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Asked: 2026-05-22T12:02:20+00:00

So, I’m using an API which happens to only return XML, that sucks. What

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So, I’m using an API which happens to only return XML, that sucks. What I want to do is create a database entry for each record that get returned from the API, but I’m not sure how.

The XML that gets returned is huge and has lots of whitespace characters in it… is that normal? Here is a sample of some of the XML.

<!-- ... -->
        <attribute name="item_date">May 17, 2011</attribute>
        <attribute name="external_url">http://missionlocal.org/2011/05/rain-camioneta-part-i/</attribute>
            <attribute name="source" id="2478">Mission Loc@l</attribute>
            <attribute name="excerpt"></attribute>
    </attributes>
</newsitem>

<newsitem
    id="5185807"
    title="Lost Chrome messenger PBR bag and contents (marina / cow hollow)"
    url="http://sf.everyblock.com/lost-and-found/by-date/2011/5/17/5185807/"
    location_name="Van Ness and Filbert"
    schema="lost-and-found"
    schema_id="7"
    pub_date="May 17, 2011, 12:15 p.m."
    longitude="-122.424129925"
    latitude="37.7995100578"
>
    <attributes>
        <attribute name="item_date">May 17, 2011</attribute>
        <attribute name="external_url">http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/laf/2386709187.html</attribute>
    </attributes>
</newsitem>

<newsitem
    id="5185808"
    title="Plywood Update: Dumplings &amp; Buns Aims To Be &quot;Beard Papa Of Chinese Buns&quot;"
    url="http://sf.everyblock.com/news-articles/by-date/2011/5/17/5185808/"
    location_name="2411 California Street"
    schema="news-articles"
    schema_id="5"
    pub_date="May 17, 2011, 12:15 p.m."
    longitude="-122.434000442"
    latitude="37.7888985667"
>
    <attributes>
        <attribute name="item_date">May 17, 2011</attribute>
        <attribute name="external_url">http://sf.eater.com/archives/2011/05/17/dumplings_buns_aims_to_be_beard_papa_of_chinese_buns.php</attribute>
            <attribute name="source" id="2155">Eater SF</attribute>
            <attribute name="excerpt"></attribute>
    </attributes>
</newsitem>

<newsitem
    id="5185809"
    title="Freebies: This week, Piazza D&#39;Angelo (22 Miller..."
    url="http://sf.everyblock.com/news-articles/by-date/2011/5/17/5185809/"
    location_name="22 Miller"
    schema="news-articles"
    schema_id="5"
    pub_date="May 17, 2011, 12:15 p.m."
    longitude="-122.408894997"
    latitude="37.7931966922"
>
    <attributes>
        <attribute name="item_date">May 17, 2011</attribute>
        <attribute name="external_url">http://sf.eater.com/archives/2011/05/17/freebies_24.php</attribute>
            <attribute name="source" id="2155">Eater F</attribute>
            <attribute name="excerpt"></attribute>
<!-- ... -->

Any ideas?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    That’s not quite valid XML. That’s some sort of escaped-string representation of XML, perhaps console output. It also doesn’t seem to be complete. Other than that, it’s fairly normal XML. Here’s a smaller excerpt, unescaped and formatted:

    <newsitem
    id="5185807"
    title="Lost Chrome messenger PBR bag and contents (marina / cow hollow)"
    url="http://sf.everyblock.com/lost-and-found/by-date/2011/5/17/5185807/"
    location_name="Van Ness and Filbert"
    schema="lost-and-found"
    schema_id="7"
    pub_date="May 17, 2011, 12:15 p.m."
    longitude="-122.424129925"
    latitude="37.7995100578">
    <attributes>
        <attribute name="item_date">May 17, 2011</attribute>
        <attribute name="external_url">http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/laf/2386709187.html</attribute>
    </attributes>
</newsitem>

    You’ll just need to determine what you want to extract and put in the database, and let that drive your DB design decision. Do you need multiple models with relationships intact, or are you just concerned with a subset of the data?

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