All --

I just started Perl last week kinda as a test for this project, so my syntax isn't the greatest -- not too mention I am forced to switch between .Net, C++, Java, and VBScript while doing it.

Basically the task is to test the speed at which Perl & Template Toolkit can parse the data. I've been somewhat successful with XML::Simple, but I'm lacking the idea on how to tell if there are any more nodes left.

The basic XML is:

<prices>
   <section name="blah">
      <open>5</open>
      <ttype name="kid" price="50.00" />
      <ttype ...>
   </section>
 </prices>
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Using the following Perl, I call the template toolkit, using ActivePerl 5.8 on Win2K.

use strict;
use Template;

my $tt = Template->new();
     $tt->process('config.tt', {}) or die $tt->error();
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The toolkit template is what's messing me up.. I've originally done

[%- USE xml = XML.Simple('config.xml') %]
[%- FOREACH a = xml.keys() %]
  [% a %]:
  [%- FOREACH b = xml.$a.keys() %]
    [% b %]
  [%- END %]
  [%- END %]
[%- END %]
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and so on... this was simply to dump the data to the screen in order to test the speed. However, the XML can change in depth, and I can't (or more accurately, don't know how) to test if the node has keys or not.

From what I've read, XML::Simple may not be the fastest way (I believe it uses SAX?) and am also trying to use the DOM -- albeit all through Template Toolkit -- of which there are very little examples. Additionally, it tends to ignore the ones with more than one attribute, so I figure try the DOM. Here's what I've tried in XML::Dom to no avail:

[%- USE xml = XML.DOM %]
[% dom = xml.parse( 'config.xml' ) %]
[%  FOREACH product = dom.getElementsByTagName('price') %]
  [% product.getAttribute('ttype') %]:
      [% VIEW ttype%]
       [% BLOCK product %]
          [% item.content(view) %]
       [% END %]
      [%- END %]
   [%-END%]
[% #USE Dumper %]
[%# Dumper.dump(xml) %]
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All this will print out is ":"

Before I give up, I figure I'd try it here.. .someone in the company told me to use XML::PerlSAX module, but I've seen a few reviews that says it's buggy at best.

Now, I guess the question is, how do I get the XML to parse inside the template toolkit template? It seems like it should be simple enough, but I can't quite get it going, or it only works 3/4ths of the way.
Thanks --
DesertGhost