[boost] Testing Property Tree xml parser

From: Jose (jmalv04_at_[hidden])
Date: 2006-04-26 12:49:10

Hi,

I am trying to finish my review of the Property Tree. I find the scope of
the library for program configuration very useful.

I am currently testing only the read_xml parsing, and although it is only
meant for very simple xml files i find its xml support very very sketchy.
I've performed multiple experiments with rss feed files, which are very
simple xml files. This is the loop I am using to test different xml paths
using a command line utility:

 BOOST_FOREACH(ptree::value_type &v, pt.get_child( argv[2] ))
                        cout << "value: " << v.second.data() << endl;

Below is a list of my experiments:

1. parsing the artima.com spotlight feed

Result: FAILED

The path is rdf:RDF.item.title  and I get invalid character entitly.
I think the parser should support the semicolon within the tag name, given
that in many cases the config files might be generated by real xml programs
which use namespaces and  it should be able to read them even if it does not
support save.

2. parsing the MSDN visual c++ feed

Result: FAILED

The path is rss.channel.item.title and I get an "xml parse error". Is there
a posibility of getting more meaningful errors ?

3. parsing the main CNN feed

Result: FAILED

The path is rss.channel.item.title. This query fails with no error but if
the path is shortened to rss.channel.item it dumps all the values within
item, but there is no value at that level (only nested tags)

4. Parsing the Google News RSS feed

Result: FAILED

The path is rss.channel.item.title. I get "Invalid character entity error".
A more meaningful error should be possible with the position in the file
where the entity occurs.

5. Parsing the Google News Atom feed

Result: FAILED

The path is feed.entry.title. I get "Invalid character entity error".

regards
jose