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I have seen and tried many different versions of XML data parsing here on this forum, and even some in the documentation. Is there a tried and true "Best Practice" way to extract all the XMLElement values or is each new file type a hack a thon to extract the correct data and fields? Here's the code I'm using now, but it's not efficient and does not grab all the values needed. Is there a better way?

a=thePartIreallyneeded;
elements = Column@Cases[dat, 
XMLElement[tag : _, _, value : _] :> (tag -> value), Infinity];
pairsE = List @@ elements;
gatheredE = GatherBy[pairsE, #[[1]] &];
propertiesE = Part[#, 1, 1] & /@ gatheredE;
targetPositionsE = gatheredE[[a]];

Here is a very small snippet of the section of values I'd like to extract. What I need to get are the Color Names, the Target Id values and the values for each color name. Thank you!

XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", "Resources"}, {}, \
{XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
"ObjectCollection"}, {}, \
{XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
  "Object"}, {"ObjectType" -> "Target", "Name" -> "Target1", 
  "Id" -> "c1"}, \
{XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
    "CreationDate"}, {}, {"2013-05-17T11:59:45-06:00"}], 
  XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
    "DeviceColorValues"}, {}, \
{XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
      "ColorCMYK"}, {"ColorSpecification" -> 
       "Unknown"}, \
{XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
        "Cyan"}, {}, {"0"}], 
      XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
        "Magenta"}, {}, {"0"}], 
      XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
        "Yellow"}, {}, {"0"}], 
      XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
        "Black"}, {}, {"0"}]}]}]}],
 XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", "Object"}, {"ObjectType" ->   "Target", "Name" -> "Target11", "Id" -> "c11"}, \
{XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
"CreationDate"}, {}, {"2013-05-17T11:59:45-06:00"}], 
 XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
"DeviceColorValues"}, {}, \
{XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
  "ColorCMYK"}, {"ColorSpecification" -> 
   "Unknown"}, \
{XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
    "Cyan"}, {}, {"11.596052607559"}], 
  XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
    "Magenta"}, {}, {"25.435485248175"}], 
  XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
    "Yellow"}, {}, {"0"}], 
  XMLElement[{"http://colorexchangeformat.com/CxF3-core", 
    "Black"}, {}, {"0"}]}]}]}]}]}]
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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Show us some sample of your XML, and what part do you want to extract. $\endgroup$
    – Murta
    Jun 2, 2013 at 20:10
  • $\begingroup$ Related / possible duplicate: mathematica.stackexchange.com/q/3111/121 (Let's see some sample data first.) $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Wizard
    Jun 2, 2013 at 20:36
  • $\begingroup$ @Mr.Wizard That's about JSON. Does its handling sufficiently resemble that of XML to call this question a duplicate? $\endgroup$
    – Sjoerd C. de Vries
    Jun 2, 2013 at 20:55
  • $\begingroup$ @Sjoerd If it's imported as rules I think perhaps so, though I fully admit I may not be thinking clearly regarding the problem. I'm still waiting for some sample data. $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Wizard
    Jun 2, 2013 at 21:06
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Mr.Wizard It doesn't. Try this: Import["http://www.w3schools.com/xml/simple.xml"] $\endgroup$
    – Sjoerd C. de Vries
    Jun 2, 2013 at 21:12

1 Answer 1

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This is one way. Using data=xmlInfo

nodes=Cases[data,XMLElement[{_,"Object"},{"ObjectType"->"Target","Name"->target_,"Id"->id_},{x__}]:> {target,id,{x}} ,\[Infinity]];
getColors=Cases[#,XMLElement[{_,color_/;MemberQ[{"Cyan","Yellow","Black","Magenta"},color]},{},{value_}]-> {color,value},\[Infinity]]&;
nodes[[All,3]]=getColors/@nodes[[All,3]];
nodes

{{Target1,c1,{{Cyan,0},{Magenta,0},{Yellow,0},{Black,0}}},{Target11,c11,{{Cyan,11.596052607559},{Magenta,25.435485248175},{Yellow,0},{Black,0}}}}

I really I'm not confortable in parsing XML like this. I fell it's clumsy, but it's they the only way I know until now.

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  • $\begingroup$ Thanks! Do you know how can the target values be saved as a separate list and the color values also be saved as a separate list? $\endgroup$
    – Nothingtoseehere
    Jun 2, 2013 at 22:43
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Just use nodes[[All, 1]] or nodes[[All, -1]] to get it. $\endgroup$
    – Murta
    Jun 2, 2013 at 22:44
  • $\begingroup$ Rockin! Thanks! $\endgroup$
    – Nothingtoseehere
    Jun 2, 2013 at 22:46

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