Parse Nested XML Objective C - NSXMLParser

Question

All,

I have XML in the following format:

Answer 1

Some observations:

1. An infinite number of WHAT inside of the WHAT?

2. Assuming there can be more than one Description element, the outer data structure in which you store the contents must be a NSMutableArray, not a dictionary. You then use one mutable dictionary per Description element.

3. Consequently, in didStartElement:, check if the element name is @"Description" and if so, create a new NSMutableDictionary instance that you store in an ivar.

4. In foundCharacters:, you always have to append the new characters to the existing currentElementValue because the method can be called multiple times for each element's contents. I see many people do this wrong despite the fact that Apple's sample code clearly demonstrates the correct way.

5. In didEndElement:, do this:

   • If the element name is @"desc" or @"IP", assign currentElementValue to the corresponding key in your current mutable dictionary. Don't forget to release currentElementValue before you set it to nil. You currently have a memory leak in your code because you're not doing that.

   • If the element name is @"Description", add the current mutable dictionary to the mutable array. Release the dictionary and set the ivar to nil. A new dictionary will be created the next time you encounter a @"Description" element in didStartElement:.

   • If the element name is @"linked-list", the mutable array will contain all the dictionaries and you're done.