how to get array from and xml file in swift

Question

I am new to swift but I have made an android app where a string array is selected from an xml file. This is a large xml file that contains a lot of string arrays and the app gets the relevant string array based on a user selection.

I am now trying to develop the same app for iOS using swift. I would like to use the same xml file but I can not see and easy way to get the correct array. For example, part of the xml looks like this

 <string-array name="OCR_Businessstudies_A_Topics">
    <item>1. Business objectives and strategic decisions</item>
    <item>2. External influences facing businesses</item>
    <item>3. Marketing and marketing strategies</item>
    <item>4. Operational strategy</item>
    <item>5. Human resources</item>
    <item>6. Accounting and financial considerations</item>
    <item>7. The global environment of business</item>
</string-array>

<string-array name="OCR_Businessstudies_AS_Topics">
    <item>1. Business objectives and strategic decisions</item>
    <item>2. External influences facing businesses</item>
    <item>3. Marketing and marketing strategies</item>
    <item>4. Operational strategy</item>
    <item>5. Human resources</item>
    <item>6. Accounting and financial considerations</item>
</string-array>

If I have the string "OCR_Businessstudies_A_Topics" how do i get the "OCR_Businessstudies_A_Topics" array from the xml file.

This is very straight forward in android and although I have used online tutorials for swift it seems like I have to parse the xml file but do not seem to be getting anywhere.

Is there a better approach than trying to parse the whole xml fie?

Thanks

Barry

Possible duplicate of Parse Xml into Array (Swift)

pedrouan
– pedrouan

2016-09-03 15:21:43 +00:00
Commented Sep 3, 2016 at 15:21 — pedrouan
– pedrouan, Commented Sep 3, 2016 at 15:21

Code Different · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-03 15:58:45Z

0

You can write your own XML parser, conforming to NSXMLParser or use a library like HTMLReader:

let fileURL = NSBundle.mainBundle().URLForResource("data", withExtension: "xml")!
let xmlData = NSData(contentsOfURL: fileURL)!
let topic = "OCR_Businessstudies_A_Topics"

let document = HTMLDocument(data: xmlData, contentTypeHeader: "text/xml")
for item in document.nodesMatchingSelector("string-array[name='\(topic)'] item") {
    print(item.textContent)
}

answered Sep 3, 2016 at 15:58

Code Different

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1 Comment

Baz M Over a year ago

Thanks. Wrote my own xml parser in the end. Seems thats the only way to do it on swift. Got it working now and selecting the information I need from the xml file. Used the following tutorial to help (books.google.co.uk/…)

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