DumpXML(3pm) User Contributed Perl Documentation DumpXML(3pm)
NAME
Data::DumpXML - Dump arbitrary data structures as XML
SYNOPSIS
use Data::DumpXML qw(dump_xml);
$xml = dump_xml(@list)
DESCRIPTION
This module provides a single function called dump_xml() that takes a list of Perl values as its argument and produces a string as its
result. The string returned is an XML document that represents any Perl data structures passed to the function. Reference loops are han-
dled correctly.
The following data model is used:
data : scalar*
scalar = undef | str | ref | alias
ref : scalar | array | hash | glob | code
array: scalar*
hash: (key scalar)*
The distribution comes with an XML schema and a DTD that more formally describe this structure.
As an example of the XML documents produced, the following call:
$a = bless [1,2], "Foo";
dump_xml($a);
produces:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="US-ASCII"?>
<data xmlns="http://www.cpan.org/.../Data-DumpXML.xsd">
<ref>
<array class="Foo">
<str>1</str>
<str>2</str>
</array>
</ref>
</data>
If dump_xml() is called in a void context, then the dump is printed on STDERR automatically. For compatibility with "Data::Dump", there is
also an alias for dump_xml() called simply dump().
"Data::DumpXML::Parser" is a class that can restore data structures dumped by dump_xml().
Configuration variables
The generated XML is influenced by a set of configuration variables. If you modify them, then it is a good idea to localize the effect.
For example:
sub my_dump_xml {
local $Data::DumpXML::INDENT = "";
local $Data::DumpXML::XML_DECL = 0;
local $Data::DumpXML::DTD_LOCATION = "";
local $Data::DumpXML::NS_PREFIX = "dumpxml";
return dump_xml(@_);
}
The variables are:
$Data::DumpXML::INDENT
You can set the variable $Data::DumpXML::INDENT to control the amount of indenting. The variable contains the whitespace you want to
be used for each level of indenting. The default is a single space. To suppress indenting, set it to "".
$Data::DumpXML::INDENT_STYLE
This variable controls where end element are placed. If you set this variable to the value "Lisp" then end tags are not prefixed by
NL. This give a more compact output.
$Data::DumpXML::XML_DECL
This boolean variable controls whether an XML declaration should be prefixed to the output. The XML declaration is the <?xml ...?>
thingy. The default is 1. Set this value to 0 to suppress the declaration.
$Data::DumpXML::NAMESPACE
This variable contains the namespace used for the XML elements. The default is to let this be a URI that actually resolve to the XML
schema on CPAN. Set it to "" to disable use of namespaces.
$Data::DumpXML::NS_PREFIX
This variable contains the namespace prefix to use on the elements. The default is "", which means that a default namespace will be
declared.
$Data::DumpXML::SCHEMA_LOCATION
This variable contains the location of the XML schema. If this variable is non-empty, then an "xsi:schemaLocation" attribute is added
to the top level "data" element. The default is not to include this, as the location can be inferred from the default XML namespace
used.
$Data::DumpXML::DTD_LOCATION
This variable contains the location of the DTD. If this variable is non-empty, then a <!DOCTYPE ...> is included in the output. The
default is to point to the DTD on CPAN. Set it to "" to suppress the <!DOCTYPE ...> line.
BUGS
Class names with 8-bit characters are dumped as Latin-1, but converted to UTF-8 when restored by the Data::DumpXML::Parser.
The content of globs and subroutines are not dumped. They are restored as the strings "** glob **" and "** code **".
LVALUE and IO objects are not dumped at all. They simply disappear from the restored data structure.
SEE ALSO
Data::DumpXML::Parser, XML::Parser, XML::Dumper, Data::Dump
AUTHORS
The "Data::DumpXML" module is written by Gisle Aas <gisle@aas.no>, based on "Data::Dump".
The "Data::Dump" module was written by Gisle Aas, based on "Data::Dumper" by Gurusamy Sarathy <gsar@umich.edu>.
Copyright 1998-2003 Gisle Aas.
Copyright 1996-1998 Gurusamy Sarathy.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
perl v5.8.8 2006-04-08 DumpXML(3pm)