mdabbagh88 / aexml

Simple and lightweight XML parser for iOS and OSX written in Swift

AEXML

Simple and lightweight XML parser written in Swift

This is not robust full featured XML parser (still), but rather simple,
and very easy to use utility for casual XML handling (it just works).

AEXML is a minion which consists of these classes:

Class	Description
AEXMLElement	Base class
AEXMLDocument	Inherited from AEXMLElement with a few addons
AEXMLParser	Simple (private) wrapper around NSXMLParser

Index

• Features
• Example
  • Read XML
  • Write XML
• Requirements
• Installation
• License

Features

• Read XML data
• Write XML string
• Covered with unit tests
• Covered with docs
• Swift 2.2 ready

Example

Read XML

Let's say this is some XML string you picked up somewhere and made a variable data: NSData from that.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<animals>
    <cats>
        <cat breed="Siberian" color="lightgray">Tinna</cat>
        <cat breed="Domestic" color="darkgray">Rose</cat>
        <cat breed="Domestic" color="yellow">Caesar</cat>
        <cat></cat>
    </cats>
    <dogs>
        <dog breed="Bull Terrier" color="white">Villy</dog>
        <dog breed="Bull Terrier" color="white">Spot</dog>
        <dog breed="Golden Retriever" color="yellow">Betty</dog>
        <dog breed="Miniature Schnauzer" color="black">Kika</dog>
    </dogs>
</animals>

This is how you can use AEXML for working with this data:
(for even more examples, look at the unit tests code included in project)

guard let
    xmlPath = NSBundle.mainBundle().pathForResource("example", ofType: "xml"),
    data = NSData(contentsOfFile: xmlPath)
else { return }

do {
    let xmlDoc = try AEXMLDocument(xmlData: data)

    // prints the same XML structure as original
    print(xmlDoc.xmlString)

    // prints cats, dogs
    for child in xmlDoc.root.children {
        print(child.name)
    }

    // prints Optional("Tinna") (first element)
    print(xmlDoc.root["cats"]["cat"].value)

    // prints Tinna (first element)
    print(xmlDoc.root["cats"]["cat"].stringValue)

    // prints Optional("Kika") (last element)
    print(xmlDoc.root["dogs"]["dog"].last?.value)

    // prints Betty (3rd element)
    print(xmlDoc.root["dogs"].children[2].stringValue)

    // prints Tinna, Rose, Caesar
    if let cats = xmlDoc.root["cats"]["cat"].all {
        for cat in cats {
            if let name = cat.value {
                print(name)
            }
        }
    }

    // prints Villy, Spot
    for dog in xmlDoc.root["dogs"]["dog"].all! {
        if let color = dog.attributes["color"] {
            if color == "white" {
                print(dog.stringValue)
            }
        }
    }

    // prints Tinna
    if let cats = xmlDoc.root["cats"]["cat"].allWithValue("Tinna") {
        for cat in cats {
            print(cat.stringValue)
        }
    }

    // prints Caesar
    if let cats = xmlDoc.root["cats"]["cat"].allWithAttributes(["breed" : "Domestic", "color" : "yellow"]) {
        for cat in cats {
            print(cat.stringValue)
        }
    }

    // prints 4
    print(xmlDoc.root["cats"]["cat"].count)

    // prints Siberian
    print(xmlDoc.root["cats"]["cat"].attributes["breed"]!)

    // prints <cat breed="Siberian" color="lightgray">Tinna</cat>
    print(xmlDoc.root["cats"]["cat"].xmlStringCompact)

    // prints Optional(AEXMLExample.AEXMLElement.Error.ElementNotFound)
    print(xmlDoc["NotExistingElement"].error)
}
catch {
    print("\(error)")
}

Write XML

Let's say this is some SOAP XML request you need to generate.
Well, you could just build ordinary string for that?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <soap:Header>
    <m:Trans xmlns:m="http://www.w3schools.com/transaction/" soap:mustUnderstand="1">234</m:Trans>
  </soap:Header>
  <soap:Body>
    <m:GetStockPrice>
      <m:StockName>AAPL</m:StockName>
    </m:GetStockPrice>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

Yes, but, you can also do it in a more structured and elegant way with AEXML:

// prints the same XML structure as original
let soapRequest = AEXMLDocument()
let attributes = ["xmlns:xsi" : "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance", "xmlns:xsd" : "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"]
let envelope = soapRequest.addChild(name: "soap:Envelope", attributes: attributes)
let header = envelope.addChild(name: "soap:Header")
let body = envelope.addChild(name: "soap:Body")
header.addChild(name: "m:Trans", value: "234", attributes: ["xmlns:m" : "http://www.w3schools.com/transaction/", "soap:mustUnderstand" : "1"])
let getStockPrice = body.addChild(name: "m:GetStockPrice")
getStockPrice.addChild(name: "m:StockName", value: "AAPL")
println(soapRequest.xmlString)

Requirements

• Xcode 7.3+
• iOS 8.0+
• AEXML doesn't require any additional libraries for it to work.

Installation

• CocoaPods:

   pod 'AEXML'

• Carthage:

   github "tadija/AEXML"
  

• Manually:

  Just drag AEXML.swift into your project and start using it.

License

AEXML is released under the MIT license. See LICENSE for details.