Suggestions for Python XML library which can search and insert

[lainedacier]

Hi,

I'm looking for a library that can search through an XML document tree,
locate an element by attribute (ideally this can be done through
XPath), and insert an element (as its child).

Simple? Yes? ...but the code I've seen so far which does this uses
'nested for loops' for trees which are relatively shallow compared to
mine. So I'm wondering if you could give me some suggestions as to
which XML library could do this without resorting to nested for loops,
and/or better yet, what's the trend in this type of operation?

Thanks in advance.

[Robert Kern]

la*********@gmail.com wrote:

Hi,

I'm looking for a library that can search through an XML document tree,
locate an element by attribute (ideally this can be done through
XPath), and insert an element (as its child).

Try lxml:

http://codespeak.net/lxml/

In [25]: from lxml import etree

In [26]: nbk = etree.parse('tut-2.3.5-db.nbk')

In [27]: log = root.xpath('//ipython-log[@id="default-log"]')[0]

In [28]: etree.SubElement(log, 'cell')
Out[28]: <Element cell at d668>

--
Robert Kern
rk***@ucsd.edu

"In the fields of hell where the grass grows high
Are the graves of dreams allowed to die."
-- Richard Harter

[Steven D'Aprano]

la*********@gmail.com wrote:

Simple? Yes? ...but the code I've seen so far which does this uses
'nested for loops' for trees which are relatively shallow compared to
mine. So I'm wondering if you could give me some suggestions as to
which XML library could do this without resorting to nested for loops,
and/or better yet, what's the trend in this type of operation?

Why do you care if they are nested for loops?

What is the problem you are experiencing that is caused
by for loops?

Does the software you've seen not work with your XML
trees? What error do you get when you try it?

Or are you just opposed to for loops on philosophical
grounds?
--
Steven.

[Tim Williams (gmail)]

On 7/26/05, praba kar <pr*********@yahoo.co.in> wrote:

Dear All,

Can any one let me know? How to build
email in python? with some some examples.

regards
Prabahar

The email module is what you need.
http://docs.python.org/lib/module-email.html

hth :)

[lainedacier]

> Why do you care if they are nested for loops?

What is the problem you are experiencing that is caused
by for loops?

The nested loops which I speak of are highly dependent
on the structure of the document tree. The examples which
I've seen using DOM or ElementTree deal with shallow trees,
but in my case, I am dealing with deeper trees--which means
that the degree of nesting would also grow deeper if I were
to follow suit. Also, it makes for hard to manage code.

I'd say that lxml is exactly what I'm looking for, because
it supports XPath and Robert Kern's example is pretty reassuring.
Thanks Robert Kern!

[Gregory Piñero]

I wrote a module to do this a while back. I put the script on my
website just now. Let me know if it helps.

http://www.blendedtechnologies.com/h...with-python/19

--
Gregory Piñero
CEO and Founder
Blended Technologies
(www.blendedtechnologies.com)

[uche.ogbuji]

"I'm looking for a library that can search through an XML document
tree,
locate an element by attribute (ideally this can be done through
XPath), and insert an element (as its child).

Simple? Yes? ...but the code I've seen so far which does this uses
'nested for loops' for trees which are relatively shallow compared to
mine. "

Amara can easily do this using XPath (complete with predicates,
functions, etc.), without nested for loops:

http://uche.ogbuji.net/tech/4Suite/amara/

--
Uche
http://uche.ogbuji.net