Parses an xml file with the given Object node name

xmlparse.rb

# If you have an xml representation of a data entity, and need to convert to CSV, this script works pretty well.
# Specify the file name of an xml file, and the node name of the object. So if you have an XML file of <Person> objects that has all the fields in child elements. 
# Specify the Person node, and it will iterate through to create a csv. Each person will be a separate row.

require 'rubygems'
require 'nokogiri'

puts 'type xml file name'
xml_name = gets.chomp
f = File.open(xml_name)
doc = Nokogiri::XML(f)
f.close

def enclose(str)
  if str.index(',')
    return "\"#{str}\""
  else
    return str
  end
end

def enclose_and_strip(str)
  return enclose(strip(str))
end

def strip(str)
  return str.gsub(/\n|\t/, '').strip
end

def populate_missing(headers, location)
  h = []
  location.children.each do |c|
    h << c.name if c.name != "text"
  end
  h.sort
  if h != headers
    h = headers - h
    h.each { |mh| location.add_child("<#{mh} />") }
  end
  return location
end

headers = []
rows = []
puts "Enter in node name to traverse. If it's an xml table of <Person> objects, type \"Person\" (without quotes)"
node_to_traverse = gets.chomp
doc.css(node_to_traverse).each do |loc|
  loc.children.each do |field|
    headers << field.name if field.name != "text" && !headers.include?(field.name)
  end
end
count = 0
doc.css(node_to_traverse).each do |loc|
  fields = Array.new(headers.size)
  loc = populate_missing(headers, loc)
  loc.children.each do |field|
    idx = headers.index(field.name)
    if field.class == Nokogiri::XML::Element
      f = []
      field.children.each do |c|
        text = strip(c.text)
        f << text unless text.empty?
      end
      fields[idx] = "#{enclose(f.join('|'))}"
    else
      f = enclose_and_strip(field.text)
      fields[idx] = "#{f}" unless f.empty?
    end
  end
  count += 1
  rows << fields.join(',')
end

File.open("#{xml_name}.csv", 'w+') do |file|
  file.write(headers.join(',') + "\n")
  rows.each do |r|
    file.write("#{r}\n")
  end
end