Don't use XML::Simple!

perl -e "use Data::Dumper; use XML::Rules; print Dumper(XML::Rules::inferRulesFromExample( 'c:\temp\inventors.xml')) prints:

$VAR1 = {
          'inventors' => 'no content',
          'number' => 'as is',
          'inventor' => 'as array no content',
          'city,country,name,upper-name' => 'content'
        };
[download]

With rules like this XML::Rules would produce a data structure like this:

{
  'inventors' => {
                 'inventor' => [
                               {
                                 'country' => 'GB',
                                 'city' => 'Aston Clinton',
                                 'upper-name' => 'ANDY BARTH',
                                 'number' => {
                                             '_content' => '1',
                                             'type' => 'integer'
                                           },
                                 'name' => 'Andy Barth'
                               },
                               {
                                 'country' => 'GB',
                                 'city' => 'Aylesbury',
                                 'upper-name' => 'DANIELE DALL\'ACQUA'
+,
                                 'number' => {
                                             '_content' => '2',
                                             'type' => 'integer'
                                           },
                                 'name' => 'Daniele Dall\'Acqua'
                               },
                               {
                                 'country' => 'GB',
                                 'city' => 'Calne',
                                 'upper-name' => 'NIGEL DREW',
                                 'number' => {
                                             '_content' => '3',
                                             'type' => 'integer'
                                           },
                                 'name' => 'Nigel Drew'
                               }
                             ],
                 'type' => 'array'
               }
};
[download]

Now I do not care about the 'type' => 'integer', I'd rather get just the content for the <number> as well, so let's change the rule for the tag to 'content'. This changes the structure to

{
  'inventors' => {
                 'inventor' => [
                               {
                                 'country' => 'GB',
                                 'city' => 'Aston Clinton',
                                 'upper-name' => 'ANDY BARTH',
                                 'number' => '1',
                                 'name' => 'Andy Barth'
                               },
                               {
                                 'country' => 'GB',
                                 'city' => 'Aylesbury',
                                 'upper-name' => 'DANIELE DALL\'ACQUA'
+,
                                 'number' => '2',
                                 'name' => 'Daniele Dall\'Acqua'
                               },
                               {
                                 'country' => 'GB',
                                 'city' => 'Calne',
                                 'upper-name' => 'NIGEL DREW',
                                 'number' => '3',
                                 'name' => 'Nigel Drew'
                               }
                             ],
                 'type' => 'array'
               }
};
[download]

Better, but I can do even better. If I know I want to get the inventors by number I can change the rule for the <inventor> tag to 'by number' and get a hash instead of an array:

{
  'inventors' => {
                 '1' => {
                        'country' => 'GB',
                        'city' => 'Aston Clinton',
                        'upper-name' => 'ANDY BARTH',
                        'name' => 'Andy Barth'
                      },
                 '3' => {
                        'country' => 'GB',
                        'city' => 'Calne',
                        'upper-name' => 'NIGEL DREW',
                        'name' => 'Nigel Drew'
                      },
                 'type' => 'array',
                 '2' => {
                        'country' => 'GB',
                        'city' => 'Aylesbury',
                        'upper-name' => 'DANIELE DALL\'ACQUA',
                        'name' => 'Daniele Dall\'Acqua'
                      }
               }
};
[download]

In which case getting the name of the inventor #1 would be just $data->{inventors}{1}{name}. If the XML contains just the inventors I can get rid of the 'inventors' by changing it's rule to 'pass' and it'd be just $data->{1}{name}. I also do not want the 'type' => 'array' so let's add " remove(type)" to the rule for <inventors>.

use Data::Dumper;
use XML::Rules;

my $parser = XML::Rules->new(
    stripspaces => 7,
    rules => {
      'inventors' => 'no content remove(type)',
      'inventor' => 'by number',
      'number,city,country,name,upper-name' => 'content'
    }
);

my $data = $parser->parsefile('c:\temp\inventors.xml');
#print Dumper($data);
print "The 1st inventor was $data->{inventors}{1}{name}\n";
[download]

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