XML Parser that works for both browser and Node.js?

Question

Problem at hand: I have XML on the client side and the server side, but there's no consistent way to parse XML on both sides.

Most browsers have DOMParser. But Node.js doesn't have a built-in XML parser. There are lots of modules for Node.js for XML parsing, but I'm looking for a XML parser API that is consistent for both front-end and back-end. In other words, I'm looking for a XML parsing module that can be used in Node.js like this

const parser = require(magic_library);
const doc = parser.parseFromString(xml_string, 'application/xml');

and also in the browser like this

<script src="magic_library"></script>
<script>
  const doc = parser.parseFromString(xml_string, 'application/xml');
</script>

Please see the help center, specifically item #4 in the section with the numbered list. — Ken White
– Ken White, Commented Aug 15, 2017 at 1:17

Tuan Anh Tran · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-15 01:54:26Z

2

Try fast-xml-parser

In Node.js

var fastXmlParser = require('fast-xml-parser');
var jsonObj = fastXmlParser.parse(xmlData);

// when a tag has attributes 
var options = {
    attrPrefix : "@_",
    textNodeName : "#text",
    ignoreNonTextNodeAttr : true,
    ignoreTextNodeAttr : true,
    ignoreNameSpace : true,
    ignoreRootElement : false,
    textNodeConversion : true,
    textAttrConversion : false,
    arrayMode : false
};
if(fastXmlParser.validate(xmlData)=== true){//optional 
    var jsonObj = fastXmlParser.parse(xmlData,options);
}

//Intermediate obj 
var tObj = fastXmlParser.getTraversalObj(xmlData,options);
var jsonObj = fastXmlParser.convertToJson(tObj);

And in browser

var isValid = parser.validate(xmlData);
var jsonObj = parser.parse(xmlData);

answered Aug 15, 2017 at 1:54

Tuan Anh Tran

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8 Comments

Michael Kay Over a year ago

But note the limitations section: "The parser does not check whether the XML is valid or not". (And I suspect that by "valid", it means "well-formed"). Sadly, finding a high quality conformant XML parser for Javascript is very difficult (I haven't succeeded yet). And I won't believe a parser has a good level of conformance unless it publishes its results against the W3C conformance tests (w3.org/XML/Test/xmlconf-20020606.htm)

Tuan Anh Tran Over a year ago

it depends on use cases. most performant parser usually sacrificing xml validation for speed.

Michael Kay Over a year ago

I've taken a look at the source and this looks like something written by an amateur in an afternoon. It doesn't even handle basic things like character and entity references. The authors don't seem to know the proper meaning of the terms "well-formed" and "valid" as used in the XML world. And it doesn't produce a DOM tree, which is surely implicit in the OP's requirement.

Michael Kay Over a year ago

Re-reading that comment: by "amateur" I didn't mean an amateur as far as programming skills are concerned, I meant someone whose knowledge of XML is fairly limited. Sorry if I implied otherwise.

goodpoutine Over a year ago

How do I import this into the browser? I'm using Express. Do I just have a tag like. <script src="../node_modules/fast-xml-parser"></script>

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