Python magic to concisely generate XML

xmlbuilder.py

import xml.dom.minidom as xml

class Document(object):
    """
        XML Document Builder

        @author Simon Engledew

        example:
            dom = Document.catalog(version="1.0")
            dom.book(
                dom.name("The Pragmatic Programmer"),
                dom.author("Andrew Hunt and David Thomas"),
                dom['publish-date']("20 Oct 1999"),
                id="1"
            )
            print str(dom)

        output:
            <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
            <catalog version="1.0">
                <book id="1">
                    <name>The Pragmatic Programmer</name>
                    <author>Andrew Hunt and David Thomas</author>
                    <publish_date>20 Oct 1999</publish_date>
                </book>
            </catalog>

    """
    class MetaClass(type):
        def __getattr__(self, tagname, *args, **attributes):
            return lambda *args, **attributes: Document(tagname, *args, **attributes)

    def __dir__(self):
        return ['__getitem__', '__getattr__', '__str__', '__unicode__', '__root__']

    __metaclass__=MetaClass

    class Element(object):
        def __init__(self, document, tagname):
            self.__document__ = document
            self.__document__.start_element(tagname)

        def element(self, *args, **attributes):
            for value in (o for o in args if o is not None):
                if not isinstance(value, Document.Element):
                    self.__document__.append_text_node(unicode(value))

            self.__document__.append_attributes(attributes)
            self.__document__.end_element()

            return self

    @property
    def __root__(self):
        return self.__stack__[-1]

    def start_element(self, tagname):
        element = self.__dom__.createElement(tagname)
        self.__root__.appendChild(element)
        self.__stack__.append(element)
        return element

    def append_attributes(self, attributes):
        for key, value in attributes.items():
            self.__root__.setAttribute(key, unicode(value))

    def append_text_node(self, value):
        self.__root__.appendChild(self.__dom__.createTextNode(unicode(value)))

    def end_element(self):
        self.__stack__.pop()

    def __init__(self, tagname, *args, **attributes):
        self.__dom__ = xml.getDOMImplementation().createDocument(None, tagname, None)
        self.__stack__ = []
        self.__stack__.append(self.__dom__.documentElement)
        self.append_attributes(attributes)
        for value in (o for o in args if o is not None):
            if not isinstance(value, Document.Element):
                self.append_text_node(unicode(value))

    def __getitem__(self, tagname):
        return self.__getattr__(tagname)

    def __getattr__(self, tagname):
        return Document.Element(self, tagname).element

    def __str__(self, encoding='utf-8'):
        return self.__dom__.toxml(encoding=encoding)
    
    def __unicode__(self, encoding='utf-8'):
        return self.__str__(encoding).decode(encoding)