xml to json, parsing xml

RS

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Oct 7, 2021, 10:06:30 AM10/7/21

to golang-nuts

What is the best approach to convert xml to json?
However I need above all to parse a very complex xml to see if related properties are existing.

I thought maybe converting it to Json maybe make it easier.

Don Caldwell

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Apr 23, 2024, 12:29:15 PM4/23/24

to golang-nuts

Disclaimer - I am very new to golang.

I puzzled about this for a few days. After some struggle, I got a little program working that parses

arbitrary xml into a structure that json can understand. You can find it here:

https://github.com/dfwcnj/gxmldecode

burak serdar

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Apr 23, 2024, 12:43:47 PM4/23/24

to Don Caldwell, golang-nuts

In general, you cannot convert xml to json. They have incompatible
models. XML elements are ordered similar to a JSON array, but in many
cases you want to map XML elements to JSON objects, which are
unordered name-value collections. Also, there is no JSON equivalent of
an XML attribute.

If you want to work with XML, either use xml marshaling, or find a
third-party DOM library.

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robert engels

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Apr 23, 2024, 1:05:12 PM4/23/24

to burak serdar, Don Caldwell, golang-nuts

I don’t think that is true. There are multiple ways to model XML into json.

See this http://badgerfish.ning.com for one of them.

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Don Caldwell

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Apr 23, 2024, 1:19:34 PM4/23/24

to robert engels, burak serdar, golang-nuts

I agree. The link that I sent demonstrates one very simple way. Mapping XML with repetitive tag sets to JSON arrays, though, would take a bit of work meaning, I think, at least two passes.

D

Don Caldwell

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Apr 23, 2024, 3:17:33 PM4/23/24

to robert engels, burak serdar, golang-nuts

Oops, I didn't look carefully at the json output of my little program. It does sometimes emit arrays. For example:

go build xmlparse.go

./xmlparse -url 'https://news.google.com/atom'

This produces what, for some part, represents acceptable json. The exceptions are the atom entries that would still require, I think, another pass to fix up the go structure unless someone applies a priori knowledge of the xml structure when building it.

D