegate Received

-(void)parsingComplete:(XMLDataSource*)theParser {
    NSArray *categoryArray = [theParser getCategories];
    [categoryArray writeToFile:PLIST atomically:YES];
}
- (void)receivedItems:(NSArray *)theItems {
    NSMutableArray *dataItems = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init];
    [dataItems addObjectsFromArray:[NSArray arrayWithContentsOfFile:PLIST]];

    NSDictionary * dataItem = [dataItems objectAtIndex:categoryIndex];
    data_ =  [dataItem objectForKey:@"images"];

    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] postNotificationName:@"updateThumbs" object:nil];
}


#pragma mark -
#pragma mark Parsing Delegates

- (void)parse:(NSData *)data withDelegate:(id)sender onComplete:(SEL)callback 
{
    parentDelegate = sender;
    onCompleteCallback = callback;
    loading = YES;

    NSXMLParser *parser = [[NSXMLParser alloc] initWithData:data];
    [parser setDelegate:self];
    [parser setShouldProcessNamespaces:NO];
    [parser setShouldReportNamespacePrefixes:NO];
    [parser setShouldResolveExternalEntities:NO];
    [parser parse];
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser parseErrorOccurred:(NSError *)parseError {
    parsed = NO;
    loading = NO;
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didStartElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI
qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributeDict 
{
    NSString *element = [elementName stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet]];
    currentElement = element;
    if ([[currentElement lowercaseString] isEqual:@"image"]) {
        inImage = YES;
        itemsDictionary = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
        [itemsDictionary addEntriesFromDictionary:attributeDict];
    }

    if ([[currentElement lowercaseString] isEqual:@"category"]) {
        inCategory = YES;
        categoryDictionary = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
        [categoryDictionary addEntriesFromDictionary:attributeDict];
    }
}

- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didEndElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI
qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName 
{
    NSString *element = [elementName stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet]];
    if ([[element lowercaseString] isEqual:@"image"]) {
        inImage = NO;
        [items addObject:[itemsDictionary copy]];
    }

    if ([[element lowercaseString] isEqual:@"category"]) {
        inCategory = NO;
        [categoryDictionary setObject:[items copy] forKey:@"images"];
        [items removeAllObjects];
        [categories addObject:[categoryDictionary copy]];
    }
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser foundCharacters:(NSString *)string 
{
    NSString *stringValue = [string stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet]];
    NSString *element = [currentElement stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet]];

    /*  skip over blank elements.  */
    if (stringValue == nil || [stringValue isEqual:@""]) {
        return;
    }

    if (element != nil && [element length] > 0) {
        if (inImage) {
            if ([itemsDictionary objectForKey:element] != nil) {
                [itemsDictionary setObject:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@", [itemsDictionary objectForKey:element], stringValue]
                                    forKey:element];
            } else {
                [itemsDictionary setObject:stringValue forKey:element];
            }
        } else if ((!inImage) && (inCategory)) {
            if ([categoryDictionary objectForKey:element] != nil) {
                [categoryDictionary setObject:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@%@", [categoryDictionary objectForKey:element], stringValue]
                                       forKey:element];
            } else {
                [categoryDictionary setObject:stringValue forKey:element];
            }
        } else {
            if ([root objectForKey:element] != nil) {
                [root setObject:stringValue forKey:element];
            }
        }
    }
}
- (void)parserDidStartDocument:(NSXMLParser *)parser {
    NSError * err;
    if(![[NSFileManager defaultManager] fileExistsAtPath:PLIST]) {
        [[NSFileManager defaultManager] removeItemAtPath:PLIST error:&err];
    }
}
- (void)parserDidEndDocument:(NSXMLParser *)parser 
{
    parsed = YES;
    loading = NO;

    if ([parentDelegate respondsToSelector:onCompleteCallback]) {
        [parentDelegate performSelector:onCompleteCallback withObject:self];
    }

    if ([self respondsToSelector:@selector(receivedItems:)])
        [self receivedItems:items];
    else
        SHOW_ALERT(@"parserDidEndDocument:", @"receivedItems: not responding!", nil, @"Okay", nil)
}


#pragma mark -
#pragma mark Setters / Getters

- (id)delegate {
    return self;
}
- (void)setDelegate:(id)new_delegate {
    _delegate = self;
}
- (BOOL)isSuccessful {
    return success;
}
- (BOOL)isLoading {
    return loading;
}
- (BOOL)isParsed {
    return parsed;
}
- (NSArray *)getCategories {
    return categories;
}
- (NSDictionary *)getRoot {
    return root;
}
- (void)dealloc {
    [super dealloc];
}

Parse XML item "Category" into an NSArray with NSDictionary

Question:

What I need:

XML Output:

2 Answers2

The Solution:

Linked