NAME XML::Simple::Sugar - Sugar sprinkled on XML::Simple VERSION version v1.0.2 SYNOPSIS use Modern::Perl; use Data::Dumper; use XML::Simple::Sugar; my $xs = XML::Simple::Sugar->new(); #Autovivify some elements nested within each other, and set the content of the salary element $xs->company->departments->department([0])->person([0])->salary(60000); #Working with a specific element my $departments = $xs->company->departments; #Setting an attribute on the first element in a collection $departments->department([0])->xml_attr({ name => 'IT Department', manager => 'John Smith' }); #Return all person elements in the first department element and say their first names map{ say $_->first_name->xml_content; } $xs->company->departments->department([0])->person(['all']); #Setting the content of elements my $person = $xs->company->departments->department([0])->person([0]); $person->first_name('John')->last_name('Smith')->email('jsmith@example.com'); #Setting an attribute with attr $person->xml_attr({ skills => 'Perl' }); #Or optionally setting attributes with a hashref $xs->company->departments->department([0])->person([0])->salary({ 'jobgrade' => 10, 'exempt' => 1 }); #Inspect the attributes of an element say Data::Dumper::Dumper($person->xml_attr); #Set and retrieve the string contents of an element $person->first_name->xml_content('John'); say $person->first_name->xml_content; #Also... $person->first_name([0,'John']); #attributes, too... $person->first_name([0,'John',{'is_nice' => 'true'}]); #Write XML to a string say $xs->xml_write; #Write XML to a string from a child element (returns a string reflecting the root element's XML) say $person->xml_write; #A useful optional attribute my $xs_2 = XML::Simple::Sugar->new({ xml => 'here' }); #Or... (this is dumb, don't do it) my $xs_3 = XML::Simple::Sugar->new({ xml_data => { 'your_xml' => [{ 'content' => 'here' }] } }); #Composing larger documents from other XML::Simple::Sugar objects my $xs=XML::Simple::Sugar->new(); my $xs2=XML::Simple::Sugar->new(); $xs2->table->tr->th([0,'First Name',{ style => 'text-align:left' }]); $xs2->table->tr->th([1,'Last Name']); $xs->html->body->div->h1('Page Title')->xml_attr({ style => 'font-weight:bold' }); $xs->html->body->div([1,$xs2]); MINIMUM PERL VERSION SUPPORTED Perl 5.18.2 or later is required by this module. Lesser Perl versions struggle with deep recursion. Patches welcome. VERSIONING Semantic versioning is adopted by this module. See . ATTRIBUTES xml_autovivify (bool) This attribute determines on a per element basis whether new attributes or elements may be introduced. Child elements inherit this setting from their parent. Setting autovivify to false is useful when working with templates with a strict predefined XML structure. This attribute is true by default. xml_data (XML::Simple compliant Perl representation of an XML document) This is the Perl representation of the XML. This is ugly to work with directly, hence this module. xml_index The index number of an element in a collection xml_node The name of the current node xml_parent The parent XML::Simple::Sugar object to the current element xml This readonly attribute is only useful during instantiation (XML::Simple::Sugar->new({ xml => $xml_string })). This is particularly useful if you are working with an XML template. xml_xs This is underlying XML::Simple object. If you need to adjust the XML declaration, you can do that by passing an an XML::Simple object with your preferred options to the constructor. Be wary of setting other XML::Simple options as this module will happily overwrite anything that conflicts with its assumptions. xml_root Returns the root element XML::Simple::Sugar object xml_content (String) Returns the content of the current element METHODS xml_read (XML String) Parses an XML string and sets the data attribute xml_write Writes out an XML string xml_attr (HashRef) If passed a hash reference, this method will set the attributes of the current element. Otherwise, this method returns a hash reference representing the current element's attributes. xml_rmattr (String) This method removes the passed scalar argument from the element's list of attributes. xml_nest (XML::Simple::Sugar) Merges another XML::Simple::Sugar object as a child of the current node. Why this module? I wanted to write/manipulate simple XML payloads with more DWIMmery than what I found in modules available on CPAN (admittedly I didn't look very hard). If the above syntax doesn't accomplish that for you, you probably should use a different module. Additionally, this package depends on XML::Simple, which currently has a "do not use this module in new code" notice. If you are cool with that, then so am I. :) PLEASE BE ADVISED Most of the automagic happens with AUTOLOAD. Accessors/mutators and method names in this package cannot be used as element names in the XML document. XML naming rules prohibit the use of elements starting with the string "xml", so I've used this string as a prefix to all accessors/mutators/methods to avoid potential conflicts with AUTOLOAD. Sorry for the extra characters. :/ REPOSITORY SEE ALSO * XML::Simple CREDITS * Jonathan Cast for excellent critique. * Kyle Bolton for peeking over my shoulder and giving me pro tips. * eMortgage Logic, LLC., for allowing me to publish this module to CPAN AUTHOR Chris Tijerina COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE This software is copyright (c) 2014 by eMortgage Logic LLC. This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.