I'm have no idea why you call XML::LibXML a monster compared to XML::Simple.

use XML::Simple qw( :strict XMLin );

local $XML::Simple::PREFERRED_PARSER = 'XML::Parser';

my $stations = XMLin( \*DATA, ForceArray => 1, KeyAttr => [] );

for my $station_name (keys %$stations) {
   say $station_name;
   my $station = $stations->{$station_name}[0];
   for my $ip (@{ $station->{ips} // [] }) {
      say "   $ip";
   }
}
[download]

use XML::LibXML qw( );

my $root = XML::LibXML->load_xml( IO => \*DATA )->documentElement;

for my $station ($root->findnodes('*')) {
   say $station->getName;
   for my $ip ($station->findnodes('ip')) {
      say "   ".$ip->textContent;
   }
}
[download]

And that's not even mentioning the fact that XML::LibXML is 20x faster* and able to handle so much more stuff than XML::Simple (including every day stuff).

* — That assumes XML::Parser is used as XML::Simple's backend. XML::LibXML is 10,000x faster than XML::Simple's common default of XML::SAX::PurePerl (which handles encodings really badly).

Update: Fixed an error in XML::Simple code.
Update: Fixed an error in XML::LibXML code. ("IO" was mispelled, and the XPath was wrong.)

I'm have no idea why you call XML::LibXML a monster compared to XML::Simple.

Here's one reason:

XML::LibXML->load: specify location, string, or IO at C:\test\xml1.pl 
+line 7
[download]

This is line 7:

my $root = XML::LibXML->load_xml( fh => \*DATA )->documentElement;
[download]

So now you've got to wade through the 32 separate pages of XML::LibXML POD to work out why!

I never have that problem with XML::Simple.

---

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

The start of some sanity?

And here's another reason. Once you've fixed your first error, your code prints nothing at all

my $root = XML::LibXML->load_xml( IO => \*DATA )->documentElement;

for my $station ($root->findnodes('servers/*')) {
    say $station->name;
    for my $ip ( $station->findnodes('ip') ) {
        say "   ".$ip->textContent;
    }
}
[download]

No values. No errors. Nothing! Nada! Zitch! Zip! Not a jot!

Why? You'll have to go back and wade through those 32 pages again to work that out!

---

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

The start of some sanity?

The documentation for the Parser is all in one page, not 32. The second error was an XPath error. Fixed. At least they were documented an easy to find. Note that I had as many mistakes in the XML::Simple version first.

Yes!
Nothing is printing!

Thanks,
Ashok

And that's not even mentioning the fact that XML::LibXML is 20x faster

BTW. Even that factually correct claim only tells half the story. Generate a simple and fairly modest XML file using this:

#! perl -slw
use strict;

$|++;
our $S //= '999';
our $I //= 10;

open O, '>', 'junk.xml';
print O '<servers>';
for my $s ( '0001' .. $S ) {
    printf "\r%s", $s;
    print O "<station$s>";
    print O '<ip>', join('.', unpack 'C4', pack 'N', int( rand 2**32 )
+ ), '</ip>' for 1 .. $I;
    print O "</station$s>";
};
print O '</servers>';
close O;
[download]

Like this:

C:\test>xmlgen -S=9999
9999
C:\test>dir junk.xml
15/01/2012  12:40         2,424,205 junk.xml
[download]

Now run XML::Simple & XML::LibXML scripts that parse that file and iterate the contents and time them:

C:\test>xmllib junk.xml
Parsing took 0.290895 seconds
Iteration took 171.657306 seconds
Total took 171.959000 seconds
Check mem:63.6MB

C:\test>xmlsimple junk.xml
Parsing took 38.202000 seconds
Iteration took 0.059186 seconds
Total took 38.262577 seconds
Check mem:142MB
[download]

All the time you gained during parsing, you throw away four-fold when accessing the data through the nightmare interface of OO baloney.

And if you double the file size:

C:\test>xmlgen -S=19999
19999
C:\test>dir junk.xml
15/01/2012  12:58         4,868,440 junk.xml
[download]

And now LibXML takes 8 times as long:

C:\test>xmllib junk.xml
Parsing took 0.560000 seconds
Iteration took 676.238758 seconds
Total took 676.802000 seconds
Check mem:107MB

C:\test>xmlsimple junk.xml
Parsing took 75.078000 seconds
Iteration took 0.124583 seconds
Total took 75.209615 seconds
Check mem:254MB
[download]

Increase the file size 10-fold and LIbXML will take 100 time longer.

