convert-dict-xml

Convert Python dicts to XML and back using lxml. Supports attributes and CDATA.

Features

• Dict to XML — supports nested dicts, attributes, CDATA sections, and lists of sibling elements
• XML to Dict — parse XML back into plain dicts or OrderedDict
• Type serialization — bool, None, datetime handled automatically
• Round-trip — convert dict → XML → dict

Installation

pip install convert-dict-xml

Note: Requires lxml, which needs libxml2 and libxslt system libraries on some platforms.

Quick Start

Dict to XML

from convert_dict_xml import Dict2XML

data = {
    '@attributes': {'type': 'fiction'},
    'book': ['1984', 'Foundation']
}
xml = Dict2XML('books', data).to_xml_string(xml_declaration=False)
print(xml.decode())

<books type="fiction">
  <book>1984</book>
  <book>Foundation</book>
</books>

XML to Dict

from convert_dict_xml import XML2Dict

result = XML2Dict(xml).to_dict()
# {'@attributes': {'type': 'fiction'}, 'book': ['1984', 'Foundation']}

For namespaced XML, use strip_namespaces=True to get clean dict keys:

xml = b'<feed xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><title>Blog</title></feed>'
result = XML2Dict(xml, strip_namespaces=True).to_dict()
# {'title': 'Blog'}

Dict Conventions

Use special keys to control XML output:

Use force_cdata=True to wrap all text nodes in CDATA sections.

Text Nodes

Text can be set directly or via @text:

books = {'book': 1984}
# or
books = {'book': {'@text': 1984}}
xml = Dict2XML('books', books).to_xml_string(xml_declaration=False)
print(xml.decode())

<books>
  <book>1984</book>
</books>

Attributes

books = {
    '@attributes': {'type': 'fiction'},
    'book': 1984
}
xml = Dict2XML('books', books).to_xml_string(xml_declaration=False)
print(xml.decode())

<books type="fiction">
  <book>1984</book>
</books>

Multiple Children

Lists produce sibling elements with the same tag:

books = {
    '@attributes': {'type': 'fiction'},
    'book': ['1984', 'Foundation', 'Stranger in a Strange Land']
}
xml = Dict2XML('books', books).to_xml_string(xml_declaration=False)
print(xml.decode())

<books type="fiction">
  <book>1984</book>
  <book>Foundation</book>
  <book>Stranger in a Strange Land</book>
</books>

CDATA

books = {
    'book': [
        {'title': '1984', 'isbn': 973534},
        {'title': {'@cdata': 'Foundation'}, 'price': '$15.61', 'isbn': 573234},
    ]
}
xml = Dict2XML('books', books).to_xml_string(xml_declaration=False)
print(xml.decode())

<books>
  <book>
    <isbn>973534</isbn>
    <title>1984</title>
  </book>
  <book>
    <price>$15.61</price>
    <isbn>573234</isbn>
    <title><![CDATA[Foundation]]></title>
  </book>
</books>

Complex Example

from collections import OrderedDict
from convert_dict_xml import Dict2XML

books = OrderedDict({
    '@attributes': {'type': 'fiction'},
    'book': [
        {
            '@attributes': {'author': 'George Orwell', 'available': None},
            'title': '1984',
            'isbn': 972132,
        },
        {
            '@attributes': {'author': 'Isaac Asimov', 'available': False},
            'title': {'@cdata': 'Foundation'},
            'price': '$15.61',
            'isbn': 5735232,
        },
        {
            '@attributes': {'author': 'Robert A Heinlein', 'available': True},
            'title': {'@cdata': 'Stranger in a Strange Land'},
            'price': {'@attributes': {'discount': '10%'}, '@text': '$18.00'},
            'isbn': 3412332,
        },
    ],
})
xml = Dict2XML('books', books).to_xml_string(xml_declaration=False)
print(xml.decode()

<books type="fiction">
  <book available="" author="George Orwell">
    <isbn>972132</isbn>
    <title>1984</title>
  </book>
  <book available="false" author="Isaac Asimov">
    <price>$15.61</price>
    <isbn>5735232</isbn>
    <title><![CDATA[Foundation]]></title>
  </book>
  <book available="true" author="Robert A Heinlein">
    <price discount="10%">$18.00</price>
    <isbn>3412332</isbn>
    <title><![CDATA[Stranger in a Strange Land]]></title>
  </book>
</books>

API Reference

Dict2XML(root_node_name, dictionary, force_cdata=False)

XML2Dict(xml, ns_clean=True, strip_namespaces=False)

Contributing

git clone https://github.com/lalitpatel/convert-dict-xml.git
cd convert-dict-xml
pip install -e ".[dev]"
pytest

License

MIT — Copyright (c) 2018 Lalit Patel