Parse a very simple XML string into an NSDictionary

Question

I want to parse a very simple XML string into an NSDictionary so that I can easily access the attributes.

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I was looking around and found some libraries, but then I still need to implement lot of things. Anybody know if this can be done more easy ?

kind regards

I also made a block based NSXMLParser wrapper for converting XML to NSDictionary. You can check if it fits your needs: https://github.com/erkanyildiz/EYXML2NSDictionary — erkanyildiz, May 24 '17 at 05:41

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 26 '13 at 09:46

5

There is a good wrapper class written on top NSXMLParser. Just pass the XML String. It will convert into NSDictionary.

https://github.com/amarcadet/XMLReader

answered Dec 26 '13 at 09:46

Mavericks

524
3
5

I recommend this solution. It is the XML equivalent to the `NSJSONSerialization` class. – Rickster Jul 19 '15 at 21:09

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 26 '13 at 09:36

Don't use a third party library. Use one of the built in ones:

NSXMLParser
libxml2

For this case, you'd be better off using NSXMLParser, there are plenty of examples available, but the official documentation is at: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/cocoa/Conceptual/XMLParsing/XMLParsing.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/10000186i

You should create a class of your own specifically to parse your type of XML string using NSXMLParser. It could return an instance of itself or perhaps an NSDictionary. Up to you.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 26 '13 at 09:46

Create the object of NSXMLParser.

NSXMLParser *myParser = [[NSXMLParser alloc] initWithData:xmlData]; 
[myParser setDelegate:self]; 
[myParser setShouldResolveExternalEntities: YES];
[myParser parse];
[myParser release];

In the delegate method you will find attribute dictionary.

-(void)parser:(NSXMLParser*)parser
didStartElement:(NSString*)elementName
 namespaceURI:(NSString*)namespaceURI
qualifiedName:(NSString*)qualifiedName
   attributes:(NSDictionary*)attributeDict;

Here attributeDict will have all the attributes.

Parse a very simple XML string into an NSDictionary

3 Answers3