NAME

XML::Struct::Writer - Write XML data structures to XML streams

SYNOPSIS

    use XML::Struct::Writer;

    # serialize
    XML::Struct::Writer->new(
        to => \*STDOUT,
        attributes => 0,
        pretty => 1,
    )->write( [
        doc => [ 
            [ name => [ "alice" ] ],
            [ name => [ "bob" ] ],
        ] 
    ] );

    # <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    # <doc>
    #  <name>alice</name>
    #  <name>bob</name>
    # </doc>

    # create DOM
    my $xml = XML::Struct::Writer->new->write( [
        greet => { }, [
            "Hello, ",
            [ emph => { color => "blue" } , [ "World" ] ],
            "!"
        ]
    ] ); 
    $xml->toFile("greet.xml");

    # <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    # <greet>Hello, <emph color="blue">World</emph>!</greet>

DESCRIPTION

This module writes an XML document, given as XML::Struct data structure, as stream of "SAX EVENTS". The default handler receives these events with XML::LibXML::SAX::Builder to build a DOM tree which can then be used to serialize the XML document as string. The writer can also be used to directly serialize XML with XML::Struct::Writer::Stream.

XML::Struct provides the shortcut function writeXML to this module.

XML elements can be passed in any of these forms and its combinations:

    # MicroXML:

     [ $name => \%attributes, \@children ]

     [ $name => \%attributes ]

     [ $name ] 

    # lax MicroXML also:

     [ $name => \@children ]

    # SimpleXML:

     { $name => \@children, $name => $content,  ... }

CONFIGURATION

A XML::Struct::Writer can be configured with the following options:

to

Filename, IO::Handle, string reference, or other kind of stream to directly serialize XML to with XML::Struct::Writer::Stream. This option is ignored if handler is explicitly set.

handler

A SAX handler to send "SAX EVENTS" to. If neither this option nor to is explicitly set, an instance of XML::LibXML::SAX::Builder is used to build a DOM.

attributes

Ignore XML attributes if set to false. Set to true by default.

xmldecl

Include XML declaration on serialization. Enabled by default.

encoding

An encoding (for handlers that support an explicit encoding). Set to UTF-8 by default.

version

The XML version. Set to 1.0 by default.

standalone

Add standalone flag in the XML declaration.

pretty

Pretty-print XML. Disabled by default.

METHODS

write( $root [, $name ] ) == writeDocument( $root [, $name ] )

Write an XML document, given as array reference (lax MicroXML), hash reference (SimpleXML), or both mixed. If given as hash reference, the name of a root tag can be chosen or it is set to root. This method is basically equivalent to:

    $writer->writeStart;
    $writer->writeElement(
        $writer->microXML($root, $name // 'root')
    );
    $writer->writeEnd;
    $writer->result if $writer->can('result');

The remaining methods expect XML in MicroXML format only.

writeElement( $element [, @more_elements ] )

Write one or more XML elements and their child elements to the handler.

writeStart( [ $root [, $name ] ] )

Call the handler's start_document and xml_decl methods. An optional root element can be passed, so $writer->writeStart($root) is equivalent to:

    $writer->writeStart;
    $writer->writeStartElement($root);

writeStartElement( $element )

Directly call the handler's start_element method.

writeEndElement( $element )

Directly call the handler's end_element method.

writeCharacters( $string )

Directy call the handler's characters method.

writeEnd( [ $root ] )

Directly call the handler's end_document method. An optional root element can be passed, so $writer->writeEnd($root) is equivalent to:

    $writer->writeEndElement($root);
    $writer->writeEnd;

microXML( $element [, $name ] )

Convert an XML element, given as array reference (lax MicroXML) or as hash reference (SimpleXML) to a list of MicroXML elements and optionally remove attributes. Does not affect child elements.

SAX EVENTS

A SAX handler, set with option handler, is expected to implement the following methods (two of them are optional):

xml_decl( { Version => $version, Encoding => $encoding } )

Optionally called once at the start of an XML document, if the handler supports this method.

start_document()

Called once at the start of an XML document.

start_element( { Name => $name, Attributes => \%attributes } )

Called at the start of an XML element to emit an XML start tag.

end_element( { Name => $name } )

Called at the end of an XML element to emit an XML end tag.

characters( { Data => $characters } )

Called for character data. Character entities and CDATA section are expanded to strings.

end_document()

Called once at the end of an XML document.

result()

Optionally called at the end of write/writeDocument to return a value from this methods. Handlers do not need to implement this method.

SEE ALSO

Using a streaming SAX handler, such as XML::SAX::Writer, XML::Genx::SAXWriter, XML::Handler::YAWriter, and possibly XML::Writer should be more performant for serialization. Examples of other modules that receive SAX events include XML::STX, XML::SAX::SimpleDispatcher, and XML::SAX::Machines,

cpanm XML::Struct

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install XML::Struct