Modify XML using Python minidom

Question

Here is a sample XML file:

<Project attri1="build">
    <Import Project="blahblah" xmlns="someURI" />
    <Property>
        ...
    </Property>
    <Property>
        ...
    </Property>
    ...
    <ItemGroup>
        <Folder Include="Scripts" />
        <Folder Include="Scripts/1.0" />
        <Folder Include="Scripts/2.0/" />
        ...
    </ItemGroup>
      ... some irrelevant ItemGroup is here
    <ItemGroup>
         <None Include="Scripts/1.0/001.sql" />
         <None Include="Scripts/2.0/002.sql" />
    </ItemGroup>
    ...
</Project>

The above XML file is based on the template of Visual Studio's sqlproj file. It is distinguished based on what kind of nodes are inside.

My research:

import xml.dom.minidom
sql = xml.dom.minidom.parse('file.sqlproj')
itemGroup = sql.getElementsByTagName('ItemGroup')
folderGroup = itemGroup[0] # The first ItemGroup has folders
sqlGroup = itemGroup[2] # The 3rd ItemGroup has sql file list.

I want to add <Folder Include="newpath" /> and <Folder Include="newsql" /> into appropriate ItemGroup using Python's xml.dom.minidom library, and eventually override the original sqlproj file.

How to do that?

If you suggest other built-in libraries, please give an example, thanks.

alecxe · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-01 16:26:41Z

3

You didn't tell enough info on how to distinguish ItemGroups between each other, but I'm assuming it is based on what kind of nodes are inside.

Here's how you can insert new Folder tags into the ItemGroup of Folders and Nones. The idea is to find the first Folder and None tags, get the parent and appendChild to it:

import xml.dom.minidom

data = """<Project attri1="build">
    <Import Project="blahblah" xmlns="someURI" />
    <ItemGroup>
        <Folder Include="Scripts" />
        <Folder Include="Scripts/1.0" />
        <Folder Include="Scripts/2.0/" />
    </ItemGroup>
    <ItemGroup/>
    <ItemGroup>
         <None Include="Scripts/1.0/001.sql" />
         <None Include="Scripts/2.0/002.sql" />
    </ItemGroup>
</Project>"""

dom = xml.dom.minidom.parseString(data)

new_folder = dom.createElement('Folder')
new_folder.setAttribute('Include', 'newpath')

folder = dom.getElementsByTagName('Folder')[0]
folder.parentNode.appendChild(new_folder)

new_script = dom.createElement('Folder')
new_script.setAttribute('Include', 'newsql')

none = dom.getElementsByTagName('None')[0]
none.parentNode.appendChild(new_script)

print dom.toprettyxml()

It prints:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<Project attri1="build">
    <Import Project="blahblah" xmlns="someURI"/>
    <ItemGroup>
        <Folder Include="Scripts"/>
        <Folder Include="Scripts/1.0"/>
        <Folder Include="Scripts/2.0/"/>
        <Folder Include="newpath"/>
    </ItemGroup>
    <ItemGroup/>
    <ItemGroup>
        <None Include="Scripts/1.0/001.sql"/>
        <None Include="Scripts/2.0/002.sql"/>
        <Folder Include="newsql"/>
    </ItemGroup>
</Project>

answered May 1, 2014 at 16:26

alecxe

476k127 gold badges1.1k silver badges1.2k bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

hlx98007 Over a year ago

Thank you for the idea, finding the first child and append to its parent.

Akhilesh Over a year ago

@alecxe , it's not updating the file. It just affecting the local data.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Modify XML using Python minidom

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related