Converting NSDictionary to XML

Question

I need to Post data in XML format. The server accepts a specific xml format. I don\'t want to write the xml by hand, what i want to do is create a NSMutableDictionary<

Answer 1

If you wouldn't use libraries or need additional customization:

- (NSString*)convertDictionaryToXML:(NSDictionary*)dictionary withStartElement:(NSString*)startElement
{
    return [self convertDictionaryToXML:dictionary withStartElement:startElement isFirstElement:YES];
}

- (NSString*)convertDictionaryToXML:(NSDictionary*)dictionary withStartElement:(NSString*)startElement isFirstElement:(BOOL) isFirstElement
{
    NSMutableString *xml = [[NSMutableString alloc] initWithString:@""];
    NSArray *arr = [dictionary allKeys];
    if (isFirstElement)
    {
        [xml appendString:@"\n"];
    }
    [xml appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"<%@>\n", startElement]];
    for(int i=0; i < [arr count]; i++)
    {
        NSString *nodeName = [arr objectAtIndex:i];
        id nodeValue = [dictionary objectForKey:nodeName];
        if([nodeValue isKindOfClass:[NSArray class]])
        {
            if([nodeValue count]>0)
            {
                for(int j=0;j<[nodeValue count];j++)
                {
                    id value = [nodeValue objectAtIndex:j];
                    if([value isKindOfClass:[NSDictionary class]])
                    {
                        [xml appendString:[self convertDictionaryToXML:value withStartElement:nodeName isFirstElement:NO]];
                    }
                }
            }
        }
        else if([nodeValue isKindOfClass:[NSDictionary class]])
        {
            [xml appendString:[self convertDictionaryToXML:nodeValue withStartElement:nodeName isFirstElement:NO]];
        }
        else
        {
            if([nodeValue length]>0){
                [xml appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"<%@>",nodeName]];
                [xml appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@",[dictionary objectForKey:nodeName]]];
                [xml appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\n",nodeName]];
            }
        }
    }

    [xml appendString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"\n",startElement]];

    NSString *finalxml=[xml stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"&" withString:@"&"];

    return finalxml;
}

and call this as:

NSString *xmlString = [self convertDictionaryToXML:data withStartElement:startElementName];