ios serializing xml file into nsmutable dictionary where xml has multiple atributes

Question

I'm trying to serialize a xml like this:

<Rows>
<RowOne SKATERID="706" MANUFACTURER="A-DZG" ISFACT="F" ISSKATE="F">True</RowOne>
<RowTwo SKATERID="318" MANUFACTURER="A-FGW" ISFACT="F" ISSKATE="T">True</RowTwo>
<RowThree SKATERID="458" MANUFACTURER="A-OPJ" ISFACT="F" ISSKATE="T">False</RowThree>
<RowFour SKATERID="178" MANUFACTURER="A-JSL" ISFACT="F" ISSKATE="T">True</RowFour>
</Rows>

But my question is what would be the best way of doing it including the atributes. So far I have my parser working and when I detect the node has attributes I'm sending those to a local nsmutabledictionay. but my question is how do I map the dictonary of attibutes and the value of the node. for example in RowOne the value is true bute it has the following attibutes SKATERID="706" MANUFACTURER="A-DZG" ISFACT="F" ISSKATE="F" .

in -(void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didStartElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributeDict{

I have this like of code:

if ([attributeDict count] != 0) {
    self.myDict = [[NSDictionary alloc] initWithDictionary:attributeDict];
}

in -(void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser foundCharacters:(NSString *)string{

I want to figure out what would be the best way of serializing the dictionary with the value of the node

I'll really appreciate your help

How about showing your current code and your desired result. — Wain
I'd like it if HelenaM would give me my checkmark for her previous question where I gave her the solution to use didStartElement =P — Dan
The xcode, iphone, and ipad tags are not relevant to your question. That is why they are being removed. — rmaddy

Dan Dan · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-25T18:12:37

EDIT: After re-reading your question, what do you mean by "serialize"? Pending your answer the solution below may not be what you desired.

If your XML attributes are static I would recommend creating a custom class, myRowClass, that operates like this...

myRow.SkaterID //NSString
myRow.Manufacturer //NSString
myRow.IsFact //BOOL
myRow.IsSkate //BOOL

With that custom class you can push each myRow object into your NSMutableDictionary like this...

[myDict setObject:myRow forKey:@"RowOne"]
myRow = nil;
myRowClass *myRow = [[myRowClass alloc]init];
<...Iterate through next XML Node...>
[myDict setObject:myRow forKey:@"RowTwo"]

Then when you need to access your data you can retrieve it like this...

NSString *myCurrentSkaterID = [[myDict objectForKey:@"RowTwo"].SkaterID]

or

myRowClass *myCurrentRow = [[myRowClass alloc]init];
myCurrentRow = [myDict objectForKey:@"RowTwo"];
NSString *myCurrentSkaterID = myCurrentRow.SkaterID;

ios serializing xml file into nsmutable dictionary where xml has multiple atributes

2 Answers