Swift

Removing / Deleting Child Nodes from XML

See more XML Examples

Demonstrates various methods for removing child nodes from an XML document.

The input XML, available at http://www.chilkatsoft.com/data/fruit.xml, is this:

<root>
    <fruit color="red">apple</fruit>
    <fruit color="green">pear</fruit>
    <veg color="orange">carrot</veg>
    <meat animal="cow">beef</meat>
    <xyz>
        <fruit color="blue">blueberry</fruit>
        <veg color="green">broccoli</veg>
    </xyz>
    <fruit color="purple">grape</fruit>
    <cheese color="yellow">cheddar</cheese>
</root>

Swift

func chilkatTest() {
    var success: Bool = false

    let xml = CkoXml()!
    var xyz: CkoXml?

    // The sample input XML is available at http://www.chilkatsoft.com/data/fruit.xml
    success = xml.loadFile(path: "fruit.xml")
    if success != true {
        print("\(xml.lastErrorText!)")
        return
    }

    // The RemoveChild method removes (discards) all direct
    // children having the specified tag:
    xml.removeChild(tagPath: "fruit")

    // Show the resulting XML:
    print("Result with all direct children having a tag equal to \"fruit\" removed:")
    print("\(xml.getXml()!)")

    // The XML with the "fruit" direct children removed is shown below:
    // Notice that the "fruit" node beneath "xyz" was not removed.
    // This correct because it was not a direct child of the calling node.

    // <root>
    //     <veg color="orange">carrot</veg>
    //     <meat animal="cow">beef</meat>
    //     <xyz>
    //         <fruit color="blue">blueberry</fruit>
    //         <veg color="green">broccoli</veg>
    //     </xyz>
    //     <cheese color="yellow">cheddar</cheese>
    // </root>

    // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // Restore the original XML:
    success = xml.loadFile(path: "fruit.xml")

    // The RemoveChildWithContent method removes the child
    // having the exact content specified, regardless of the tag.  
    // For example:
    xml.removeChild(withContent: "pear")

    // Show the resulting XML:
    print("Result with the node containing \"pear\" removed:")
    print("\(xml.getXml()!)")

    // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // Restore the original XML:
    success = xml.loadFile(path: "fruit.xml")

    // The RemoveChildByIndex method removes the Nth direct
    // child.  Indexing begins at 0.  The "xyz" child is at index 4:
    xml.removeChild(byIndex: 4)

    // Show the resulting XML:
    // Notice that the entire "xyz" subtree is removed.
    print("Result with the node at index 4 removed:")
    print("\(xml.getXml()!)")

    // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    // Restore the original XML:
    success = xml.loadFile(path: "fruit.xml")

    // Navigate to the node with tag "xyz"
    xyz = xml.findChild(tagPath: "xyz")

    // Remove the "xyz" subtree making it it's own XML document
    // with the "xyz" node at the root:
    xyz!.removeFromTree()

    // Show both XML documents:
    print("\(xyz!.getXml()!)")
    print("\(xml.getXml()!)")

    // Also, the TreeId property is an integer value assigned
    // to nodes in an XML document.  All nodes belonging to
    // the same XML document will have the same TreeId.
    // Notice that the "xyz" node now has a different TreeId:
    print("xyz TreeId = \(xyz!.treeId.intValue)")
    print("xml TreeId = \(xml.treeId.intValue)")

    xyz = nil

}