Georg Hajdu

Has anyone written an XML to JSON converter Max object either in C, Java or JavaScript and is willing to share?

xml-to-json-converter

I have some JavaScript something that was written for Browsers. It's not tested on Max (And in fact I don't even know in as far the XML-Dom model in implemented in Max/JavaScript). But Maybe it can serve as a starting point.

Attributes are appended as NamedNodeMaps as '@' and if an element has more than one child with the same TagName tey are parsed into an array (otherwise they stay objects...)

/**
         * Parse an XmlNode recursivly into JSON
         * TODO Test behavior if a node has siblings of the same NodeType and child-nodes
         */
        var toJSON = function(xmlNode, jsonObject) {
            if(!xmlNode) return;
            jsonObject = jsonObject || {};
            if($(xmlNode).children().length >= 1 ){
                jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName] = { '@' : xmlNode.attributes};
                $.each($(xmlNode).children(),function(index, childElement){
                    toJSON(childElement, jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName]);
                });
            } else {
                if(jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName] == undefined) {
                    jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName] = {value : $(xmlNode).text(), '@' : xmlNode.attributes};
                } else {
                    if($.isArray(jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName])) {
                        var nodeText = $(xmlNode).text();
                        var nodeName = xmlNode.nodeName;
                        jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName].push({value : nodeText, '@' : xmlNode.attributes});
                    } else {
                        // Get existing Values
                        var existingAttributes = jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName]['@']
                        var exitsingValue = jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName]['value']
                        var nodeText = $(xmlNode).text();
                        jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName] = [];
                        jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName].push({value : exitsingValue, '@' : existingAttributes});
                        jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName].push({value : nodeText, '@' : xmlNode.attributes});
                    }
                }
            }
            return jsonObject;
        }


/**
		 * Parse an XmlNode recursivly into JSON
		 * TODO Test behavior if a node has siblings of the same NodeType and child-nodes
		 */
		var toJSON = function(xmlNode, jsonObject) {
			if(!xmlNode) return;
			jsonObject = jsonObject || {};
			if($(xmlNode).children().length >= 1 ){
				jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName] = { '@' : xmlNode.attributes};
				$.each($(xmlNode).children(),function(index, childElement){
					toJSON(childElement, jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName]);
				});
			} else {
				if(jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName] == undefined) {
					jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName] = {value : $(xmlNode).text(), '@' : xmlNode.attributes};
				} else {
					if($.isArray(jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName])) {
						var nodeText = $(xmlNode).text();
						var nodeName = xmlNode.nodeName;
						jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName].push({value : nodeText, '@' : xmlNode.attributes});
					} else {
						// Get existing Values
						var existingAttributes = jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName]['@']
						var exitsingValue = jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName]['value']
						var nodeText = $(xmlNode).text();
						jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName] = [];
						jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName].push({value : exitsingValue, '@' : existingAttributes});
						jsonObject[xmlNode.nodeName].push({value : nodeText, '@' : xmlNode.attributes});
					}
				}
			}
			return jsonObject;
		}


... just see that there is also some jQuery inside ($.isArray()) -> this won't work for sure... so it's probably really more an inspiration, than a solution ....

... just see that there is also some jQuery inside ($.isArray()) -> this won't work for sure... so it's probably really more an inspiration, than a solution  ....


Thanks, there are a number of scripts out there. The questions is whether someone has actually succeeded in getting them to run inside Max.

I found this script, but I don't know how to convert the jsonobject to text (my naive attempt to use the toString() method) failed miserably, and I also don't know what to do with the last two ifs—they're probably browser-related:

This program is free software under the terms of the

GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free

Software Foundation. It is distributed without any warranty.

