trying to use QXmlParser and friends

mzimmers

Hi all -

I'm trying to use the Qt facility for processing an XML file. I've read the docs on the various classes for this, and I've gotten this far:

    QXmlSimpleReader reader;
    QXmlDefaultHandler handler;
    QString filename("./testfile.xml");
    QFile file(filename);
    QXmlInputSource *source;

    rc = file.open(QFile::ReadOnly);
   
    source = new QXmlInputSource(&file);
    source->fetchData();

    reader.setContentHandler(&handler);
    reader.setErrorHandler(&handler);
    reader.parse(source);

This runs without error, but I'm not sure what it accomplishes. The docs suggest that the default handler "provides sensible default behavior" but also it says that, for example, the startEntity method does nothing (which I suppose is somewhat sensible).

So, do I have to subclass the default handler or not?

Thanks...

mrjj

Hi
I have not tried with QXmlInputSource and friends.
i used this tut to try parse something.

https://www.walletfox.com/course/qxmlstreamreaderexample.php

Found it good to explain how it works as.

Do note that this uses a sax interface where its parsed on the fly.

There is also
https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qdomdocument.html

where it read to a tree in memory.
This is much easier to update than the SAX way but SAX way can parse a GIGA file
where qdomdocument runs out of memory.

Chris Kawa

This runs without error, but I'm not sure what it accomplishes.

It parses the XML file i.e. walks through the entire structure splitting it to the little bits and pieces and reports them as callbacks to the handler. The default handler handles those pieces by doing nothing with them.

So, do I have to subclass the default handler or not?

Yes, specifically implement those virtual functions that handle the data you're interested in. For example if you're interested in an attribute of a particular node you could implement startElement() and look for the name you want.

Alternatively you could subclass the base classes for given handler types, like QXmlErrorHandler or QXmlLexicalHandler , but those are pure virtual bases, meaning you would have to implement everything in them by yourself and chances are you're not interested in most of it. It's easier to subclass QXmlDefaultHandler which provides empty implementations for everything.

mzimmers

@Chris-Kawa OK, progress is being made. I've sub-classed the default handler, and the startElement() and endElement() methods. In my other XML parser (expat) there was also a routine handleData() which was used to get the content between the start and end tags. I don't see an equivalent to that in QXmlDefaultHandler; how do I retrieve that data?

Thanks...

Chris Kawa

how do I retrieve that data?

See QXmlDefaultHandler::characters().

mzimmers

@Chris-Kawa oh my goodness, that is a thing of beauty.

Thanks to all who helped.

EDIT: actually, I do have a follow-on question: this will allow me to build my map of tags and content. I need to export that map when I'm done. I'm thinking of making the map a member variable, and adding a method that returns it. Is there a better way to do this?

Chris Kawa

I'm thinking of making the map a member variable, and adding a method that returns it. Is there a better way to do this?

So an XMLTagMapMakerHandler? Sounds good to me.

mzimmers

Well, I shouldn't have declared victory so quickly. When I migrated my test code into my app, I got this error:

C:\wifibutton\utility\xmlparser.h:16: error: 'XmlHandler' does not name a type; did you mean 'XmlParser'?
     XmlHandler m_handler;
     ^~~~~~~~~~
     XmlParser

Here are some snippets:

class XmlHandler : public QXmlDefaultHandler
{
private:
    MsgHash m_hash;
public:
    XmlHandler();
...
}

#include "xmlhandler.h"

class XmlParser
{
    QXmlSimpleReader m_reader;
    XmlHandler m_handler;
   ...
}

Is there something special I need to know about sub-classing QXmlDefaultHandler, or am I just brain-fading here?

Thanks...

mrjj

@mzimmers
Just to be sure its not that.
Does xmlparser.h include XmlHandler.h and reverse ?
(circular include)

mzimmers

@mrjj no. xmlparser.h includes xmlhandler.h, but not the other way around.

mrjj

@mzimmers
Ok, just had to be sure :)

It simply says it don't know type so it don't see the include for some reason.

Did you try clean all, rebuild ?

mzimmers

Yes, I did.

Here's the complete code from the headers:

xmlhandler.h

#ifndef XMLHANDLER_H
#define XMLHANDLER_H


#include <QXmlDefaultHandler>

#include "message.h"

using namespace std;

class XmlHandler : public QXmlDefaultHandler
{
private:
    MsgHash m_hash;
    bool m_tagStarted = false;
    QString m_tag;
    QString m_data;
    QXmlInputSource *m_source;

public:
    XmlHandler();
    ~XmlHandler();
    bool startElement(const QString &uri,
                      const QString &local,
                      const QString &name,
                      const QXmlAttributes &atts) override;
    bool endElement(const QString &uri,
                      const QString &local,
                      const QString &name) override;
    bool characters(const QString &ch) override;
    void getHash(MsgHash &msgHash) {msgHash = m_hash;}
};


#endif // XMLHANDLER_H

xmlparser.h:

#ifndef XMLPARSER_H
#define XMLPARSER_H

#include <stdint.h>

#include <QXmlDefaultHandler>
#include <QXmlSimpleReader>

#include "constants.h"
#include "message.h"
#include "xmlhandler.h"

class XmlParser
{
    QXmlSimpleReader m_reader;
    XmlHandler m_handler;
public:
    XmlParser();
    ~XmlParser();
    int process(string xml, MsgHash &msgHash);
};

#endif // XMLPARSER_H

mrjj

Hi
It looks ok.
Could you try add some dummy class to the xmlhandler.h

class Test {
};

and see if it can see that symbol ?

just to test it dont see the include and not something with class XmlHandler

mzimmers

@mrjj good test -- it didn't see that either. I wonder if XMLHANDLER_H is a reserved term...?

ANSWER: no it isn't...

mrjj

@mzimmers

Hmm can you check your .pro file its not listed 2 times ?

Also
can you please inspect both files
with Include Hierarchy?

alt text
The last.

and see if you see anything odd.

mzimmers

@mrjj that wasn't it exactly, but you put me on the right track. I'll report back in a bit.

Thanks...

mzimmers

@mrjj great suggestion there! Long story short, I had a cyclic dependency. Thanks for your help on this.

mrjj

Super :)
Well it's my number one suspect when it says "don't know symbol"
and you check you have the header included and all seem fine.