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TinyXML

TinyXML is a simple, small, C++ XML parser that can be easily integrated into other programs.

What it does.

In brief, TinyXML parses an XML document, and builds from that a Document Object Model (DOM) that can be read, modified, and saved.

XML stands for "eXtensible Markup Language." It allows you to create your own document markups. Where HTML does a very good job of marking documents for browsers, XML allows you to define any kind of document markup, for example a document that describes a "to do" list for an organizer application. XML is a very structured and convenient format. All those random file formats created to store application data can all be replaced with XML. One parser for everything.

The best place for the complete, correct, and quite frankly hard to read spec is at http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-xml-20040204/. An intro to XML (that I really like) can be found at http://skew.org/xml/tutorial.

There are different ways to access and interact with XML data. TinyXML uses a Document Object Model (DOM), meaning the XML data is parsed into a C++ objects that can be browsed and manipulated, and then written to disk or another output stream. You can also construct an XML document from scratch with C++ objects and write this to disk or another output stream.

TinyXML is designed to be easy and fast to learn. It is two headers and four cpp files. Simply add these to your project and off you go. There is an example file - xmltest.cpp - to get you started.

TinyXML is released under the ZLib license, so you can use it in open source or commercial code. The details of the license are at the top of every source file.

TinyXML attempts to be a flexible parser, but with truly correct and compliant XML output. TinyXML should compile on any reasonably C++ compliant system. It does not rely on exceptions or RTTI. It can be compiled with or without STL support. TinyXML fully supports the UTF-8 encoding, and the first 64k character entities.

What it doesn't do.

TinyXML doesn't parse or use DTDs (Document Type Definitions) or XSLs (eXtensible Stylesheet Language.) There are other parsers out there (check out www.sourceforge.org, search for XML) that are much more fully featured. But they are also much bigger, take longer to set up in your project, have a higher learning curve, and often have a more restrictive license. If you are working with browsers or have more complete XML needs, TinyXML is not the parser for you.

The following DTD syntax will not parse at this time in TinyXML:

@verbatim ]> @endverbatim

because TinyXML sees this as a !DOCTYPE node with an illegally embedded !ELEMENT node. This may be addressed in the future.

Tutorials.

For the impatient, here is a tutorial to get you going. A great way to get started, but it is worth your time to read this (very short) manual completely.

• @subpage tutorial0

Code Status.

TinyXML is mature, tested code. It is very stable. If you find bugs, please file a bug report on the sourceforge web site (www.sourceforge.net/projects/tinyxml). We'll get them straightened out as soon as possible.

There are some areas of improvement; please check sourceforge if you are interested in working on TinyXML.

Related Projects

TinyXML projects you may find useful! (Descriptions provided by the projects.)

• TinyXPath (http://tinyxpath.sourceforge.net). TinyXPath is a small footprint XPath syntax decoder, written in C++.
• TinyXML++ (http://code.google.com/p/ticpp/). TinyXML++ is a completely new interface to TinyXML that uses MANY of the C++ strengths. Templates, exceptions, and much better error handling.

Features

Using STL

TinyXML can be compiled to use or not use STL. When using STL, TinyXML uses the std::string class, and fully supports std::istream, std::ostream, operator<<, and operator>>. Many API methods have both 'const char*' and 'const std::string&' forms.

When STL support is compiled out, no STL files are included whatsoever. All the string classes are implemented by TinyXML itself. API methods all use the 'const char*' form for input.

Use the compile time #define:

TIXML_USE_STL

to compile one version or the other. This can be passed by the compiler, or set as the first line of "tinyxml.h".

Note: If compiling the test code in Linux, setting the environment variable TINYXML_USE_STL=YES/NO will control STL compilation. In the Windows project file, STL and non STL targets are provided. In your project, It's probably easiest to add the line "#define TIXML_USE_STL" as the first line of tinyxml.h.

UTF-8

TinyXML supports UTF-8 allowing to manipulate XML files in any language. TinyXML also supports "legacy mode" - the encoding used before UTF-8 support and probably best described as "extended ascii".

Normally, TinyXML will try to detect the correct encoding and use it. However, by setting the value of TIXML_DEFAULT_ENCODING in the header file, TinyXML can be forced to always use one encoding.

TinyXML will assume Legacy Mode until one of the following occurs:

1. If the non-standard but common "UTF-8 lead bytes" (0xef 0xbb 0xbf) begin the file or data stream, TinyXML will read it as UTF-8.
2. If the declaration tag is read, and it has an encoding="UTF-8", then TinyXML will read it as UTF-8.
3. If the declaration tag is read, and it has no encoding specified, then TinyXML will read it as UTF-8.
4. If the declaration tag is read, and it has an encoding="something else", then TinyXML will read it as Legacy Mode. In legacy mode, TinyXML will work as it did before. It's not clear what that mode does exactly, but old content should keep working.
5. Until one of the above criteria is met, TinyXML runs in Legacy Mode.

What happens if the encoding is incorrectly set or detected? TinyXML will try to read and pass through text seen as improperly encoded. You may get some strange results or mangled characters. You may want to force TinyXML to the correct mode.

You may force TinyXML to Legacy Mode by using LoadFile( TIXML_ENCODING_LEGACY ) or LoadFile( filename, TIXML_ENCODING_LEGACY ). You may force it to use legacy mode all the time by setting TIXML_DEFAULT_ENCODING = TIXML_ENCODING_LEGACY. Likewise, you may force it to TIXML_ENCODING_UTF8 with the same technique.

For English users, using English XML, UTF-8 is the same as low-ASCII. You don't need to be aware of UTF-8 or change your code in any way. You can think of UTF-8 as a "superset" of ASCII.

UTF-8 is not a double byte format - but it is a standard encoding of Unicode! TinyXML does not use or directly support wchar, TCHAR, or Microsoft's _UNICODE at this time. It is common to see the term "Unicode" improperly refer to UTF-16, a wide byte encoding of unicode. This is a source of confusion.

For "high-ascii" languages - everything not English, pretty much - TinyXML can handle all languages, at the same time, as long as the XML is encoded in UTF-8. That can be a little tricky, older programs and operating systems tend to use the "default" or "traditional" code page. Many apps (and almost all modern ones) can output UTF-8, but older or stubborn (or just broken) ones still output text in the default code page.

For example, Japanese systems traditionally use SHIFT-JIS encoding. Text encoded as SHIFT-JIS can not be read by TinyXML. A good text editor can import SHIFT-JIS and then save as UTF-8.

The Skew.org link does a great job covering the encoding issue.