    parser:function(xmlcode,ignoretags,debug){

        if(!ignoretags){ignoretags=""};

        xmlcode=xmlcode.replace(/s*/>/g,'/>');

        xmlcode=xmlcode.replace(/]*>/g,"").replace(/]*>/g,"");

        if (!ignoretags.sort){ignoretags=ignoretags.split(",")};

        var x=this.no_fast_endings(xmlcode);

        x=this.attris_to_tags(x);

        x=x.split("%3C").join("").split("%3D").join("=").split("%22").join(""");

            x=x.replace(new RegExp("","g"),"*$**"+ignoretags[i]+"**$*");

            x=x.replace(new RegExp("","g"),"*$***"+ignoretags[i]+"**$*")

        var y=this.xml_to_object(x).jsontagwrapper;

        if(debug){y=this.show_json_structure(y,debug)};

            var tagname=x[i].split(">")[0];

            opentags.push(tagname);

            while(x[i].indexOf("§"+opentags[opentags.length-1]+">")>=0){level--;opentags.pop()}

        var objname="this.xmlobject";

            var niva=y[i].split("

            var tagnamn=y[i].split("")[0];

            tagnamn=tagnamn.toLowerCase();

            var rest=y[i].split(">")[1];

                var tabort=oldniva-niva+1;

                for (var j=0;j

            objname+="."+tagnamn;

            var pobject=objname.substring(0,objname.lastIndexOf("."));

            if (eval("typeof "+pobject) != "object"){preeval+=pobject+"={value:"+pobject+"};n"};

            var objlast=objname.substring(objname.lastIndexOf(".")+1);

            var already=false;

This program is free software under the terms of the
GNU General Public License version 2 as published by the Free
Software Foundation. It is distributed without any warranty.
*/
autowatch = 1;

function input(myXML)
{
myJsonObject=xml2json.parser(myXML);
outlet(0,myJsonObject.toString());
post(myJsonObject);
post();
}

xml2json={
	parser:function(xmlcode,ignoretags,debug){
		if(!ignoretags){ignoretags=""};
		xmlcode=xmlcode.replace(/s*/>/g,'/>');
		xmlcode=xmlcode.replace(/]*>/g,"").replace(/]*>/g,"");
		if (!ignoretags.sort){ignoretags=ignoretags.split(",")};
		var x=this.no_fast_endings(xmlcode);
		x=this.attris_to_tags(x);
		x=escape(x);
		x=x.split("%3C").join("").split("%3D").join("=").split("%22").join(""");
		for (var i=0;i
			x=x.replace(new RegExp("","g"),"*$**"+ignoretags[i]+"**$*");
			x=x.replace(new RegExp("","g"),"*$***"+ignoretags[i]+"**$*")
		};
		x=''+x+'';
		this.xmlobject={};
		var y=this.xml_to_object(x).jsontagwrapper;
		if(debug){y=this.show_json_structure(y,debug)};
		return y
	},
	xml_to_object:function(xmlcode){
		var x=xmlcode.replace(/
		x=x.split("
		var y=[];
		var level=0;
		var opentags=[];
		for (var i=1;i
			var tagname=x[i].split(">")[0];
			opentags.push(tagname);
			level++
			y.push(level+"
			while(x[i].indexOf("§"+opentags[opentags.length-1]+">")>=0){level--;opentags.pop()}
		};
		var oldniva=-1;
		var objname="this.xmlobject";
		for (var i=0;i
			var preeval="";
			var niva=y[i].split("
			var tagnamn=y[i].split("")[0];
			tagnamn=tagnamn.toLowerCase();
			var rest=y[i].split(">")[1];
			if(niva
				var tabort=oldniva-niva+1;
				for (var j=0;j
			};
			objname+="."+tagnamn;
			var pobject=objname.substring(0,objname.lastIndexOf("."));
			if (eval("typeof "+pobject) != "object"){preeval+=pobject+"={value:"+pobject+"};n"};
			var objlast=objname.substring(objname.lastIndexOf(".")+1);
			var already=false;
			for (k in eval(pobject)){if(k==objlast){already=true}};
			var onlywhites=true;
			for(var s=0;s
				if(rest.charAt(s)!="%"){onlywhites=false}
			};
			if (rest!="" && !onlywhites){
				if(rest/1!=rest){
					rest="'"+rest.replace(/'/g,"\'")+"'";
					rest=rest.replace(/*$***/g,"
					rest=rest.replace(/*$**/g,"
					rest=rest.replace(/**$*/g,">")
				}
			}
			else {rest="{}"};
			if(rest.charAt(0)=="'"){rest='unescape('+rest+')'};
			if (already && !eval(objname+".sort")){preeval+=objname+"=["+objname+"];n"};
			var before="=";after="";
			if (already){before=".push(";after=")"};
			var toeval=preeval+objname+before+rest+after;
			eval(toeval);
			if(eval(objname+".sort")){objname+="["+eval(objname+".length-1")+"]"};
			oldniva=niva
		};
		return this.xmlobject
	},
	show_json_structure:function(obj,debug,l){
		var x='';
		if (obj.sort){x+="[n"} else {x+="{n"};
		for (var i in obj){
			if (!obj.sort){x+=i+":"};
			if (typeof obj[i] == "object"){
				x+=this.show_json_structure(obj[i],false,1)
			}
			else {
				if(typeof obj[i]=="function"){
					var v=obj[i]+"";
					//v=v.replace(/t/g,"");
					x+=v
				}
				else if(typeof obj[i]!="string"){x+=obj[i]+",n"}
				else {x+="'"+obj[i].replace(/'/g,"\'").replace(/n/g,"\n").replace(/t/g,"\t").replace(/r/g,"\r")+"',n"}
			}
		};
		if (obj.sort){x+="],n"} else {x+="},n"};
		if (!l){
			x=x.substring(0,x.lastIndexOf(","));
			x=x.replace(new RegExp(",n}","g"),"n}");
			x=x.replace(new RegExp(",n]","g"),"n]");
			var y=x.split("n");x="";
			var lvl=0;
			for (var i=0;i
				if(y[i].indexOf("}")>=0 || y[i].indexOf("]")>=0){lvl--};
				tabs="";for(var j=0;j
				x+=tabs+y[i]+"n";
				if(y[i].indexOf("{")>=0 || y[i].indexOf("[")>=0){lvl++}
			};
			if(debug=="html"){
				x=x.replace(//g,">");
				x=x.replace(/n/g,"").replace(/t/g,"


