possible to read xml file in custom widget?

Anduril

first I have to admin: I'm a total js dummy...
I tried to create a dropdown list and read data from a xml file to fill this list.
I used this online tutorial http://www.plus2net.com/javascript_tutorial/xml-xmlhttprequest.php but when I try it I get ReferenceError: "window" is not defined in at line number 5. Can you help me how to read this file or is it not possible?

jkandasa

@Anduril I guess XMLHttpRequest won't support JAVA. if you want to read remote XML file you can use the following code,

var myImports = new JavaImporter(java.io, java.lang, java.util, java.text);

with(myImports) {
 var response = mcApi.http().get("http://www.plus2net.com/php_tutorial/file-xml-demo.xml");
 if(response.responseCode == 200){
    var xmlData = response.entity;
   // your code...
 }
}

Anduril

Thanks a lot four your code, I will try to refine this and get it working. I will have a local xml file in future, but I think I will find a good tutorial for this in the web.

Anduril

hi,

is it also possible to read a local xml file? And how can I access the different information in the file, are they transfered to the xmlData as options? So would this file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<name id="1">
  <first>John</first>
  <last>Doe</last>
</name>

be read as for example xmlData.name.first

jkandasa

@anduril It is possible to read XML file. But as we need to write some implementation to achieve xmlData.name.first. Kindly create a ticket for this.

Anduril

well the way to access the data is (in my case) not important, I could also use a static parser. I want to open several xml files with all the same structure and extract the data to mycontroller variables. Those could be read and processed in a second step by another script.

Anduril

well I did also tried your example code and it seems mcApi.http().get does not work correctly...

TypeError: mcApi.http is not a function in  at line number 4

jkandasa

@anduril Can you post your complete code?

I tested example code once again with SNAPSHOT build, seems everything ok.

