understanding XML::Parser

rsiedl has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi Monks,

I'm trying to wrap my knoggen around XML::Parser and am having no luck so far...

I've been through the perl docs for it but cant understand how to easily use the output from XML::Parser->parse().

I thought I would be able to do something like:

use XML::Parser;
use XML::Parser::EasyTree;
$XML::Parser::EasyTree::Noempty=1;
my $p = new XML::Parser(Style => 'EasyTree');
my $tree = $p->parse($xml);

my $node1 = ${$tree[0]}{name};
[download]

but node1 is returning a blank.

The XML i am using for testing is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<search_results count="0">
   <query>"flaherty jm" [ALL-FIELDS]</query>
</search_results>
[download]

Could anyone suggest some better reading for me to help me understand how this works?

Cheers,
Reagen

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Re: understanding XML::Parser by Thelonius (Priest) on Jul 17, 2006 at 05:57 UTC
When I `use strict;` I get the error `Global symbol "@tree" requires explicit package name`. This is a good clue. When I change `my $node1 = ${$tree[0]}{name};` [download] to `my $node1 = ${$tree->[0]}{name};` [download] everything works. `$tree[0]` is the zero'th element of `@tree`. `$tree->[0]` is the zero'th element of tree that is referenced by `$tree`.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: understanding XML::Parser by rsiedl (Friar) on Jul 17, 2006 at 07:13 UTC
Thanks. Is there an easier way to get a value if I know only the name of the element? For example: if i want the value of count which resides in search_results?	[reply]
Re^3: understanding XML::Parser by Tanktalus (Canon) on Jul 17, 2006 at 15:54 UTC
Based on my XML decision tree, you may want to use a technology that abstracts the XML tree such that it gives you XPath capabilities. I just load the entire XML file into memory, then ask the object to give me the elements that match my criteria.	[reply]