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Commandline xpath query
I'm writing an AppleScript action for iTunes that needs to query some information from an XML file, which isn't available natively :(. Currently I'm using 'xmllib' from http://www.satimage.fr/software/en/downloads/downloads_companion_osaxen.html to run xpath queries in applescript. But I wan't to write this script without any 3rd-party dependencies, if at all possible and for this part of the process that I'm automating, XMLLib is the only 3rd party dependency.
So, now I was wondering if I could use any of the built-in (pre-compiled) tools that will run from commandline to query an xml-file using xpath. Considdering an xpath that returns a string, '//Series[1]/id[1]/text()'
Requirements would be for this commandline tool to be available on OSX.4 running on a PowerPC, since my media-server is an old G4 that doesn't run any later version :)
FYI, the AppleScript action, when 'finished', will be opensourced.
So, now I was wondering if I could use any of the built-in (pre-compiled) tools that will run from commandline to query an xml-file using xpath. Considdering an xpath that returns a string, '//Series[1]/id[1]/text()'
Requirements would be for this commandline tool to be available on OSX.4 running on a PowerPC, since my media-server is an old G4 that doesn't run any later version :)
FYI, the AppleScript action, when 'finished', will be opensourced.
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If you post a sample of the XML file, and what you'd like from it, we may be able to get you something.
Alright, I've posted a partial of one of the xml-files I'm working with.
From this file I'm pulling:
"//Episode[DVD_episodenumb
And from the resulting node I pull:
"/Overview/text()"
"/EpisodeName/text()"
"/FirstAired/text()"
Then for genre I jump back to the root for this:
"//Series[1]/Genre[1]/text
I was thinking of grabbing all the info in individual queries, instead of grabbing the node first. This would be less efficient, but I cannot conceive of how to return multiple results from a shell-command back to AppleScript... Anyways, I have a reasonable grasp of xpath, it's getting the result without 3rd-party patching that eludes me :)
From this file I'm pulling:
"//Episode[DVD_episodenumb
And from the resulting node I pull:
"/Overview/text()"
"/EpisodeName/text()"
"/FirstAired/text()"
Then for genre I jump back to the root for this:
"//Series[1]/Genre[1]/text
I was thinking of grabbing all the info in individual queries, instead of grabbing the node first. This would be less efficient, but I cannot conceive of how to return multiple results from a shell-command back to AppleScript... Anyways, I have a reasonable grasp of xpath, it's getting the result without 3rd-party patching that eludes me :)
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<Data><Series>
<id>75682</id>
<Actors>|Emily Deschanel|David Boreanaz|T.J. Thyne|John Francis Daley|Michaela Conlin|Tamara Taylor|Eric Millegan|Jonathan Adams|</Actors>
<Genre>|Drama|</Genre>
<IMDB_ID>tt0460627</IMDB_ID>
<Language>en</Language>
<Network>FOX</Network>
<NetworkID></NetworkID>
<Overview>Lorem Ipsum</Overview>
<Rating>8.6</Rating>
<SeriesID>33332</SeriesID>
<fanart>fanart/original/75682-2.jpg</fanart>
</Series>
<Episode>
<id>298561</id>
<Combined_episodenumber>2</Combined_episodenumber>
<Combined_season>1</Combined_season>
<DVD_chapter></DVD_chapter>
<DVD_discid></DVD_discid>
<DVD_episodenumber></DVD_episodenumber>
<DVD_season></DVD_season>
<Director>Allan Kroeker</Director>
<EpImgFlag></EpImgFlag>
<EpisodeName>The Man In The SUV</EpisodeName>
<EpisodeNumber>2</EpisodeNumber>
<FirstAired>2005-09-20</FirstAired>
<GuestStars>|Jose Zuniga|Nicholas Massouh|Ane Dudek|Bahar Soomekh|Federico Dordei|Said Faraj|Dave Roberson|Tracy Howe|</GuestStars>
<IMDB_ID></IMDB_ID>
<Language>en</Language>
<Overview>Lorum Ipsum</Overview>
<ProductionCode>1AKY02</ProductionCode>
<Rating>7.5</Rating>
<SeasonNumber>1</SeasonNumber>
<Writer>Stephen Nathan</Writer>
<absolute_number></absolute_number>
<filename>episodes/75682/298561.jpg</filename>
<lastupdated>1231598855</lastupdated>
<seasonid>9191</seasonid>
<seriesid>75682</seriesid>
</Episode>
</Data>
I just noticed that I posted the less common query for getting the 'episode' node, most of the time I'd be searching based on EpisodeNumber instead:
"//Episode[EpisodeNumber="
"//Episode[EpisodeNumber="
I'm not familiar with the xpath, or how it relates to the XML file. I was planning on looking into this so I could help some more, but haven't had time.
If you summarize what you want, I can help you get it.
If you summarize what you want, I can help you get it.
Alright, I'll try to start with a quick summary of what xpath does:
xpath can be used to search for, and retreive, information from an xml-file in a way which is quite similar to a 'path' in any shell (DOS, Unix, etc). With it you can return entire nodes/elements or even go as detailed as a single attribute. Also, by using advanced xpath constructions, you can select based on attributes.
