IOS: NSMXLParser with multiple node - ios

Question

I have a file xml as this:
<data>
<first>
<city>
city
</city>
<people>
400
</people>
</first>
<size>
<width>
340
</width>
<height>
120
</height>
</size>
<description>
<temp>
sunny
</temp>
<people>
45
</people>
</description>
<description>
<temp>
cloudy
</temp>
<people>
90
</people>
</description>
I use for parsing this code:
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didStartElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributeDict{
currentElement = [elementName copy];
if ([elementName isEqualToString:#"first"]) {
firstType = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
currentCity = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
currentPeople = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
}
if ([elementName isEqualToString:#"size"]){
currentSize = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
width = [[NSMutableString alloc]init];
height = [[NSMutableString alloc]init];
}
if ([elementName isEqualToString:#"description"]){
desc1 = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
temp1 = [[NSMutableString alloc]init];
people1 = [[NSMutableString alloc]init];
}
if ([elementName isEqualToString:#"description"]){
desc2 = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
temp2 = [[NSMutableString alloc]init];
people2 = [[NSMutableString alloc]init];
}
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didEndElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName{
if ([elementName isEqualToString:#"first"]) {
[firstType setObject:currentType forKey:#"city"];
[firstType setObject:currentQuery forKey:#"people"];
[feed addObject:[firstType copy]];
}
if ([elementName isEqualToString:#"size"]){
[currentSize setObject:tempC forKey:#"width"];
[currentSize setObject:tempF forKey:#"height"];
[feed addObject:[currentSize copy]];
}
if ([elementName isEqualToString:#"description"]){
[desc1 setObject:temp1 forKey:#"temp1"];
[desc1 setObject:people1 forKey:#"people1"];
[feed addObject:[desc1 copy]];
}
if ([elementName isEqualToString:#"description"]){
[desc2 setObject:temp1 forKey:#"temp2"];
[desc2 setObject:people1 forKey:#"people2"];
[feed addObject:[desc2 copy]];
}
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser foundCharacters:(NSString *)string{
NSLog(#"found");
if ([currentElement isEqualToString:#"city"]){
[currentCity appendString:string];
}
else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:#"people"]) {
[currentPeople appendString:string];
}
else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:#"width"]){
[width appendString:string];
}
else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:#"height"]){
[height appendString:string];
}
else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:#"temp"]){
[temp1 appendString:string];
}
else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:#"temp"]){
[temp2 appendString:string];
}
else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:#"people"]){
[people1 appendString:string];
}
else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:#"people"]){
[people2 appendString:string];
}
}
- (void) parserDidEndDocument:(NSXMLParser *)parser {
NSLog(#"feed:%#",feed);
}
the result of nslog is:
feed:(
{
city = city;
people = 4004590;
},
{
width = 340;
height = 120;
},
{
temp = sunny;
people = "";
},
{ ///???? here there is an empty space
},
{
temp = cloudy;
people = "";
},
{
}
)
Now I don't understand why there is a space between first dictionary of desc 1 and desc2, and I don't know how "people" take the result of people1 and people2 in a single string
Can you help me?

Answer 1

I guess your problem is in duplicated chunks of code such as:
else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:#"temp"]){
[temp1 appendString:string];
}
else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:#"temp"]){
[temp2 appendString:string];
}
In this case your first part of code will executed twice and second never.
Check also another parts of your code, yo have several blocks with this issue.

Answer 2

You need to keep track of whether you are parsing the first occurrence of description within the data tag, or the second. This can easily be done with a boolean (if there are only two), or an integer (for multiple) that indicates which of the tags you are currently processing. Then, in the parser:didEndElement: method, you can assign the accumulated data to the correct dictionary based on the flag/counter.
The other possibility, which I use in my XML parsing, is to accumulate characters for one tag at a time, then when I encounter the closing element for that tag, store the characters into the containing element's Dictionary right then. In other words, when I encounter the endTag for temp, I will immediately assign it to the current description tag's dictionary. Then, when I encounter the ending tag for the description tag itself, I can close out that dictionary, set the flag/increment the counter, and continue on with the next tag that is to be parsed.
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didStartElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributeDict
{
// ... SNIP ...
if ( [ elementName isEqualToString:#"description" ] )
{
curDescription = [ [ NSMutableDictionary alloc ] init ] ;
}
// ... SNIP ...
accumulatedCharacters = [ [ NSMutableString alloc ] init ]
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didEndElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName
{
// ... SNIP ...
if ( [ elementName isEqualToString:#"temp" ] )
{
[ curDescription setValue:accumulatedCharacters forKey:#"temp" ] ;
}
if ( [ elementName isEqualToString:#"description" ] )
{
// Save the curDescription object, then clear it for reuse on the next
// occurrence of the tag
[ curDescription release ] ;
curDescription = nil ;
}
// ... SNIP ...
[ accumulatedCharacters release ] ;
accumulatedCharacters = nil ;
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser foundCharacters:(NSString *)string{
{
[ accumulatedCharacters appendString:string ] ;
}