Converts JavaScript/JSON to XML (for RSS, Podcasts, AMP, etc.)
npm install jstoxml
Everyone loves JSON, and more and more folks want to move that direction, but we still need things outputted in XML! Particularly for RSS feeds and Podcasts.
This is inspired by node-jsontoxml, which was found to be a bit too rough around the edges. jstoxml attempts to fix that by being more flexible.
Node 16+ or a code bundler that understands ES Modules.
- npm install jstoxml
``js
import { toXML } from 'jstoxml';
// toXML(content, config)
const content = {
a: {
foo: 'bar'
}
};
const config = {
indent: ' '
};
toXML(content, config);
/*
Output:
*/
| Key name | Type | Default | Description |
| --------------------- | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| indent | string | | Indent string, repeated n times (where n=tree depth). |string
| header | , boolean | | Outputs a simple XML 1.0 UTF-8 header when true. Can also be set to a custom string. |object
| attributeReplacements | | { "<": "<", ">": ">", "&": "&", "\"": """ } | XML attribute value substrings to replace (e.g. ). Does not double encode HTML entities (e.g. < is preserved and NOT converted to <). |function
| attributeFilter | | | Filters out attributes based on user-supplied function. |boolean
| attributeExplicitTrue | | false | When true explicitly outputs true attribute value strings, e.g. instead of . |function
| contentMap | | | Custom map function to transform XML content. Runs after contentReplacements. |object
| contentReplacements | | { "<": "<", ">": ">", "&": "&", "\"": """ } | XML content strings to replace (e.g. This & that becomes This & that). |boolean
| selfCloseTags | | true | Whether tags should be self-closing. |
#### Version 7.0.0
- BREAKING: only support ES Modules, drops support for UMD (CommonJS, window global) and drop the minified code from the package.
For more changelog history, see CHANGELOG.md.
#### Past changes
- See CHANGELOG.md for a full history of changes.
First you'll want to import jstoxml in your script, and assign the result to the namespace variable you want to use (in this case jstoxml):
`javascript`
import { toXML } from 'jstoxml';
#### Example 1: Simple object
`javascript`
toXML({
foo: 'bar',
foo2: 'bar2'
});
Output:
`
Note: because JavaScript doesn't allow duplicate key names, only the last defined key will be outputted. If you need duplicate keys, please use an array instead (see Example 2 below).
#### Example 2: Simple array (needed for duplicate keys)
`javascript`
toXML([
{
foo: 'bar'
},
{
foo: 'bar2'
}
]);
Output:
`
#### Example 3: Simple functions
`javascript`
toXML({ currentTime: () => new Date() });
Output:
`
#### Example 4: XML tag attributes
`javascript`
toXML({
_name: 'foo',
_content: 'bar',
_attrs: {
a: 'b',
c: 'd'
}
});
Output:
`
#### Example 5: Tags mixed with text content
To output text content, set a key to null:
`javascript`
toXML({
text1: null,
foo: 'bar',
text2: null
});
Output:
`
text1
#### Example 6: Nested tags (with indenting)
`javascript
const xmlOptions = {
header: false,
indent: ' '
};
toXML(
{
a: {
foo: 'bar',
foo2: 'bar2'
}
},
xmlOptions
);
`
Output:
`
#### Example 7: Nested tags with attributes (with indenting)
`javascript
const xmlOptions = {
header: false,
indent: ' '
};
toXML(
{
ooo: {
_name: 'foo',
_attrs: {
a: 'b'
},
_content: {
_name: 'bar',
_attrs: {
c: 'd'
}
}
}
},
xmlOptions
);
`
Output:
`
Note that cases like this might be especially hard to read because of the deep nesting, so it's recommend you use something like this pattern instead, which breaks it up into more readable pieces:
`javascript
const bar = {
_name: 'bar',
_attrs: {
c: 'd'
}
};
const foo = {
_name: 'foo',
_attrs: {
a: 'b'
},
_content: bar
};
const xmlOptions = {
header: false,
indent: ' '
};
return toXML(
{
ooo: foo
},
xmlOptions
);
`
#### Example 8: Complex functions
Function outputs will be processed (fed back into toXML), meaning that you can output objects that will in turn be converted to XML.
