objectifiedJson.py

import simplejson as json
import lxml

class objectJSONEncoder(json.JSONEncoder):
    """A specialized JSON encoder that can handle simple lxml objectify types
       >>> from lxml import objectify
       >>> obj = objectify.fromstring("<Book><price>1.50</price><author>W. Shakespeare</author></Book>")
       >>> json.dumps(obj, cls=objectJSONEncoder)
       '{"price": 1.5, "author": "W. Shakespeare"}'
    """
    
    model = (
        (lxml.objectify.IntElement, int),
        (lxml.objectify.NumberElement, float),
        (lxml.objectify.FloatElement, float),
        (lxml.objectify.ObjectifiedDataElement,
            lambda s: unicode(s).strip().encode('utf-8')),
    )
    
    def default(self,o):
        for o_type, constructor in self.model:
            if isinstance(o, o_type):
                return constructor(o)
        if hasattr(o, '__dict__'):
            #For objects with a __dict__, return the encoding of the __dict__
            return [item.__dict__ for item in o]
        return json.JSONEncoder.default(self, o)