Parsing XML with Namespaces

[Ben Ross - KP]

I am trying to use javascript to read an XML file with a custom namespace and feed the contents of several nodes into a series of javascriopt variables.

I have gone through numerous posts in this forum and others (see list below), but have not found an answer that works, doesn't contain a reference link to as dead url, or that I can understand (I am pretty new to js).

That said, I am clearly not the first to struggle with this issue.

Some of the specific posts I have looked at include:

• Namespace in XML(references dead link in solution) 
• evaluateXPathExpression vs XML-rules: which is better?
• evaluateXPathExpression attributes of element with namespace
• Accessing xml elements 
• Indesign JS ExtendScript API 
• Get variable value from XML to JavaScript. Pure way (Stack Overflow)
• how to get xml namespace in javascript  (Stack Overflow)
• How can I populate JavaScript variables from an XML file?  (Stack Overflow)

So far, I have not been able to get anything to work!

The top of my XML looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-model href="../CO-Medicare_Combined-Structure.xsd"?>
<!DOCTYPE Root [
  <!ENTITY path "file:///C:/Users/O146962/OneDrive - Kaiser Permanente/Desktop/Indesign Automation POC/Assets/Icons/">
]>
<Root xmlns="kpPDCommon" xmlns:kpdc="kpPDCommon">
  <region kpdc:regionCD="CO">CO</region>
  <lob kpdc:lobCD="MCAR">Medicare</lob>
  <serviceArea>Denver Boulder</serviceArea>
  <planName>Senior Advantage Medicare Medicaid</planName>

I am trying to get the contents of "region", "lob", "serviceArea", and "planName" and use that to popluate js variables. However, even just trying to check to see if the file contains "Root" comes back as "Undefined"!

Here is my current javascript:

#include "glue code.jsx";

var mainFolder = Folder.desktop + "/Indesign Automation POC";
var templateFolder = mainFolder + "/Template Files - CO";
var outputFolder = mainFolder + "/ID_ScriptOutput";

var dataPath = mainFolder + "/Data/CO_DNB-XML_TEST_SPLIT";
//var file = File(dataPath + "/CO_DNB_Details.xml");
var file = dataPath + '/CO_DNB_Providers_Test_1.xml';

var nskpdc = new Namespace ("kpdc", "kpPDCommon");


var xmlFile = new XML(file);
//xmlFile.addNamespace(nskpdc);
//var nspc = xmlFile.contains("kpdc:Root");


var nspc = xmlFile.contains("Root");

var RGN = xmlFile.elements("region")[0];
var LOB = xmlFile.elements("lob")[0];
var SVCA = xmlFile.elements("serviceArea")[0];
var SVCA_PN = xmlFile.elements("planName")[0];

alert(nspc)
//alert('RGN: ' + RGN + ', LOB: ' + LOB + ', SVCA: ' + SVCA + ', Plan: ' + SVCA_PN);

I have tried declaring file as a File. I have tried using XML(file.read()). I have tried declaring my namespace. However I am obviously not doing any of this correctly or it should work. 😅

Appreciate any help!

[Loic.Aigon · Accepted solution]

var f = File (Folder.desktop+"/test.xml");
f.encoding ="UTF-8";
f.open("r");
var x = XML(f.read());
f.close();
alert(x.xpath("//kpdc:serviceArea"));

[Ben Ross - KP]

@Loic.Aigon That worked! What a simple solution for something I had som much trouble with. For my edification, what is the "r" for under "open"?

[Loic.Aigon]

See https://javascript-tools-guide.readthedocs.io/_/downloads/en/latest/pdf/

Page 73

[Ben Ross - KP]

Thank you!

[Loic.Aigon]

Something worth mentioning is that as it's E4X related, note that 

x.xpath("//kpdc:serviceArea")

May not return a String object but XML object. 

What I mean here is that if you run a method to the String Object Prototype right away, it may fail.

So you may need to check node type and if xml, call XML method text() to get the String out of the object.

It's likely ExtendScript (as Javascript by nature) will force conversion from type xml to type String but just don't presume using XPath on XML object will return a string even if it looks so.

[Ben Ross - KP]

Good to know! Much appreciated!

[Ben Ross - KP]

@Loic.Aigon How would I adjust this if I wanted to load a set of sub-elements into an array?

