xml.dom.minidom for Building XML Document

XML Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples

∟xml.dom.minidom for Building XML Document

This section provides a tutorial example on how to build a new XML document with Python xml.dom.minidom package.

xml.dom.minidom sub-package offers the following functionalities to build new XML documents a DOM object tree.

doc = xml.dom.minidom.parseString("<root_tag/>") - Creates a new DOM document with an empty root tag.
root = doc.documentElement - Document property represents the root element.
ele = doc.createElement("tag") - Creates a new element with the given name.
txt = doc.createTextNode("string") - Creates a new element with the given name.
ele.appendChild(node) - Appends a child node to the element. A child node can be a sub-element or a text node.
ele.setAttribute(name, value) - Sets a new attribute to the element.
node.toxml() - Returns the XML presentation of the node. A node can be a text node, an element or a document.
node.toprettyxml() - Returns the pretty XML presentation of the node.
node.writexml(file) - Writes the XML presentation of the node to a file
node.unlink() - Removes the node from its parent.
doc = xml.dom.minidom.getDOMImplementation().createDocument(None, "root_tag", None) - Creates a new DOM document using the minidom implementation

Here is an example Python script that builds a new XML document using the xml.dom.minidom sub-package:

#- minidom_Build_XML.py
#- Copyright (c) 2018 HerongYang.com. All Rights Reserved.
#
import xml.dom.minidom

#- Create new XML document with its root element
doc = xml.dom.minidom.parseString("<dictionary/>")
root = doc.documentElement

#- Create new element
word = doc.createElement("word")

#- Add new element to root
root.appendChild(word)

#- Create new element with an attribute
first = doc.createElement("update")
first.setAttribute("date", "2100-01-01")

#- Add new element to "word"
word.appendChild(first)

#- Add second element to "word"
second = doc.createElement("name")
second.setAttribute("is_acronym","true");
text = doc.createTextNode("DTD")
second.appendChild(text)
word.appendChild(second)

#- Add third element to "word"
third = doc.createElement("definition")
third.appendChild(doc.createTextNode("Document Type Definition"))
word.appendChild(third)

#- Print out the document as pretty XML
print(doc.toprettyxml())

If you run minidom_Build_XML.py, you will get:

herong> python minidom_Build_XML.py

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<dictionary>
   <word>
      <update date="2100-01-01"/>
      <name is_acronym="true">DTD</name>
      <definition>Document Type Definition</definition>
   </word>
</dictionary>