There's an XSL transformation which converts XMLs to JSON files, available on this site:

, one can create a very simple class which makes XSL transformations:

 import com.cycling74.max.*;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.StringReader;
 import javax.xml.transform.Transformer;
 import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
 import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;
 import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;

 public class xslt extends MaxObject
 {
     private Transformer transformer;
     public xslt(Atom[] args) {
         declareInlets(new int[]{DataTypes.ALL, DataTypes.ALL});
         declareOutlets(new int[]{DataTypes.ALL});
         setInletAssist(new String[]{"XML inlet", "XSLT inlet"});
         setOutletAssist(new String[]{"XML result"});
     }
     public void anything(String msg, Atom[] args) {
         String source = msg;
         for ( Atom a : args ) {
             source += " " + a.toString ( );
         }
         if (getInlet()==0){
             // Convert XML
             ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
             try {
                 transformer.transform(new StreamSource(new StringReader(source)), new StreamResult(outputStream));
             } catch (Exception e) {
                 // This is BAD CODING, exceptions must always be managed better than here...
                 bail("FLÖFF");
             }
             outlet(0,outputStream.toString());
         } else {
             // Import XSLT
             try {
                 transformer = TransformerFactory.newInstance().newTemplates(new StreamSource(new File(msg))).newTransformer();
             } catch (Exception e) {
                 // Oh, no! Not again...
                 bail("BOING");
             }
         }
     }
 }


, you'll be able to transform any XML into any other format that can be transformed automatically by XSLT-s. For instance, you could translate score-partwise MusicXML files to score-timewise ones using the XSLT provided by the developers of MusicXML, or by using the XSLT of the mentioned website, you would also be able to transform an XML to a JSON file. See this very simple patch for an example:

