XML-TreePP-XMLPath
===============================

A pure PERL module to compliment the pure PERL XML::TreePP module. XMLPath may
be similar to XPath, and it does attempt to conform to the XPath standard when
possible, but it is far from being fully XPath compliant.

Its purpose is to implement an XPath-like accessor methodology to nodes in a
XML::TreePP parsed XML Document. In contrast, XPath is an accessor methodology
to nodes in an unparsed (or raw) XML Document.

The advantage of using XML::TreePP::XMLPath over any other PERL implementation
of XPath is that XML::TreePP::XMLPath is an accessor to XML::TreePP parsed
XML Documents. If you are already using XML::TreePP to parse XML, you can use
XML::TreePP::XMLPath to access nodes inside that parsed XML Document without
having to convert it into a raw XML Document.

As an additional side-benefit, any PERL HASH/ARRY reference data structure can
be accessible via the XPath accessor method provided by this module. It does
not have to a parsed XML structure.

EXAMPLE

    use XML::TreePP;
    use XML::TreePP::XMLPath;
    
    my $tpp = XML::TreePP->new();
    my $tppx = XML::TreePP::XMLPath->new();
    
    my $tree = { rss => { channel => { item => [ {
        title   => "The Perl Directory",
        link    => "http://www.perl.org/";,
    }, {
        title   => "The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network",
        link    => "http://cpan.perl.org/";,
    } ] } } };
    my $xml = $tpp->write( $tree );

Get a subtree of the XML tree:

    my $xmlsub = $tppx->filterXMLDoc( $tree , q{rss/channel/item[title="The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network"]} );
    print $xmlsub->{'link'};

Iterate through all attributes and Elements of each <item> XML element:

    my $xmlsub = $tppx->filterXMLDoc( $tree , q{rss/channel/item} );
    my $h_attr = $tppx->getAttributes( $xmlsub );
    my $h_elem = $tppx->getElements( $xmlsub );
    foreach $attrHash ( @{ $h_attr } ) {
        while my ( $attrKey, $attrVal ) = each ( %{$attrHash} ) {
            ...
        }
    }
    foreach $elemHash ( @{ $h_elem } ) {
        while my ( $elemName, $elemVal ) = each ( %{$elemHash} ) {
            ...
        }
    }

EXAMPLE for using XML::TreePP::XMLPath to access a non-XML compliant tree of
PERL referenced data.

    use XML::TreePP::XMLPath;
    
    my $tppx = new XML::TreePP::XMLPath;
    my $hashtree = {
        config => {
            nodes => {
                "10.0.10.5" => {
                    options => [ 'option1', 'option2' ],
                    alerts => {
                        email => 'someone@nowhere.org'
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    };
    print $tppx->filterXMLDoc($hashtree, '/config/nodes/10.0.10.5/alerts/email');
    print "\n";
    print $tppx->filterXMLDoc($hashtree, '/config/nodes/10.0.10.5/options')->[1];
    print "\n";

Result
    
    someone@nowhere.org
    option2


INSTALLATION

To install this module type the following:

   perl Makefile.PL
   make
   make test
   make install


DEPENDENCIES

This module requires these other modules and libraries:

  XML::TreePP
  Data::Dump


SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION

    http://www.codepin.org/project/perlmod/XML-TreePP-XMLPath


COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2008-2011 Russell E Glaue, Center for the Application of
Information Technologies. All rights reserved.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the same terms as Perl itself.