`javascript`
toXML({
someNestedXML: () => {
return {
foo: 'bar'
};
}
});
Output:
`
#### Example 9: RSS Feed
`javascript
const xmlOptions = {
header: true,
indent: ' '
};
toXML(
{
_name: 'rss',
_attrs: {
version: '2.0'
},
_content: {
channel: [
{
title: 'RSS Example'
},
{
description: 'Description'
},
{
link: 'google.com'
},
{
lastBuildDate: () => new Date()
},
{
pubDate: () => new Date()
},
{
language: 'en'
},
{
item: {
title: 'Item title',
link: 'Item link',
description: 'Item Description',
pubDate: () => new Date()
}
},
{
item: {
title: 'Item2 title',
link: 'Item2 link',
description: 'Item2 Description',
pubDate: () => new Date()
}
}
]
}
},
xmlOptions
);
`
Output:
`
google.com
Item link
Item2 link
#### Example 10: Podcast RSS Feed
(see the Apple docs for more information)
`javascript
const xmlOptions = {
header: true,
indent: ' '
};
toXML(
{
_name: 'rss',
_attrs: {
'xmlns:itunes': 'http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd',
version: '2.0'
},
_content: {
channel: [
{
title: 'Title'
},
{
link: 'google.com'
},
{
language: 'en-us'
},
{
copyright: 'Copyright 2011'
},
{
'itunes:subtitle': 'Subtitle'
},
{
'itunes:author': 'Author'
},
{
'itunes:summary': 'Summary'
},
{
description: 'Description'
},
{
'itunes:owner': {
'itunes:name': 'Name',
'itunes:email': 'Email'
}
},
{
_name: 'itunes:image',
_attrs: {
href: 'image.jpg'
}
},
{
_name: 'itunes:category',
_attrs: {
text: 'Technology'
},
_content: {
_name: 'itunes:category',
_attrs: {
text: 'Gadgets'
}
}
},
{
_name: 'itunes:category',
_attrs: {
text: 'TV & Film'
}
},
{
item: [
{
title: 'Podcast Title'
},
{
'itunes:author': 'Author'
},
{
'itunes:subtitle': 'Subtitle'
},
{
'itunes:summary': 'Summary'
},
{
'itunes:image': 'image.jpg'
},
{
_name: 'enclosure',
_attrs: {
url: 'http://example.com/podcast.m4a',
length: '8727310',
type: 'audio/x-m4a'
}
},
{
guid: 'http://example.com/archive/aae20050615.m4a'
},
{
pubDate: 'Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:00:00 GMT'
},
{
'itunes:duration': '7:04'
},
{
'itunes:keywords': 'salt, pepper, shaker, exciting'
}
]
},
{
item: [
{
title: 'Podcast2 Title'
},
{
'itunes:author': 'Author2'
},
{
'itunes:subtitle': 'Subtitle2'
},
{
'itunes:summary': 'Summary2'
},
{
'itunes:image': 'image2.jpg'
},
{
_name: 'enclosure',
_attrs: {
url: 'http://example.com/podcast2.m4a',
length: '655555',
type: 'audio/x-m4a'
}
},
{
guid: 'http://example.com/archive/aae2.m4a'
},
{
pubDate: 'Wed, 15 Jul 2011 19:00:00 GMT'
},
{
'itunes:duration': '11:20'
},
{
'itunes:keywords': 'foo, bar'
}
]
}
]
}
},
xmlOptions
);
`
Output:
`
google.com
#### Example 11: Custom filter for XML entities, or whatever
`javascript
const xmlOptions = {
contentReplacements: {
'<': '<',
'>': '>',
'"': '"',
"'": ''',
'&': '&'
}
};
toXML(
{
foo: '',
bar: '"b"',
baz: "'&whee'"
},
xmlOptions
);
`
Output:
`
#### Example 11b: Custom filter for XML attributes
`javascript
const xmlOptions = {
attributeReplacements: {
'<': '<',
'>': '>',
'"': '"',
"'": ''',
'&': '&'
}
};
toXML(
{
_name: 'foo',
_attrs: { a: '<"\'&"foo>' }
},
xmlOptions
);
`
Output:
`
#### Example 12: Avoiding self-closing tags
If you don't want self-closing tags, you can pass in a special config option selfCloseTags:
`javascript
const xmlOptions = {
selfCloseTags: false
};
toXML(
{
foo: '',
bar: undefined
},
xmlOptions
);
`
Output:
`
#### Example 13: Custom XML header
`javascript
const xmlOptions = {
header: ''
};
toXML(
{
foo: 'bar'
},
xmlOptions
);
`
Output:
`
#### Example 14: Emoji attribute support (needed for AMP)
`javascript`
toXML({
html: {
_attrs: {
'⚡': true
}
}
});
Output:
`
`
#### Example 15: Duplicate attribute key support
`javascript`
toXML({
html: {
_attrs: [
{
lang: 'en'
},
{
lang: 'klingon'
}
]
}
});
Output:
`
`
#### Example 16: XML comments
`javascript`
toXML(
{
_comment: 'Some important comment',
a: {
b: [1, 2, 3]
}
},
{ indent: ' ' }
);
Output:
`
1
2
3
#### Example 17: Multiple XML comments
`javascript`
toXML(
[
{ _comment: 'Some important comment' },
{ _comment: 'This is a very long comment!' },
{ _comment: 'More important exposition!' },
{ a: { b: [1, 2, 3] } }
],
{ indent: ' ' }
);
Output:
`
1
2
3
MIT