Parsing and Processing XML: Tools, APIs, and Practical Techniques

Intermediate

🔍 XML Parsing Methods & 🐍 Python Example

Parsing involves reading an XML document and converting it into a usable data structure within an application. Common methods include:

📘 Parsing Methods

  • 🧵 SAX (Simple API for XML)
    An event-driven parser that processes XML sequentially, suitable for large files.

  • 🌳 DOM (Document Object Model)
    Loads the entire XML into memory as a tree structure, allowing random access and modification.

  • 🧭 StAX (Streaming API for XML)
    A cursor-based API that provides a compromise between SAX and DOM.

🧪 Example Using Python's ElementTree (DOM-like parser)

import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

# Load XML
tree = ET.parse('sample.xml')
root = tree.getroot()

# Access data
for student in root.findall('student'):
    name = student.find('name').text
    print(f'Student Name: {name}')

🔧 Processing XML enables data extraction, transformation, and integration across systems. Developers choose parsing methods based on size, complexity, and performance needs.