Now look carefully at the split times. XML::Simple's parsing time is slow, but linear with the file size. It's traversal time is extremely fast and also linear.

Conversely, LibXML's parsing time is very fast and linear; but it's traversal time is horribly slow and quadratic with the file size.

It is easy to see which one wins in the speed stakes.

---

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

The start of some sanity?

Not an especially compelling case without posting the source code for the "XML::Simple & XML::LibXML scripts that parse that file and iterate the contents".

It is easy to see which one wins in the speed stakes.

Yeah, LibXML. My tests *included* the time it took to extract the data from the tree. The test was done with real world data of various size from three different providers.

We use XML::Bare with a thin layer to compensate for it's awful interface (XML::Simple without ForceArray or any other option), its expectation of getting decoded text, and it's lack of namespace support. It's slightly faster when you factor in the time it takes to extract data. Not nearly as capable as libxml, and we had to create an interface just to be able to use it.

You simply need to add one simple option

And that helps you for precisely five minutes until someone adds this to the file:

  <ip assignment="temporary">10.0.0.101</ip>

And then all your code which assumes stations have IP addresses which are arrayrefs of strings breaks again.

Which may very well be the right thing to do. The format of the data changed, is it really safe to snip out the bits we did expect and ignore the rest?

Jenda
Enoch was right!
Enjoy the last years of Rome.

then all your code which assumes stations have IP addresses which are arrayrefs of strings breaks again.

Nope. This:

#! perl -slw
use strict;
use Data::Dump qw[ pp ];
use XML::Simple;

my $xml = XMLin( \*DATA, ForceArray => [ 'ip' ], NoAttr => 1 );
pp $xml;

__DATA__
<servers>
    <station18>
        <ip>10.0.0.101</ip>
        <ip>10.0.1.101</ip>
        <ip>10.0.0.102</ip>
        <ip>10.0.0.103</ip>
        <ip>10.0.1.103</ip>
    </station18>
    <station19>
        <ip>10.0.0.111</ip>
        <ip>10.0.1.111</ip>
        <ip>10.0.0.112</ip>
        <ip>10.0.0.113</ip>
        <ip>10.0.1.113</ip>
    </station19>
    <station17>
        <ip assignment="temporary">10.0.0.101</ip>
        <ip>10.0.0.121</ip>
    </station17>
</servers>
[download]

Produces this::

C:\test>junk44
{
  station17 => { ip => ["10.0.0.101", "10.0.0.121"] },
  station18 => {
                 ip => [
                         "10.0.0.101",
                         "10.0.1.101",
                         "10.0.0.102",
                         "10.0.0.103",
                         "10.0.1.103",
                       ],
               },
  station19 => {
                 ip => [
                         "10.0.0.111",
                         "10.0.1.111",
                         "10.0.0.112",
                         "10.0.0.113",
                         "10.0.1.113",
                       ],
               },
}
[download]

---

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'

Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.

"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".

In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

The start of some sanity?

I don't dispute that there is yet another XML::Simple option that can fix things again.

My point is that things appear to work for a while, and then a small change to your input data breaks everything, so you need to alter your code. And then another change to the input data requires another code change.

One of the major reasons people use config files is so that they can avoid having to make changes to running code when, say, a new IP address is assigned.

Getting the following errorNot an ARRAY reference at ProcessStatus.pl line 44. when I have this option that will have stations mixed like:

        <station20>
                <user>netcool</user>
                <process assignment="temporary">some text</process>
        </station20>
        <station19>
                <user>netcool</user>
                <process>nco_objserv</process>
                <process>nco_p_mttrapd</process>
        </station19>
[download]


Code snippet....

my $xml = XMLin("PROCESS.CONF");
......
foreach $process ( @{ $xml->{$server}{process} } )
.....
[download]

Anything missing here?

Thanks,
Ashok

See XML::Simple, especially the section on ForceArray.

Appreciate any help here!

Thanks,
Ashok