how to parse xml for ios development - iphone

Question

So I know how to parse some XML structures but I am currently trying to parse this specific xml structure thats a bit different to what I am used to.
normally I would parse something like
<xml>
<data>
<name>Forrest</name>
<age>25</name>
<username>forrestgrant</username>
</data>
</xml>
But now I'm working with some xml like so..
<xml>
<data name="Forrest" age="25" username="forrestgrant" />
<other value="6" />
</xml>
how do I access those variables when they are structured like this?
This is how I would normally approach this task, which is baised of searching for the title tags and getting the data from each one.. however I am now trying to figure out how to parse this other style of xml.
- (void)startTheParsingProcess:(NSData *)parserData
{
[myDataArray release]; // clears array for next time it is used.
myDataArray = [[NSMutableArray alloc] init]; //initalizes the array
NSXMLParser *parser = [[NSXMLParser alloc] initWithData:parserData]; //incoming parserDatapassed to NSXMLParser delegate which starts parsing process
[parser setDelegate:self];
[parser parse]; //Starts the event-driven parsing operation.
[parser release];
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didStartElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributeDict
{
if ([elementName isEqual:#"item"]) {
// NSLog(#"Found title!");
itemString = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
}
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser foundCharacters:(NSString *)string
{
[itemString appendString:string];
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didEndElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName
{
if ([elementName isEqual:#"item"]) {
//NSLog(#"ended title: %#", itemString);
[myDataArray addObject:itemString]; //this is where i pass the values over to my array.
[itemString release];
itemString = nil;
}
}
- (void)parserDidEndDocument:(NSXMLParser *)parser
{
// Passes myDataArray to the method that will sort and display the array into a uitableview.
[self startSortingTheArray:myDataArray];
}
any help would be greatly appreciated..

Answer 1

The xml data above provides the data as attributes on the xml element.
This callback method gives you access to the attributes as a dictionary of key values (attributeDict).
(void) parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didStartElement:(NSString *)elementName
namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI
qualifiedName:(NSString *)qualifiedName
attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributeDict
NSLog the dictionary out in that method to see the values:
NSLog(#"attributes: %#", attributeDict);

Answer 2

In your didStartItem: method, the attributes dictionary will contain values for all the XML attributes.