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PDF (letter size)

PDF (legal size)

This is an example how to read a plain text XML file in Mathematica, and display its content in a Mathematica Grid (table like).

I used an example XML I found on the net (ref [2]), which is a plain text file that contains some made up student information.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 
<students> 
 
  <student> 
    <studentnumber>284008</studentnumber> 
    <firstname>Benjamin</firstname> 
    <lastname>Carson</lastname> 
    <dateofbirth>04/10/1995</dateofbirth> 
    <Gender>2</Gender> 
  </student> 
 
  <student> 
    <studentnumber>826084</studentnumber> 
    <firstname>Gertrude</firstname> 
    <lastname>Simms</lastname> 
    <dateofbirth>8/22/1993</dateofbirth> 
    <Gender>1</Gender> 
  </student> 
 
  <student> 
    <studentnumber>628460</studentnumber> 
    <firstname>Paul</firstname> 
    <lastname>Sandt</lastname> 
    <dateofbirth>12/24/1997</dateofbirth> 
    <Gender>3</Gender> 
  </student> 
 
  <student> 
    <studentnumber>792714</studentnumber> 
    <firstname>Chrissie</firstname> 
    <lastname>Burchs</lastname> 
    <dateofbirth>02/06/1993</dateofbirth> 
    <Gender>1</Gender> 
  </student> 
 
</students>
 

The first step is to download the above file to some folder, then create the following Mathematica code

SetDirectory[NotebookDirectory[]]; 
r = Import["data.xml", "XML"]
 

The above now displays the symbolic XML

XMLObject[Document][{XMLObject[Declaration][Version->1.0, 
                                          Encoding->utf-8]}, 
 XMLElement[students,{}, 
   { 
   XMLElement[student,{}, 
     {XMLElement[studentnumber,{},{284008}], 
      XMLElement[firstname,{},{Benjamin}], 
      XMLElement[lastname,{},{Carson}], 
      XMLElement[dateofbirth,{},{04/10/1995}], 
      XMLElement[Gender,{},{2}]}], 
    XMLElement[student,{}, 
      {XMLElement[studentnumber,{},{826084}], 
       XMLElement[firstname,{},{Gertrude}], 
       XMLElement[lastname,{},{Simms}], 
       XMLElement[dateofbirth,{},{8/22/1993}], 
       XMLElement[Gender,{},{1}]}], 
    XMLElement[student,{}, 
      {XMLElement[studentnumber,{},{628460}], 
       XMLElement[firstname,{},{Paul}], 
       XMLElement[lastname,{},{Sandt}], 
       XMLElement[dateofbirth,{},{12/24/1997}], 
       XMLElement[Gender,{},{3}]}], 
    XMLElement[student,{}, 
      {XMLElement[studentnumber,{},{792714}], 
       XMLElement[firstname,{},{Chrissie}], 
       XMLElement[lastname,{},{Burchs}], 
       XMLElement[dateofbirth,{},{02/06/1993}], 
       XMLElement[Gender,{},{1}]}] 
      }], 
   {}]
 

Now we read all the fields, using Cases

students=Cases[r,XMLElement["student",_,_],Infinity]; 
numbers=Flatten[Cases[students,XMLElement["studentnumber",_,x_]->x,Infinity],1]; 
firstName=Flatten[Cases[students,XMLElement["firstname",_,x_]->x,Infinity],1]; 
lastName=Flatten[Cases[students,XMLElement["lastname",_,x_]->x,Infinity],1]; 
gender=Flatten[Cases[students,XMLElement["Gender",_,x_]->x,Infinity],1]; 
dateofbirth=Flatten[Cases[students,XMLElement["dateofbirth",_,x_]->x,Infinity],1];
 

Now put them in a grid

Grid[Join[{{"first name", "last name", "gender", "DOB"}}, 
   Transpose[{firstName, lastName, gender, dateofbirth}]], 
   Frame -> All]
 

This is the result

Finally, the output is converted to Latex in the fly, and compiled to HTML and pdf using tex4ht and pdflatex. Here is the result

1. pdf
2. HTML

This is the Mathematica code used to convert the table to Latex

str="\\documentclass[11pt]{book} 
\\begin{document} 
\\begin{tabular}{"; 
Do[str=str<>"|l",{n,1,Length[students]}]; 
str=str<>"|}\n"; 
str=str<>"first name&last name&gender&DOB\\\\ \\hline\n"; 
Do[ 
str=str<>firstName[[n]]<>"&"<>lastName[[n]]<>"&"<>gender[[n]] 
       <>"&"<>dateofbirth[[n]]<>"\\\\ \\hline\n", 
{n,1,Length[students]}]; 
str=str<>"\\end{tabular} 
\\end{document} 
"; 
 
fileName = "output.tex"; 
If[FileExistsQ[fileName], DeleteFile[fileName]]; 
file = OpenWrite[fileName, PageWidth -> Infinity]; 
WriteString[file, str]; 
Close[file];
 

That is all.

References

1. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/XML/tutorial/TransformingXML.html
2. http://www.functionx.com/xml/Lesson01.htm