Converting an array dict to xml in python?

Question

I have this array that I need to convert to xml.

array = [
    {
        'time': {"hour":"1", "minute":"30","seconds": "40"}
    },
    {
        'place': {"street":"40 something", "zip": "00000"}
    }
]

The xml should have a title that I can put in as a variable for example,

xml_title = "test"

The result I want based on the array above and the xml title is this:

<test>
    <time hour="1" minute="30" second="40"></time>
    <place>
        <street>40 something</street>
        <zip>00000</zip>
    </place>
</test>

I liked the answer given in a similar stack overflow question (https://stackoverflow.com/a/18991263/875139) but I am confused how I can use that answer to get this desired result.

Help please.

Answer 1

As noted in the comments, your original question mixes attributes and elements. If you want everything as elements, you might be able to use dicttoxml. For example:

from dicttoxml import dicttoxml

array = [
    {
        'time': {"hour":"1", "minute":"30","seconds": "40"}
    },
    {
        'place': {"street":"40 something", "zip": "00000"}
    }
]

xml = dicttoxml(array, custom_root='test', attr_type=False)

Produces the following XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<test>
    <item>
        <time>
            <seconds>40</seconds>
            <minute>30</minute>
            <hour>1</hour>
        </time>
    </item>
    <item>
        <place>
            <street>40 something</street>
            <zip>00000</zip>
        </place>
    </item>
</test>

If you can convert your dictionary to:

dictionary = {
    'time': {"hour":"1", "minute":"30","seconds": "40"},
    'place': {"street":"40 something", "zip": "00000"}
}

Then your XML will look as desired.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<test>
    <place>
        <street>40 something</street>
        <zip>00000</zip>
    </place>
    <time>
        <seconds>40</seconds>
        <minute>30</minute>
        <hour>1</hour>
    </time>
</test>

Note that, in general, the order of dictionary keys are not guaranteed, so if you want to preserve the order of keys in a dict, you may want to check out collections.OrderedDict.

Answer 2

For simple cases, you can go with something like this:

def object_to_xml(data: Union[dict, bool], root='object'):
    xml = f'<{root}>'
    if isinstance(data, dict):
        for key, value in data.items():
            xml += object_to_xml(value, key)

    elif isinstance(data, (list, tuple, set)):
        for item in data:
            xml += object_to_xml(item, 'item')

    else:
        xml += str(data)

    xml += f'</{root}>'
    return xml

Examples:

xml = object_to_xml([1, 2, 3], 'root')
# <root><item>1</item><item>2</item><item>3</item></root>

xml = object_to_xml({"name": "the matrix", "age": 20, "metadata": {"dateWatched": datetime.datetime.now()}}, 'movie')
# <movie><name>the matrix</name><age>20</age><metadata><dateWatched>2020-11-01 00:35:39.020358</dateWatched></metadata></movie>