Newbie Python & XML

[LenS]

I have a situation at work. Will be receiving XML file which contains
quote information for car insurance. I need to translate this file
into a flat comma delimited file which will be imported into a software
package. Each XML file I receive will contain information on one quote
only. I have documentation on layout of flat file and examples of XML
file (lot of fields but only container tags and field tags no
DTD's,look easy enough). I am just starting to learn python and have
never had to work with XML files before. Working in MS Windows
environment. I have Python 2.4 with win32 extensions.

1. What else do I need
2. Any examples of program doing the same.
3. Have read some stuff that indicates I may need ? schema of XML
layout ????

The rating company will ftp a quote realtime to a dir on my system.
the python program will then have to poll the dir for new files and
automaticly translate and initiate import.

Any help appreciated
Len Sumnler

 

[Jerry Sievers]

I have a situation at work. Will be receiving XML file which contains
quote information for car insurance. I need to translate this file
into a flat comma delimited file which will be imported into a software
package. Each XML file I receive will contain information on one quote
only. I have documentation on layout of flat file and examples of XML
file (lot of fields but only container tags and field tags no
DTD's,look easy enough). I am just starting to learn python and have
never had to work with XML files before. Working in MS Windows
environment. I have Python 2.4 with win32 extensions.

1. What else do I need

Well, if the XML file format is going to be fixed, there's no
difficulty here.

import the parseString from dom.minidom

Figure out how many levels of container the XMl doc has. and descend
using the childNodes one or more times till you reach the data.

Data nodes are of nodeType == 3. Iterate over them using nodeValue on
each. Put them into a list and then paste you list together using
COMMAS or other delimiter.

This is the quick and dirty way! Will barf totally if your upstream
data source throws you a curve.

HTH

2. Any examples of program doing the same.
3. Have read some stuff that indicates I may need ? schema of XML
layout ????

Perhaps. But probably not unless you are trying to build a highly
flexible parser.

The rating company will ftp a quote realtime to a dir on my system.
the python program will then have to poll the dir for new files and
automaticly translate and initiate import.

A more elegant way of doing this is to pipe the FTP server log data
through a running process and if the file matches one that requires
this XML treatment, do it in real time.

May not be worth the trouble to implement in a low volume system
however.

 

[Kent Johnson]

I have a situation at work. Will be receiving XML file which contains
quote information for car insurance. I need to translate this file
into a flat comma delimited file which will be imported into a software
package. Each XML file I receive will contain information on one quote
only. I have documentation on layout of flat file and examples of XML
file (lot of fields but only container tags and field tags no
DTD's,look easy enough). I am just starting to learn python and have
never had to work with XML files before. Working in MS Windows
environment. I have Python 2.4 with win32 extensions.

1. What else do I need

I recommend ElementTree for XML processing in Python
http://effbot.org/zone/element-index.htm

and the Python-tutor mailing list for getting started with Python:
http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor

Kent

 

[uche.ogbuji]

"I have a situation at work. Will be receiving XML file which contains
quote information for car insurance. I need to translate this file
into a flat comma delimited file which will be imported into a software
package. Each XML file I receive will contain information on one quote
only. I have documentation on layout of flat file and examples of XML
file (lot of fields but only container tags and field tags no
DTD's,look easy enough). I am just starting to learn python and have
never had to work with XML files before. Working in MS Windows
environment. I have Python 2.4 with win32 extensions. "

Sounds like the sort of thing I and others have done very easily with
Amara:

http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2005/01/19/amara.html

Overall, if you're new to Python and XML, here are some resources:

http://www.xml.com/pub/at/24
http://uche.ogbuji.net/tech/akara/nodes/2003-01-01/general-section

--
Uche Ogbuji Fourthought, Inc.
http://uche.ogbuji.net http://fourthought.com
http://copia.ogbuji.net http://4Suite.org
Use CSS to display XML, part 2 -
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/edu/x-dw-x-xmlcss2-i.html
XML Output with 4Suite & Amara -
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2005/04/20/py-xml.htmlUse XSLT to prepare XML
for import into OpenOffice Calc -
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-oocalc/
Schema standardization for top-down semantic transparency -
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-think31.html