README - 11/13/2004 ------------------- INTRODUCTION This README file describes the Mini-XML library version 2.1. Mini-XML is a small XML parsing library that you can use to read XML and XML-like data files in your application without requiring large non-standard libraries. Mini-XML only requires an ANSI C compatible compiler (GCC works, as do most vendors' ANSI C compilers) and a "make" program. Mini-XML provides the following functionality: - Reading of UTF-8 and UTF-16 and writing of UTF-8 encoded XML files and strings. - Data is stored in a linked-list tree structure, preserving the XML data hierarchy. - Supports arbitrary element names, attributes, and attribute values with no preset limits, just available memory. - Supports integer, real, opaque ("cdata"), and text data types in "leaf" nodes. - Functions for creating and managing trees of data. - "Find" and "walk" functions for easily locating and navigating trees of data. Mini-XML doesn't do validation or other types of processing on the data based upon schema files or other sources of definition information. BUILDING Mini-XML Mini-XML comes with an autoconf-based configure script; just type the following command to get things going: ./configure The default install prefix is /usr/local, which can be overridden using the --prefix option: ./configure --prefix=/foo Other configure options can be found using the --help option: ./configure --help Once you have configured the software, type "make" to do the build and run the test program to verify that things are working, as follows: make If you are using Mini-XML under Microsoft Windows with Visual C++, use the included project files in the "vcnet" subdirectory to build the library instead. INSTALLING Mini-XML The "install" target will install Mini-XML in the lib and include directories: make install Once you have installed it, use the "-lmxml" option to link your application against it. DOCUMENTATION The documentation is available in the "doc" subdirectory in the files "mxml.html" (HTML) and "mxml.pdf" (PDF). You can also look at the "testmxml.c" and "mxmldoc.c" source files for examples of using Mini-XML. Mini-XML provides a single header file which you include: #include Nodes are defined by the "mxml_node_t" structure; the "type" member defines the node type (element, integer, opaque, real, or text) which determines which value you want to look at in the "value" union. New nodes can be created using the "mxmlNewElement()", "mxmlNewInteger()", "mxmlNewOpaque()", "mxmlNewReal()", and "mxmlNewText()" functions. Only elements can have child nodes, and the top node must be an element, usually "?xml". You load an XML file using the "mxmlLoadFile()" function: FILE *fp; mxml_node_t *tree; fp = fopen("filename.xml", "r"); tree = mxmlLoadFile(NULL, fp, MXML_NO_CALLBACK); fclose(fp); Similarly, you save an XML file using the "mxmlSaveFile()" function: FILE *fp; mxml_node_t *tree; fp = fopen("filename.xml", "w"); mxmlSaveFile(tree, fp, MXML_NO_CALLBACK); fclose(fp); The "mxmlLoadString()", "mxmlSaveAllocString()", and "mxmlSaveString()" functions load XML node trees from and save XML node trees to strings: char buffer[8192]; char *ptr; mxml_node_t *tree; ... tree = mxmlLoadString(NULL, buffer, MXML_NO_CALLBACK); ... mxmlSaveString(tree, buffer, sizeof(buffer), MXML_NO_CALLBACK); ... ptr = mxmlSaveAllocString(tree, MXML_NO_CALLBACK); You can find a named element/node using the "mxmlFindElement()" function: mxml_node_t *node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "name", "attr", "value", MXML_DESCEND); The "name", "attr", and "value" arguments can be passed as NULL to act as wildcards, e.g.: /* Find the first "a" element */ node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "a", NULL, NULL, MXML_DESCEND); /* Find the first "a" element with "href" attribute */ node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "a", "href", NULL, MXML_DESCEND); /* Find the first "a" element with "href" to a URL */ node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "a", "href", "http://www.easysw.com/~mike/mxml/", MXML_DESCEND); /* Find the first element with a "src" attribute*/ node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, NULL, "src", NULL, MXML_DESCEND); /* Find the first element with a "src" = "foo.jpg" */ node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, NULL, "src", "foo.jpg", MXML_DESCEND); You can also iterate with the same function: mxml_node_t *node; for (node = mxmlFindElement(tree, tree, "name", NULL, NULL, MXML_DESCEND); node != NULL; node = mxmlFindElement(node, tree, "name", NULL, NULL, MXML_DESCEND)) { ... do something ... } Finally, once you are done with the XML data, use the "mxmlDelete()" function to recursively free the memory that is used for a particular node or the entire tree: mxmlDelete(tree); GETTING HELP AND REPORTING PROBLEMS You can email me at "mxml@easysw.com" to report problems and/or ask for help. Just don't expect an instant response, as I get a *lot* of email... LEGAL STUFF The Mini-XML library is Copyright 2003-2004 by Michael Sweet. This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU Library General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License along with this library; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.