<saCounties>
        <county>Adams</county>
        <county>Arapahoe</county>
        <county>Boulder</county>
        <county>Broomfield</county>
        <county>Clear Creek</county>
        <county>Denver</county>
        <county>Douglas</county>
        <county>Elbert</county>
        <county>Gilpin</county>
        <county>Jefferson</county>
        <county>Park</county>
    </saCounties>

I want to create an arrary where each "county" element is an item in the array.

let counties = []

[Loic.Aigon]

Well, you can use this expression (to be adjusted with namespaces if any)

var x = <saCounties>
        <county>Adams</county>
        <county>Arapahoe</county>
        <county>Boulder</county>
        <county>Broomfield</county>
        <county>Clear Creek</county>
        <county>Denver</county>
        <county>Douglas</county>
        <county>Elbert</county>
        <county>Gilpin</county>
        <county>Jefferson</county>
        <county>Park</county>
    </saCounties>

var counties = x..county //or x.xpath("/saCounties/county";
//BEWARE counties is NOT a js ARRAY but a XMLList object that can be looped through as arrays but don't get the same methods.
var n = counties.length;
var arrCounties = [];
while(n--) arrCounties[n] = counties[n].text(); //getting string value of node and push it into js array
alert("Counties are:\r"+arrCounties.join(", "));

[Ben Ross - KP]

@Loic.Aigon  Tried the folowing (and several variations), but no luck so far. 

const xmlFiles = dataFolder.getFiles("*DirProp.xml");
var f = File(xmlFiles[0]);


f.encoding ="UTF-8";
f.open("r");
var x = XML(f.read());
f.close();

//SAC stands for "Service Area Counties"
const SAC = x.xpath("//kpdc:county");
//BEWARE counties is NOT a js ARRAY but a XMLList object that can be looped through as arrays but don't get the same methods.
alert(SAC)
var n = SAC.length;
var arrCounties = [];
while(n--) arrCounties[n] = SAC[n].text(); //getting string value of node and push it into js array
alert("Counties are:\r"+arrCounties.join(", "));

The script runs and the following is returned for SAC:

But nothing is returned for:

alert("Counties are:\r"+arrCounties.join(", "));

I just get:

[Loic.Aigon]

My bad, length should be length() when used on XMLList Objects:

var f = File (Folder.desktop+"/test.xml");
f.encoding ="UTF-8";
f.open("r");
var x = XML(f.read());
f.close();
var counties = x.xpath("//kpdc:county");
var n = counties.length();
var arrCounties = [];
while(n--){
    arrCounties[n] = counties[n].text();
}

alert("Counties are:\r"+arrCounties.join(", "));

[Ben Ross - KP]

That worked! Thanks @Loic.Aigon 

[Ben Ross - KP]

@Loic.Aigon If I needed to create lists from an XML node's child elements, how would I need to adjust your script?

For the following structure:

 <serviceAreaSnippets>
        <svca_db>
            <db_s1><![CDATA[You can go to all the providers on this list, but your costs for some providers may be less for those who offer preferred cost-sharing. We have noted these providers in the listing as “Preferred cost-sharing providers” to distinguish them from other providers in our network that offer standard cost-sharing. Please refer to the Evidence of Coverage for more information.]]></db_s1>
        </svca_db>
        <svca_nco>
            <nco_s1><![CDATA[You can go to all the providers on this list, but your costs for some providers may be less for those who offer preferred cost-sharing. We have noted these providers in the listing as “Preferred cost-sharing providers” to distinguish them from other providers in our network that offer standard cost-sharing. Please refer to the Evidence of Coverage for more information.]]></nco_s1>
            <nco_s1><![CDATA[You can go to all the providers on this list, but your costs for some providers may be less for those who offer preferred cost-sharing. We have noted these providers in the listing as “Preferred cost-sharing providers” to distinguish them from other providers in our network that offer standard cost-sharing. Please refer to the Evidence of Coverage for more information.]]></nco_s1>
        </svca_nco>
        <scva_soco>
            <soco_s1><![CDATA[You can go to all the providers on this list, but your costs for some providers may be less for those who offer preferred cost-sharing. We have noted these providers in the listing as “Preferred cost-sharing providers” to distinguish them from other providers in our network that offer standard cost-sharing. Please refer to the Evidence of Coverage for more information.]]></soco_s1>
            <soco_s2><![CDATA[Senior Advantage Medicare Medicaid Pueblo (HMO D-SNP) plan members: You may only see PCPs who are located in our Kaiser Permanente Medical Offices. Please refer to the listing of these available network providers on pages <8 and 9> of this Provider Directory.]]></soco_s2>
            <soco_s3><![CDATA[Senior Advantage Core, Enhanced and Employer Group (HMO) and (HMO-POS) plan members: You may see any PCP in our network. Please refer to the listing of these available network providers on pages <10 – 51> of this Provider Directory.]]></soco_s3>
            <soco_s4><![CDATA[Senior Advantage Medicare Medicaid Pueblo (HMO D-SNP) plan members: You may only see primary care providers who are located in our Kaiser Permanente Medical Offices. Please refer to the listing of these available network providers on pages <8 and 9> of this Provider Directory.]]></soco_s4>
            <soco_s5><![CDATA[Senior Advantage Core, Enhanced and Employer Group (HMO) and (HMO-POS) plan members: You may see any primary care provider in our network. Please refer to the listing of these available network providers on <pages 10 – 51> of this Provider Directory.]]></soco_s5>
            <soco_s6><![CDATA[All Southern Colorado Senior Advantage Core, Enhanced and Employer Group (HMO) and (HMO-POS) plan members may see any specialty care provider in our network. Please refer to the listing of these available specialty care network providers beginning on page <52> of this Provider Directory.]]></soco_s6>
        </scva_soco>
    </serviceAreaSnippets>

I need to create a separate are for each child of serviceAreaSnippets. So, separate arrays for svca_db, svca_noco, and svca_soco, where each array contains that node's children.

