Question

I am using Perl with XML::Simple to convert a hash into an XML document.

My script looks as follows:

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use XML::Simple;
use Data::Dumper;

my $xml_simple = XML::Simple->new( NoAttr => 1,
                   KeepRoot => 1);

my $hash = { output => { 'products' => [ { 'product' => { 'titel' => 'ABN AMRO Bank hypotheken',
                                                          'owner' => 'ABN AMRO Hypotheken Groep',
                                                          'code' => 'ABN AMRO BANK R' } },
                                         { 'product' => { 'titel' => 'Aegon',
                                                          'owner' => 'AEGON Hypotheken',
                                                          'code' => 'AEGON pilot' } } ],
                         'date' => '2012-02-20'} };


my $xml = $xml_simple->XMLout( $hash );

print Dumper( $xml );

The output I am getting is:

<output>
  <date>2012-02-20</date>
  <products>
      <name>product</name>
      <code>ABN AMRO BANK R</code>
      <owner>ABN AMRO Hypotheken Groep</owner>
      <titel>ABN AMRO Bank hypotheken</titel>
  </products>
  <products>
      <name>product</name>
      <code>AEGON pilot</code>
      <owner>AEGON Hypotheken</owner>
      <titel>Aegon</titel>
  </products>
</output>

but what I am looking for is this (see the ‘product’ nodes):

<output>
  <date>2012-02-20</date>
  <products>
    <product>
      <code>ABN AMRO BANK R</code>
      <owner>ABN AMRO Hypotheken Groep</owner>
      <titel>ABN AMRO Bank hypotheken</titel>
    </product>
    <product>
      <code>AEGON pilot</code>
      <owner>AEGON Hypotheken</owner>
      <titel>Aegon</titel>
    </product>
  </products>
</output>

Is this doable with XML::Simple or should I use a different module?

Answer 1

You can let XML::Simple tell you what data structure it wants

#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use XML::Simple;
use Data::Dumper;
my $desired_xml = << 'END';
<myxml>
<output>
  <date>2012-02-20</date>
  <products>
    <product>
      <code>ABN AMRO BANK R</code>
      <owner>ABN AMRO Hypotheken Groep</owner>
      <titel>ABN AMRO Bank hypotheken</titel>
    </product>
    <product>
      <code>AEGON pilot</code>
      <owner>AEGON Hypotheken</owner>
      <titel>Aegon</titel>
    </product>
  </products>
</output>
</myxml>
END
#print $desired_xml;
my $xml_simple = XML::Simple->new(
    NoAttr   => 1,
    KeepRoot => 1
);
#my $hash = XMLin( $desired_xml, forcearray => 1 );
my $hash = {
    output => [
        {
            date     => ["2012-02-20"],
            products => [
                {
                    product => [
                        {
                            code  => ["ABN AMRO BANK R"],
                            owner => ["ABN AMRO Hypotheken Groep"],
                            titel => ["ABN AMRO Bank hypotheken"],
                        },
                        {
                            code  => ["AEGON pilot"],
                            owner => ["AEGON Hypotheken"],
                            titel => ["Aegon"],
                        },
                    ],
                },
            ],
        },
    ],
  };
#print Data::Dumper->Dump( [$hash], [qw(hash)] );
my $xml = $xml_simple->XMLout($hash);
print Data::Dumper->Dump( [$xml], [qw(xml)] );