{
  "myImports": {},
  "response": {
    "uri": "http://www.plus2net.com/php_tutorial/file-xml-demo.xml",
    "entity": "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n<student>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>1</id>\n\t\t\t<name>John Deo</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>2</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Max Ruin</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Three</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>3</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Arnold</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Three</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>4</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Krish Star</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>5</id>\n\t\t\t<name>John Mike</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>6</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Alex John</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>7</id>\n\t\t\t<name>My John Rob</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Fifth</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>8</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Asruid</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Five</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>9</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tes Qry</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>10</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Big John</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>12</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Recky</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>13</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Kty</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>14</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Bigy</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>15</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tade Row</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>16</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Gimmy</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>17</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tumyu</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>18</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Honny</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Five</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>19</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tinny</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Nine</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>20</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Jackly</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Nine</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>21</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Babby John</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>22</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Reggid</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>23</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Herod</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Eight</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>24</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tiddy Now</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>25</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Giff Tow</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>26</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Crelea</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>27</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Big Nose</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Three</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>28</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Rojj Base</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>29</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tess Played</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>30</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Reppy Red</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>31</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Marry Toeey</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>32</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Binn Rott</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>33</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Kenn Rein</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>34</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Gain Toe</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>35</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Rows Noump</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n</student>",
    "responseCode": 200,
    "headers": [
      {
        "name": "Date",
        "buffer": {
          "full": false,
          "empty": false
        },
        "valuePos": 5,
        "elements": [
          {
            "name": "Mon",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          },
          {
            "name": "30 Apr 2018 16:24:19 GMT",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          }
        ],
        "value": "Mon, 30 Apr 2018 16:24:19 GMT"
      },
      {
        "name": "Server",
        "buffer": {
          "full": false,
          "empty": false
        },
        "valuePos": 7,
        "elements": [
          {
            "name": "Apache",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          }
        ],
        "value": "Apache"
      },
      {
        "name": "Last-Modified",
        "buffer": {
          "full": false,
          "empty": false
        },
        "valuePos": 14,
        "elements": [
          {
            "name": "Sun",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          },
          {
            "name": "07 Aug 2016 04:44:57 GMT",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          }
        ],
        "value": "Sun, 07 Aug 2016 04:44:57 GMT"
      },
      {
        "name": "ETag",
        "buffer": {
          "full": false,
          "empty": false
        },
        "valuePos": 5,
        "elements": [
          {
            "name": "\"11e3021-b53-53973f62fcef3-gzip\"",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          }
        ],
        "value": "\"11e3021-b53-53973f62fcef3-gzip\""
      },
      {
        "name": "Accept-Ranges",
        "buffer": {
          "full": false,
          "empty": false
        },
        "valuePos": 14,
        "elements": [
          {
            "name": "bytes",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          }
        ],
        "value": "bytes"
      },
      {
        "name": "Cache-Control",
        "buffer": {
          "full": false,
          "empty": false
        },
        "valuePos": 14,
        "elements": [
          {
            "name": "max-age",
            "value": "172800",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          }
        ],
        "value": "max-age=172800"
      },
      {
        "name": "Expires",
        "buffer": {
          "full": false,
          "empty": false
        },
        "valuePos": 8,
        "elements": [
          {
            "name": "Wed",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          },
          {
            "name": "02 May 2018 16:24:19 GMT",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          }
        ],
        "value": "Wed, 02 May 2018 16:24:19 GMT"
      },
      {
        "name": "Vary",
        "buffer": {
          "full": false,
          "empty": false
        },
        "valuePos": 5,
        "elements": [
          {
            "name": "Accept-Encoding",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          },
          {
            "name": "User-Agent",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          }
        ],
        "value": "Accept-Encoding,User-Agent"
      },
      {
        "name": "Keep-Alive",
        "buffer": {
          "full": false,
          "empty": false
        },
        "valuePos": 11,
        "elements": [
          {
            "name": "timeout",
            "value": "5",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          }
        ],
        "value": "timeout=5"
      },
      {
        "name": "Connection",
        "buffer": {
          "full": false,
          "empty": false
        },
        "valuePos": 11,
        "elements": [
          {
            "name": "Keep-Alive",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          }
        ],
        "value": "Keep-Alive"
      },
      {
        "name": "Content-Type",
        "buffer": {
          "full": false,
          "empty": false
        },
        "valuePos": 13,
        "elements": [
          {
            "name": "application/xml",
            "parameters": [],
            "parameterCount": 0
          }
        ],
        "value": "application/xml"
      }
    ]
  },
  "xmlData": "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n<student>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>1</id>\n\t\t\t<name>John Deo</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>2</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Max Ruin</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Three</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>3</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Arnold</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Three</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>4</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Krish Star</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>5</id>\n\t\t\t<name>John Mike</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>6</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Alex John</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>7</id>\n\t\t\t<name>My John Rob</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Fifth</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>8</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Asruid</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Five</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>9</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tes Qry</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>10</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Big John</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>12</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Recky</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>13</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Kty</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>14</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Bigy</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>15</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tade Row</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>16</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Gimmy</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>17</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tumyu</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>18</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Honny</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Five</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>19</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tinny</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Nine</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>20</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Jackly</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Nine</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>21</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Babby John</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>22</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Reggid</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>23</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Herod</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Eight</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>24</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tiddy Now</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>25</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Giff Tow</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>26</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Crelea</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>27</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Big Nose</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Three</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>28</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Rojj Base</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>29</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Tess Played</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>30</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Reppy Red</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>31</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Marry Toeey</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Four</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>32</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Binn Rott</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>33</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Kenn Rein</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>34</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Gain Toe</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Seven</class>\n</details>\n<details>\n\t\t\t<id>35</id>\n\t\t\t<name>Rows Noump</name>\n\t\t\t<class>Six</class>\n</details>\n</student>"
}

Anduril

thanks @jkandasa, it was probably a problem solved with the most recent snapshot. I updated and it works now with the online xml.
Using a local xml still yields an error, I think there is an error in my call...

var myImports = new JavaImporter(java.io, java.lang, java.util, java.text);

with(myImports) {
 var response = mcApi.http().get("c:/file-xml-demo.xml");
 if(response.responseCode == 200){
    var xmlData = response.entity;
 }
}

using [...]get("c:\file-[...] does not work either, so it's not a problem with slash and backslash.
The html file only contains this:

${xmlData}

Using the run nowoption I get this error:

TypeError: Cannot get property "responseCode" of null in  at line number 5

jkandasa

@anduril mcApi.http() used to access from network/internet. We cannot use it to access local disk files.

