XMLToArr

xml_to_arr.rb

require 'rubygems'
require 'nokogiri'
require 'pp'

class XMLToArr < Nokogiri::XML::SAX::Document
  
  def XMLToArr.parse str, hsh
    [].tap do |returning|
      Nokogiri::XML::SAX::Parser.new(self.new(returning, hsh)).parse(str)
    end
  end
  
  def initialize returning, hsh
    @searched_element = hsh.keys.first.to_s
    @child_elements   = hsh[hsh.keys.first].map &:to_s
    @result_arr       = returning
  end
  
  def start_element name, attrs = []
    @current_element = name
    @item = @child_elements.inject({}) { |hsh,x| hsh[x] = ""; hsh } if name == @searched_element
  end
 
  def characters str
    @item[@current_element] << str if @child_elements.include? @current_element
  end
  
  def end_element name
    @current_element = nil
    @result_arr << @item if name == @searched_element
  end
  
end

# Lets try it out
# File: text.xml:
# <items>
#   <foo>
#      <bar>a bar</bar>
#      <baz>a baz</baz>
#   </foo>
#   <foo>
#      <bar>another bar</bar>
#      <baz>another baz</baz>
#   </foo>
# </items>
#
#
# pp XMLToArr.parse(IO.read("test.xml"), :foo => [:bar, :baz])
# 
# result:
# 
# [{"baz"=>"a baz", "bar"=>"a bar"},
#  {"baz"=>"another baz", "bar"=>"another bar"}]
#