XML Attributes To Database Columns

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        I recently needed to update a database with the contents of an XML file under a controlled environment (details at <a href="http://pqmf.com/ruby/ruby-on-rails-day-two/">Blackrat's Blog</a>) and came up with this. 

With an XML input file of the following format

<tags>
  <tag name='test' desc='Test Description' other='Other Item' />
  <tag name='test2' desc='2nd Test Description' other='Another Item' />
</tags>

and a database which contains identical columns name,desc,other (or a superset of the tags) you can use the follow snippet to populate it. 

View [import_xml.rhtml]

<h1>Import XML</h1>

<%= form_tag({ :action => 'import_xml'}, { :multipart => true }) %>
<%= file_field 'document', 'file' %>
<%= submit_tag 'Import' %>
<%= end_form_tag %>

Controller [names_controller.rb]

def import_xml
  require 'rexml/document'
  file=params[:document][:file]
  doc=REXML::Document.new(file.read)
  doc.root.each_element('//tag') do |tag|
    @name = Name.new
    @name.update_attributes(tag.attributes)
  end
  redirect_to :action => 'list'
end

Tags:
• ActiveRecord
• import
• Rails
• Ruby
• rubyonrails
• upload
• XML