Re^2: Reading from a flat text file database and storing contents in a hash

This is all really good advice, but at the moment I have been playing around with XML::Simple. The problem that I am having is I cannot generate the data structure that I had before with the hash it keeps on putting things in a nested array. This is what I used to have before using XML::Simple

$VAR1 = '1';
$VAR2 = {
          'host' => {
                      'hosta' => 1
                    },
          'name' => 'servicea'
        };
$VAR3 = '2';
$VAR4 = {
          'host' => {
                      'host0' => 2,
                      'host5' => 2
                    },
          'name' => 'serviceb'
        };
[download]

When using XML::Simple I get this:

$VAR1 = {
          'name' => 'servicea',
          'host' => [
                    {
                      'hosta' => '2'
                    },
                    {
                      'hostb' => '2'
                    }
                  ]
[download]

I am using the following XML with XML::simple.

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<services>
<name>servicea</name>
<host>
        <hosta>2</hosta>
</host>
<host>
        <hosta>2</hosta>
</host>
</services>
[download]

Is there any way I can change the XML, so XML::simple only uses hash of hashes instead of hashes and arrays? Thanks

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Re^3: Reading from a flat text file database and storing contents in a hash by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Apr 20, 2007 at 14:42 UTC
sighs I provide you with a suggestion. You say "That's cool, but can you debug what's wrong with this other mechanism?" XML is a very poor solution for this, which is why I suggested DBM::Deep. dbm-deep is designed to solve this specific problem that you're working with - easy persistence of Perl datastructures. Use the proper solution for the job. XML isn't it. My criteria for good software: Does it work? Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?	[reply]
Re^4: Reading from a flat text file database and storing contents in a hash by wishartz (Beadle) on Apr 20, 2007 at 14:52 UTC
OK I'll stop using the XML::Simple and try DBM::Deep instead. It just looked a bit more complicated, when I glanced at it.	[reply]
Re^5: Reading from a flat text file database and storing contents in a hash by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Apr 20, 2007 at 16:19 UTC
I think that people look at DBM::Deep and go "It can't be that simple, so it's got to be really hard cause I don't understand it." This is your code, with the changes needed to make it DBM::Deep'ed. # First script, to populate the db file: use DBM::Deep; our %services; tie %services, 'DBM::Deep', 'file.db'; %services = ( 1 => { name => "service1", host => { host1 => 1 }, }, 2 => { name => "service2", host => { host0 => 2, host5 => 2 }, }, ); ###################### # Second script, to print the services. our %services; tie %services, 'DBM::Deep', 'file.db'; print "----------------Menu-----------------------------------------\n +"; print "Please enter the number of the service and press return\n"; print "-------------------------------------------------------------\n +"; for $row (sort keys %services){ my $service=$services{$row}; print "$row\t $service->{ name }\n"; } print "Please enter number -->"; [download] That's it. Note that your usage of %services doesn't change at all. My criteria for good software: Does it work? Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?	[reply] [d/l]