Python minidom parsing xml gives None or empty string instead of values from xml

Question

I am trying to parse SAP results xml file (generated in soapUI) in Python using minidom and everything goes smoothly until it comes to retrieving values.

No matter what type of node it is, value printed is None or just empty string. Nodes have different types and only value I can get so far is tag name for element node. When it comes to it's value I get None. For text one I get #text for nodeName, 3 for nodeType, but empty string for nodeValue.

Whats wrong with it?

The code is:

from xml.dom.minidom import parse, Node

def parseData():

   try:
      data = parse('data.xml')
   except (IOError):
      print 'No \'data.xml\' file found. Move or rename the file.'

   Milestones = data.getElementsByTagName('IT_MILESTONES')

   for node in Milestones:
      item_list = node.getElementsByTagName('item')
      print(item_list[0].childNodes[1].nodeName)
      print(item_list[0].childNodes[1].nodeType)
      print(item_list[0].childNodes[1].nodeValue)

while important part of XML structure looks like that:

<IT_MILESTONES>
      <item>
         <AUFNR>000070087734</AUFNR>
         <INDEX_SEQUENCE>2300</INDEX_SEQUENCE>
         <MLSTN>1</MLSTN>
         <TEDAT>2012-08-01</TEDAT>
         <TETIM>09:12:38</TETIM>
         <LST_ACTDT>2012-08-01</LST_ACTDT>
         <MOBILE>X</MOBILE>
         <ONLY_SL/>
         <VORNR>1292</VORNR>
         <EINSA/>
         <EINSE/>
         <NOT_FOR_NEXT_MS>X</NOT_FOR_NEXT_MS>
      </item>
</IT_MILESTONES>

I suggest that you use ElementTree instead of minidom. With ElementTree, XML processing is much more straightforward. See these questions: stackoverflow.com/q/12338877/407651, stackoverflow.com/q/16196501/407651. — mzjn
– mzjn, Commented Sep 18, 2013 at 15:05

Alfe · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-18 10:16:41Z

1

You should have a look at the item_list[0].childNodes[1].childNodes. These contain probably what you are looking for. For example:

item_list[0].childNodes[11].childNodes[0].nodeValue

is the date

u'2012-08-01'

Nodes of type 1 do not have a nodeValue but childNodes. Nodes of type 3 (text nodes) have a nodeValue.

edited Sep 18, 2013 at 10:16

answered Sep 18, 2013 at 10:09

Alfe

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