In my particular case I have an xml-document which is filled with episodes for a particular (tv)series and I am querying it for one particular episode. After retreiving the episode I need query the resulting element for information regarding its' title, description and possibly some other info when I want to expand the script.
Also I'm retreiving some information from the 'Series' node regarding the Genre of the series, which in iTunes needs to be stored for every single 'track'.
The reason I was suggesting perl is because I know it's possible to write commandline 'tools' with it, it's installed by default since OSX.4 and it has an xml/xpath api installed. Problem is, I've never written anything in perl so I don't know how to do it myself, while it sounds like it could be a rather easy thing to write (in java it wouldn't take me very long to write it and I've been considdering to do so). All that the tool needs to do is recieve the path to an xml file and an xpath query, process it and then return the result as a string.
xpath can be used to search for, and retreive, information from an xml-file in a way which is quite similar to a 'path' in any shell (DOS, Unix, etc). With it you can return entire nodes/elements or even go as detailed as a single attribute. Also, by using advanced xpath constructions, you can select based on attributes.
In my particular case I have an xml-document which is filled with episodes for a particular (tv)series and I am querying it for one particular episode. After retreiving the episode I need query the resulting element for information regarding its' title, description and possibly some other info when I want to expand the script.
Also I'm retreiving some information from the 'Series' node regarding the Genre of the series, which in iTunes needs to be stored for every single 'track'.
The reason I was suggesting perl is because I know it's possible to write commandline 'tools' with it, it's installed by default since OSX.4 and it has an xml/xpath api installed. Problem is, I've never written anything in perl so I don't know how to do it myself, while it sounds like it could be a rather easy thing to write (in java it wouldn't take me very long to write it and I've been considdering to do so). All that the tool needs to do is recieve the path to an xml file and an xpath query, process it and then return the result as a string.
Adam314 still seems interested in bringing this issue to a conclusion, since this part of my project is not in any time-pressure it has not been resolved through other means and I would like to await Adam's reply.
Ok, so I had another short inspirational session of googling and came across 'http://uszla.me.uk/space/blog/2007/09/21', using xmllint to run an xpath query against some xml file. I adapted it a little to more closely match my needs and have something that works. It ain't pretty, if you ask my opinion, but it works. Also, xmllint comes installed on an osx.4 box, at least one that has been regularly updated.
Since this still ain't the pretty solution I was hoping for I'm still holding out for a custom script using perl or ruby or whatever can be used to make some elegant script out of... But in case it doesn't happen, I have something that works well enough.
Since this still ain't the pretty solution I was hoping for I'm still holding out for a custom script using perl or ruby or whatever can be used to make some elegant script out of... But in case it doesn't happen, I have something that works well enough.
-- *
-- xpath query using xmllint shell mode. This method throws the xpath query at xmllint using an echo
-- statement. Since this tool lives on tiger as well as leopard it is a relatively 'safe' method of
-- running an xpath query from applescript. Currently this method only works on queries that select
-- a single node!
-- The result of the shellCommand is trimmed and set to an empty string if the result started with the
-- query (which indicates it failed or multiple nodes were part of the selection).
-- For the idea of creating this method I would refer to: http://uszla.me.uk/space/blog/2007/09/21
--
-- @parameter query A String containing the xpath query you want to use
-- @parameter source A String containing the xml, or a POSIX path to the xml-file you want to query
-- @parameter fromFile A class set to 'file' if the source is a file, otherwise a file is create and source is stored in that file.
-- */
on xpath for query against source from fromFile
set shellPipe to "|"
set shellEcho to "echo \"cd " & query & NL & "cat\""
set shellCommand to "/usr/bin/xmllint --noent --shell "
set shellCleanup to "sed 's/^[/a-zA-Z][^<]*>//g'"
set shellCaptureError to " 2>&1" -- For capturing the errorout
-- If source is not from a file, create a temp file...
if fromFile is file then
set filePath to quoted form of POSIX path of source
else
set theFilePath to TEMP_FILE
set filePath to quoted form of POSIX path of theFilePath
try
do shell script "/bin/rm " & filePath
on error
--Ignore it, no need to worry...
end try
set theFileReference to open for access theFilePath with write permission
write source to theFileReference
close access theFileReference
end if
set shellScript to (shellEcho & shellPipe & shellCommand & filePath & shellCaptureError & shellPipe & shellCleanup)
set shellResult to (do shell script shellScript)
--If the result starts with the query, something went wrong...
if (shellResult contains query) then
-- display dialog (shellScript & NL & "'" & trim(true, shellResult) & "'")
set shellResult to ""
else
set shellResult to trim(true, shellResult)
end if
return shellResult
end xpath
Here is a perl script that will display the requested parameters. If you'd prefer the output in a different format, let me know.
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;
use XML::Simple;
my $xml = XMLin('file1.xml');
foreach (qw(EpisodeNumber SeasonNumber Overview EpisodeName FirstAired)) {
print "$_=$xml->{Episode}->{$_}\n";
}
print "Series Genre=$xml->{Series}->{Genre}\n";
I'll test it out and let you know, I'll probably be able to tweak the output, I just didn't know anything about building a perl script. Like I said, I'll get back to you!
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