Then, with mxj quickie, one can create a very simple class which makes XSL transformations:

 import com.cycling74.max.*;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.StringReader;
 import javax.xml.transform.Transformer;
 import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
 import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;
 import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;

 public class xslt extends MaxObject
 {
 	private Transformer transformer;
 	public xslt(Atom[] args) {
 		declareInlets(new int[]{DataTypes.ALL, DataTypes.ALL});
 		declareOutlets(new int[]{DataTypes.ALL});
 		setInletAssist(new String[]{"XML inlet", "XSLT inlet"});
 		setOutletAssist(new String[]{"XML result"});
 	}
 	public void anything(String msg, Atom[] args) {
 		String source = msg;
 		for ( Atom a : args ) {
 			source += " " + a.toString ( );
 		}
 		if (getInlet()==0){
 			// Convert XML
 		    ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
 			try {
 			    transformer.transform(new StreamSource(new StringReader(source)), new StreamResult(outputStream));
 			} catch (Exception e) {
 				// This is BAD CODING, exceptions must always be managed better than here...
 				bail("FLÖFF");
 			}
 		    outlet(0,outputStream.toString());
 		} else {
 			// Import XSLT
 			try {
 				transformer = TransformerFactory.newInstance().newTemplates(new StreamSource(new File(msg))).newTransformer();
 			} catch (Exception e) {
 				// Oh, no! Not again...
 				bail("BOING");
 			}
 		}
 	}
 }


If you compile this class with mxj quickie, you'll be able to transform any XML into any other format that can be transformed automatically by XSLT-s. For instance, you could translate score-partwise MusicXML files to score-timewise ones using the XSLT provided by the developers of MusicXML, or by using the XSLT of the mentioned website, you would also be able to transform an XML to a JSON file. See this very simple patch for an example:

Hm... Interesting... I used the 'pre' tags, but the code is just flushed... :-( I try it again:


import com.cycling74.max.*;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.StringReader;
import javax.xml.transform.Transformer;
import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;

public class xslt extends MaxObject
{
    private Transformer transformer;
    public xslt(Atom[] args) {
        declareInlets(new int[]{DataTypes.ALL, DataTypes.ALL});
        declareOutlets(new int[]{DataTypes.ALL});
        setInletAssist(new String[]{"XML inlet", "XSLT inlet"});
        setOutletAssist(new String[]{"XML result"});
    }
    public void anything(String msg, Atom[] args) {
        String source = msg;
        for ( Atom a : args ) {
            source += " " + a.toString ( );
        }
        if (getInlet()==0){
            // Convert XML
            ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
            try {
                transformer.transform(new StreamSource(new StringReader(source)), new StreamResult(outputStream));
            } catch (Exception e) {
                // This is BAD CODING, exceptions must always be managed better than here...
                bail("FLÖFF");
            }
            outlet(0,outputStream.toString());
        } else {
            // Import XSLT
            try {
                transformer = TransformerFactory.newInstance().newTemplates(new StreamSource(new File(msg))).newTransformer();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                // Oh, no! Not again...
                bail("BOING");
            }
        }
    }
}




import com.cycling74.max.*;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
import java.io.StringReader;
import javax.xml.transform.Transformer;
import javax.xml.transform.TransformerFactory;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamSource;
import javax.xml.transform.stream.StreamResult;

public class xslt extends MaxObject
{
	private Transformer transformer;
	public xslt(Atom[] args) {
		declareInlets(new int[]{DataTypes.ALL, DataTypes.ALL});
		declareOutlets(new int[]{DataTypes.ALL});
		setInletAssist(new String[]{"XML inlet", "XSLT inlet"});
		setOutletAssist(new String[]{"XML result"});
	}
	public void anything(String msg, Atom[] args) {
		String source = msg;
		for ( Atom a : args ) {
			source += " " + a.toString ( );
		}
		if (getInlet()==0){
			// Convert XML
		    ByteArrayOutputStream outputStream = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
			try {
			    transformer.transform(new StreamSource(new StringReader(source)), new StreamResult(outputStream));
			} catch (Exception e) {
				// This is BAD CODING, exceptions must always be managed better than here...
				bail("FLÖFF");
			}
		    outlet(0,outputStream.toString());
		} else {
			// Import XSLT
			try {
				transformer = TransformerFactory.newInstance().newTemplates(new StreamSource(new File(msg))).newTransformer();
			} catch (Exception e) {
				// Oh, no! Not again...
				bail("BOING");
			}
		}
	}
}

