README - 2007-11-22
-------------------
INTRODUCTION
This README file describes the Mini-XML library version 2.4.
Mini-XML is a small XML parsing library that you can use to
read XML and XML-like data files in your application without
requiring large non-standard libraries. Mini-XML only
requires an ANSI C compatible compiler (GCC works, as do
most vendors' ANSI C compilers) and a "make" program.
Mini-XML provides the following functionality:
- Reading of UTF-8 and UTF-16 and writing of UTF-8
encoded XML files and strings.
- Data is stored in a linked-list tree structure,
preserving the XML data hierarchy.
- Supports arbitrary element names, attributes, and
attribute values with no preset limits, just available
memory.
- Supports integer, real, opaque ("cdata"), and text
data types in "leaf" nodes.
- Functions for creating and managing trees of data.
- "Find" and "walk" functions for easily locating and
navigating trees of data.
Mini-XML doesn't do validation or other types of processing
on the data based upon schema files or other sources of
definition information.
BUILDING Mini-XML
Mini-XML comes with an autoconf-based configure script; just
type the following command to get things going:
./configure
The default install prefix is /usr/local, which can be
overridden using the --prefix option:
./configure --prefix=/foo
Other configure options can be found using the --help
option:
./configure --help
Once you have configured the software, type "make" to do the
build and run the test program to verify that things are
working, as follows:
make
If you are using Mini-XML under Microsoft Windows with
Visual C++, use the included project files in the "vcnet"
subdirectory to build the library instead.
INSTALLING Mini-XML
The "install" target will install Mini-XML in the lib and
include directories:
make install
Once you have installed it, use the "-lmxml" option to link
your application against it.
DOCUMENTATION
The documentation is available in the "doc" subdirectory in
the files "mxml.html" (HTML) and "mxml.pdf" (PDF). You can
also look at the "testmxml.c" and "mxmldoc.c" source files
for examples of using Mini-XML.
Mini-XML provides a single header file which you include:
#include <mxml.h>
Nodes are defined by the "mxml_node_t" structure; the "type"
member defines the node type (element, integer, opaque,
real, or text) which determines which value you want to look
at in the "value" union. New nodes can be created using the
"mxmlNewElement()", "mxmlNewInteger()", "mxmlNewOpaque()",
"mxmlNewReal()", and "mxmlNewText()" functions. Only
elements can have child nodes, and the top node must be an
element, usually "?xml".
You load an XML file using the "mxmlLoadFile()" function:
FILE *fp;
mxml_node_t *tree;
fp = fopen("filename.xml", "r");
tree = mxmlLoadFile(NULL, fp, MXML_NO_CALLBACK);
fclose(fp);
Similarly, you save an XML file using the "mxmlSaveFile()"
function:
FILE *fp;
mxml_node_t *tree;
fp = fopen("filename.xml", "w");
mxmlSaveFile(tree, fp, MXML_NO_CALLBACK);
fclose(fp);
The "mxmlLoadString()", "mxmlSaveAllocString()", and
"mxmlSaveString()" functions load XML node trees from and
save XML node trees to strings:
char buffer[8192];
char *ptr;
mxml_node_t *tree;
...
tree = mxmlLoadString(NULL, buffer, MXML_NO_CALLBACK);
...
mxmlSaveString(tree, buffer, sizeof(buffer), MXML_NO_CALLBACK);
...
ptr = mxmlSaveAllocString(tree, MXML_NO_CALLBACK);
You can find a named element/node using the
"mxmlFindElement()" function:
mxml_node_t *node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "name", "attr",
"value", MXML_DESCEND);
The "name", "attr", and "value" arguments can be passed as
NULL to act as wildcards, e.g.:
/* Find the first "a" element */
node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "a", NULL, NULL, MXML_DESCEND);
/* Find the first "a" element with "href" attribute */
node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "a", "href", NULL, MXML_DESCEND);
/* Find the first "a" element with "href" to a URL */
node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "a", "href",
"http://www.easysw.com/~mike/mxml/",
MXML_DESCEND);
/* Find the first element with a "src" attribute*/
node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, NULL, "src", NULL, MXML_DESCEND);
/* Find the first element with a "src" = "foo.jpg" */
node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, NULL, "src", "foo.jpg",
MXML_DESCEND);
You can also iterate with the same function:
mxml_node_t *node;
for (node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "name", NULL, NULL,
MXML_DESCEND);
node != NULL;
node = mxmlFindElement(node, tree, "name", NULL, NULL,
MXML_DESCEND))
{
... do something ...
}
Finally, once you are done with the XML data, use the
"mxmlDelete()" function to recursively free the memory that
is used for a particular node or the entire tree:
mxmlDelete(tree);
GETTING HELP AND REPORTING PROBLEMS
You can email me at "mxml@easysw.com" to report problems
and/or ask for help. Just don't expect an instant response,
as I get a *lot* of email...
LEGAL STUFF
The Mini-XML library is Copyright 2003-2007 by Michael Sweet.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it
and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General
Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any
later version.
This library is distributed in the hope that it will be
useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied
warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. See the GNU Library General Public License for
more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General
Public License along with this library; if not, write to the
Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA
02139, USA.
