Issue in generating the xml file from python minidom

Question

Here is the code:

    from xml.dom.minidom import Document

doc = Document()
root = doc.createElement('root')
doc.appendChild(root)
for i in range(1,3):
    main = doc.createElement('item class:=memory')
    root.appendChild(main)
    for j in range(1,3):
        text = doc.createTextNode('DIMM Size'+str(j))
        main.appendChild(text)

print (doc.toprettyxml(indent='\t'))

Here is the output:

     <?xml version="1.0" ?>
<root>
    <item class:=memory>
        DIMM Size1
        DIMM Size2
    </item class:=memory>
    <item class:=memory>
        DIMM Size1
        DIMM Size2
    </item class:=memory>
</root>

I am trying to generate the file with following code. Is there a way to generate the following output:

<root>
    <item class:=memory>
        <p> DIMM Size1 </p>
        <p>DIMM Size2 </p>
    </item>
    <item class:=memory>
        <p>DIMM Size1</p>
        <p>DIMM Size2</p>
    </item>
</root>

Why would you put yourself through the pain and suffering of minidom when ElementTree exists? (Also, class:=memory, unlike class='memory', is not valid XML) — Charles Duffy
– Charles Duffy, Commented Mar 19, 2012 at 16:44
<p></p> is an XML element and needs to be created when using minidom... which you shouldn't use anyway. see @CharlesDuffy comment above. — James R
– James R, Commented Mar 19, 2012 at 16:48

Anurag Uniyal · Accepted Answer · 2012-03-19 17:48:30Z

You need two quick changes

Create a p element e.g. doc.createElement('p')
Don't set attributes manually instead use node.attributes e.g. main.attributes['class']='memory'

so your code should look like this

from xml.dom.minidom import Document

doc = Document()
root = doc.createElement('root')
doc.appendChild(root)
for i in range(1,3):
    main = doc.createElement('item')
    main.attributes['class']='memory'
    root.appendChild(main)
    for j in range(1,3):
        p = doc.createElement('p')
        text = doc.createTextNode('DIMM Size'+str(j))
        p.appendChild(text)
        main.appendChild(p)

print (doc.toprettyxml(indent='\t'))

A long term change would be to use ElementTree which has more intuitive interface and is easy to use, more so while reading xml e.g. your example in element tree

from xml.etree import cElementTree as etree

root = etree.Element('root')
for i in range(1,3):
    item = etree.SubElement(root, 'item')
    item.attrib['class']='memory'
    for j in range(1,3):
        p = etree.SubElement(item, 'p')
        p.text = 'DIMM Size %s'%j

print etree.tostring(root)

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