To access local disk files, you can use the following program,

var myImports = new JavaImporter(java.io, java.lang, java.util, java.text, org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils);

with(myImports) {
 var xmlData = FileUtils.readFileToString(FileUtils.getFile("/tmp/file-xml-demo.xml"));
}

Anduril

Thanks a lot, it works that way. Now my next problem is how to find specific information in this data. I could try to parse line by line, as I have a fixed structure. But maybe it would be easier to create a generic xml parsing mechanism. This would also allow for easier export to xml (my next step when reading works flawless).

jkandasa

https://github.com/mycontroller-org/mycontroller/issues/449

jkandasa

@Anduril Feature available in SNAPSHOT version.

you can read xml content by xpath. To know more about xpath do google or have a look on https://www.w3schools.com/xml/xpath_intro.asp

Function/Method: mcApi.xml().read(uri, xpath) - Returns String

uri - can be local disk path or http url
xpath - should be a valid xpath

var myImports = new JavaImporter(java.io, java.lang, java.util, java.text);

with(myImports) {
 var myData = mcApi.xml().read("http://www.plus2net.com/php_tutorial/file-xml-demo.xml", "/student/details/id[text()='3']/../name");
}

Some of xpath example:

XML content,

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<student>
  <details>
    <id>1</id>
    <name>John Deo</name>
    <class>Four</class>
  </details>
  <details>
    <id>2</id>
    <name>Max Ruin</name>
    <class>Three</class>
  </details>
  <details>
    <id>3</id>
    <name>Arnold</name>
    <class>Three</class>
  </details>
  <details>
    <id>4</id>
    <name>Krish Star</name>
    <class>Four</class>
  </details>
  <details>
    <id>5</id>
    <name>John Mike</name>
    <class>Four</class>
  </details>
</student>

Read student:
- /student
Read name where id is 4:
- /student/details/id[text()='4']/../name
- //id[text()='4']/../name
Read class of 2nd element:
- /student/details[2]/class
- //details[2]/class
Read id where the name is John Mike:
- /student/details/name[text()='John Mike']/../id
- //name[text()='John Mike']/../id

Anduril

wow that's great... thanks a lot.

Anduril

This feature is great (at least for my usage). Is it also possible to update the values in the xml file? I don't mean adding new nodes or other fancy stuff, only updating for example /student/details/class from Threeto Four.
As far as I read the xpath is just a pointer in the tree of an xml, so there is no option to manipulate items. Maybe there is another function available to do this.

jkandasa

@anduril I have removed the old method readXmlByXpath. Introduced XmlApi class to address xml stuff.

mcApi.xml().read(uri, xpath) - Returns String
- uri - can be local disk path or http url
- xpath - should be a valid xpath
mcApi.xml().readAsList(uri, xpath) - Returns List<Map<String, String>>
- uri - can be local disk path or http url
- xpath - should be a valid xpath
mcApi.xml().update(uri, xpath, value)
- uri - should be local disk path
- xpath - should be a valid xpath
- value - String value will be replaced on xpath

Is it also possible to update the values in the xml file? I don't mean adding new nodes or other fancy stuff, only updating for example /student/details/class from Three to Four.

Yes, now it is possible with,

mcApi.xml().update("/tmp/file-xml-demo.xml", "/student/details[1]/class", "Four");

As far as I read the xpath is just a pointer in the tree of an xml, so there is no option to manipulate items. Maybe there is another function available to do this.

You can call readAsList,

var list = mcApi.xml().readAsList("/tmp/file-xml-demo.xml", "//id[text()='4']/..");
// get first result
var item = list.get(0);

// get name, id, class
item.get("name");
item.get("id");
item.get("class");

possible to read xml file in custom widget?

Some of xpath example:

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