# Basic xml parsing question

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/basic-xml-parsing-question/163971>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 26, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/basic-xml-parsing-question/163971 "2009-03-26T16:05:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![geo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/f4b2a3/32.png) [@geo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/geo)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/basic-xml-parsing-question/163971/1 "2009-03-26T16:05:30Z")

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I am just starting to program and am learning by using ruby, so this  
question is probably really basic.

I have a a file that I want to put the contents into a sqlite database.  
This file is locally saved now, but will eventually be sent by remote  
machines for collecting the data from. I will not have to retrieve the  
documents, but I will have to figure out how to accept them when they  
are sent to me. I have read up a bit on REXML and Nokogiri, but am not  
sure where/how to get started.

If someone can give me some pointers on where to start, that would be  
great.

Below is a partial sample of what I’m trying to parse. The database  
tables correspond to the record names.

Thanks for any help.

\<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" ?\>

```
<calldetail srcmac="001C10F635B6" srcname="20011" srcdesc="App

```

Version 1.7.1" dstmac=“0004AC456B46” dstname=“60011” dstdesc=“App  
Version 1.7.1” connected=“57370806” totaltime=“57372979”  
responsetime=“2173” alerttime="-1" answertime=“2173” teardowntime=“1575”  
avgtrans=“787” netlatency=“1874” totalbytes=“140337” mediabytes=“136944”  
totalpackets=“1942” mediapackets=“1902” lostpackets=“0”  
signalscore=“99.958” mediascore=“98.967” srccause=“16” dstcause=“16”  
srclan=“10.10.2.2” dstlan=“192.168.1.40” /\>

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![geo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/f4b2a3/32.png) [@geo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/geo)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/basic-xml-parsing-question/163971/2 "2009-03-26T18:09:03Z")

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Robert K. wrote:

> > Below is a partial sample of what I’m trying to parse. The database  
> > tables correspond to the record names.

> What record names? Do you mean XML tags?

Yes, the tables correspond to the XML tags.

Thanks for your help and links!  
Geo

> Cheers
> 
> robert

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![geo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/f4b2a3/32.png) [@geo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/geo)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 5:57pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/basic-xml-parsing-question/163971/3 "2009-03-26T17:57:34Z")

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2009/3/26 Geo C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):

> I have a a file that I want to put the contents into a sqlite database.  
> This file is locally saved now, but will eventually be sent by remote  
> machines for collecting the data from. I will not have to retrieve the  
> documents, but I will have to figure out how to accept them when they  
> are sent to me. I have read up a bit on REXML and Nokogiri, but am not  
> sure where/how to get started.

Well, using REXML you have two options

1. use REXML’s DOM parsing, i.e. let it read in the whole file and  
create an XML DOM tree in memory. Then you can traverse that DOM tree,  
for example using XPath expressions and fill the DB while you do the  
traversal.

2. use REXML’s PUSH or PULL parsing and fill the DB while you receive  
the parsing events. In this scenario you will have to keep some state  
(e.g. information about the parent “callsummary” of a “calldetail”)  
yourself.

The second approach is usually more efficient because you never need  
the whole document in memory but it is also a bit more complex to  
implement.

> If someone can give me some pointers on where to start, that would be  
> great.

Some links

[http://www.germane-software.com/software/rexml/docs/tutorial.html](http://www.germane-software.com/software/rexml/docs/tutorial.html)  
[http://www.w3schools.com/xpath/](http://www.w3schools.com/xpath/)  
[http://www.zvon.org/xxl/XPathTutorial/General/examples.html](http://www.zvon.org/xxl/XPathTutorial/General/examples.html)

> Below is a partial sample of what I’m trying to parse. The database  
> tables correspond to the record names.

What record names? Do you mean XML tags?

Cheers

robert

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![geo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/g/f4b2a3/32.png) [@geo](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/geo)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/basic-xml-parsing-question/163971/4 "2009-03-27T02:25:43Z")

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On Mar 26, 11:02 am, Geo C. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Below is a partial sample of what I’m trying to parse. The database  
> tables correspond to the record names.

Well, you have hierarchical data (calldetails inside of callsummary)  
so I’m not sure how you want to map it to your database, but here’s a  
simple parsing example to get you started.

Assuming you want all the attributes in each calldetail:

doc = Nokogiri::XML.parse(xml)  
doc.search(‘//calldetail’).each do |call|  
call.attributes.each do |key,value|  
puts key + “=” + value  
end  
end