what type of XML file is this?

Question

i have a file with the points for all the states. i want to parse it so i can create an overlay for each state. i think its xml but not a traditional one with element_data format.

somebody mentioned its a plist xml.

whats the best way to parse this type of data:

<states>
<state name ="Alaska" colour="#ff0000" >
  <point lat="70.0187" lng="-141.0205"/>
  <point lat="70.1292" lng="-141.7291"/>
  <point lat="70.4515" lng="-144.8163"/>
  <point lat="70.7471" lng="-148.4583"/>
  <point lat="70.7923" lng="-151.1609"/>
  <point lat="71.1470" lng="-152.6221"/>
  <point lat="71.1185" lng="-153.9954"/>
  <point lat="71.4307" lng="-154.8853"/>
  <point lat="71.5232" lng="-156.7529"/>
  <point lat="71.2796" lng="-157.9449"/>
  <point lat="71.2249" lng="-159.6313"/>
  <point lat="70.6363" lng="-161.8671"/>
  <point lat="70.0843" lng="-163.5809"/>
  <point lat="69.3028" lng="-165.2399"/>
  <point lat="69.1782" lng="-166.8768"/>
  <point lat="68.3344" lng="-168.0414"/>

Answer 1

Code :

NSString* filePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"data" 
                                                     ofType:@"xml"];

NSString* xmlStr = [NSString stringWithContentsOfFile:filePath
                                             encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding 
                                                error:nil];

NSXMLDocument* xml = [[NSXMLDocument alloc] initWithXMLString:xmlStr
                                                      options:NSXMLDocumentTidyXML 
                                                       error:nil];

NSMutableDictionary* states = [xml getChildrenInDictionary:@"states"];

The getChildrenInDictionary method is declared in a category I've written for NSXMLDocument.

NSXMLDocument Category :

- (NSDictionary*)getChildrenInDictionary:(NSString *)path
{
    NSMutableDictionary* result = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];

    NSArray* nodes = [[[self nodesForXPath:path error:nil] objectAtIndex:0] children];

    for (NSXMLElement* element in nodes)
    {
        [result setValue:[element stringValue] 
                  forKey:[element name]];
    }

    return result;
}

---

Sidenote : For me, it's a perfectly valid XML file, and as such it should be processed. :-)