The result would be three arrays:

svca_db [ db_s1's content ]

svca_noco [nco_s1's content, nco_s2's content]

svca_soco [soco_s1's content, ... soco_s6's content]

Any idea how to do that?

[Loic.Aigon]

By now, you should start to get the logic:

 function getChildrenText(xParent){

        var arr = [];
        if(!/^(undefined|xml)$/.test(typeof xParent)) return [];
        var c = xParent.children();
        var n = c.length();
        while(n--) arr[n] = c[n].text();
        return arr;
    }

    var svca_db = getChildrenText(x.svca_db);
    var svca_nco = getChildrenText(x.svca_nco);
    var scva_soco = getChildrenText(x.scva_soco);

[Ben Ross - KP]

Nice! Thanks @Loic.Aigon ! It seems I left out part of my explination though. I am hoping to dynamically name the arrays based on the XML node name. Is that possible?

[Loic.Aigon]

Not sure why you would want to have such dynamically names variables but still:

function getChildrenText(xParent){

        var arr = [];
        if(!/^(undefined|xml)$/.test(typeof xParent)) return [];
        var c = xParent.children();
        var n = c.length();
        while(n--) arr[n] = c[n].text();
        return arr;
    }

    var c = x.children();
    var n = c.length();
    var xParent;
    while(n--){
        xParent = c[n];
        $.global[xParent.name()]=getChildrenText(xParent);
    }
    alert(svca_db)

[Ben Ross - KP]

@Loic.Aigon Amazing! Thank you! This is a part of a script that dynamically builds provider print directories for multiple regions across the US. This snippet specfically handles region-specific text content that needs to be inserted at various points throughout the directory. 

I'll let you know how it goes!

[Ben Ross - KP]

@Loic.Aigon Where is "x" defined in this script?

[Ben Ross - KP]

Specifically:

var c = x.children();

[Ben Ross - KP]

@Loic.Aigon  Thank you for being patient with me! I am still learning JS!

[Ben Ross - KP]

@Loic.Aigon Given my XML above and your script, I have:

const SVCAS_raw = dpr.xpath("//kpdc:serviceAreaSnippets");
function getChildrenText(xParent){

        var arr = [];
        if(!/^(undefined|xml)$/.test(typeof xParent)) return [];
        var c = xParent.children();
        var n = c.length();
        while(n--) arr[n] = c[n].text();
        return arr;
    }

    var c = x.children();
    var n = c.length();
    var xParent;
    while(n--){
        xParent = c[n];
        $.global[xParent.name()]=getChildrenText(xParent);
    }
 getChildrenText(SVCAS_raw);
 alert(svca_db)

Running this tells me that "x" is undefined.

What am I missing?

[Ben Ross - KP]

@Loic.Aigon BTW, the contents and child nodes of "serviceAreaSnippets" will be different for each region. So Colorado has svca_db, etc. but washington might have svca_seattle.

[Loic.Aigon]

x is a variable that needs to host your xml object (as demonstrated before=>var x = XML(xmlFileReference.read())

[Ben Ross - KP]

Thanks @Loic.Aigon.

It took a little adjusting, but I got it to work!

const dpXML = dataFolder.getFiles("*" + dp_d + ".xml");
dpf = File(dpXML[0]);
dpf.encoding = "UTF-8";
dpf.open("r");
dpr = new XML(dpf.read());
dpf.close();

const SVCAS_raw = dpr.xpath("//kpdc:serviceAreaSnippets").elements();

function getChildrenText(xParent){

        var arr = [];
        if(!/^(undefined|xml)$/.test(typeof xParent)) return [];
        var c = xParent.descendants();
        var n = c.length();
        while(n--) arr[n] = c[n].text();
        return arr;
    }

    var c = SVCAS_raw;
    var n = c.length();
    var xParent;
    while(n--){
        xParent = c[n];
        $.global[xParent.localName()]=getChildrenText(xParent);
        alert(xParent.localName())
    }

alert(svca_soco);

[Loic.Aigon]

On a second thought, adding variables as global ones may not be the greatest idea. Would be better to have an object that you would enrich with properties. Those that you can either loop through or evaluate later.

var data  = {

}

data

var data = {};
var c = SVCAS_raw;
    var n = c.length();
    var xParent;
    while(n--){
        xParent = c[n];
        data[xParent.localName()]=getChildrenText(xParent);
    }
//looping through data
for (prop in data){
var arr = data[prop];
}

//evaluate prop
if (typeof data.svca_db === "undefined") alert("invalid data");