XML Not Parsing in Python 2.7 with ElementTree

Question

I have the following XML file which I get from REST API

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<boxes>
  <home id="1" name="productname"/>
  <server>111.111.111.111</server>
  <approved>yes</approved>
  <creation>2007 handmade</creation>
  <description>E-Commerce, buying and selling both attested</description>
  <boxtype>
      <sizes>large, medium, small</sizes>
      <vendor>Some Organization</vendor>
      <version>ANY</version>
  </boxtype>
  <method>Handmade, Handcrafted</method>
  <time>2014</time>
</boxes>

I am able to get the above output, store in a string variable and print in console,

but when I send this to xml ElementTree

import base64
import urllib2
from xml.dom.minidom import Node, Document, parseString
from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
from xml.etree.ElementTree import XML, fromstring, tostring

print outputxml ##Printing xml correctly,  outputxml contains xml above
content = ET.fromstring(outputxml)
boxes = content.find('boxes')
print boxes
boxtype = boxes.find("boxes/boxtype")

If I print the boxes it is giving me None and hence is giving me below error

boxtype = boxes.find("boxes/boxtype")
AttributeError: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'find'

I'm surprised you don't get a parse error -- <method>Handmade, Handcrafted</discoverMethod> is clearly broken! — Alex Martelli
– Alex Martelli, Commented Jan 15, 2015 at 0:04
For a start, the line ` <method>Handmade, Handcrafted</discoverMethod>` is invalid. — AMADANON Inc.
– AMADANON Inc., Commented Jan 15, 2015 at 0:05

karthikr · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-15 00:06:14Z

1

The root level node is boxes, and it cannot find boxes within itself.

boxtype = content.find("boxtype")

should be sufficient.

DEMO:

>>> import base64
>>> import urllib2
>>> from xml.dom.minidom import Node, Document, parseString
>>> from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
>>> from xml.etree.ElementTree import XML, fromstring, tostring
>>> 
>>> print outputxml ##Printing xml correctly,  outputxml contains xml above
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<boxes>
  <home id="1" name="productname"/>
  <server>111.111.111.111</server>
  <approved>yes</approved>
  <creation>2007 handmade</creation>
  <description>E-Commerce, buying and selling both attested</description>
  <boxtype>
      <sizes>large, medium, small</sizes>
      <vendor>Some Organization</vendor>
      <version>ANY</version>
  </boxtype>
  <method>Handmade, Handcrafted</method>
  <time>2014</time>
</boxes>
>>> content = ET.fromstring(outputxml)
>>> boxes = content.find('boxes')
>>> print boxes
None
>>> 
>>> boxes
>>> content #note that the content is the root level node - boxes
<Element 'boxes' at 0x1075a9250> 
>>> content.find('boxtype')
<Element 'boxtype' at 0x1075a93d0>
>>>

answered Jan 15, 2015 at 0:06

karthikr

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1 Comment

karthikr Over a year ago

sure, either ways, the issue is - as in the answer.. the content is the boxes element you are looking for.

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