Description
A high-level comparison of XML Parser Libraries in the Lisp world to serve as a guide for picking the right tool for the job.
Inspector
Peter K. Lee?
Library Capabilities Overview
The following is my first-pass assessment of packages mentioned in the CL-Gardeners mailing list without actually having used any of the mentioned libraries.
General Snapshot
| Library | Parser Targets | License | Maintained | Last Package Update | Last Review |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| xmls | s-expr | BSD | sort-of | 2004-09-27 | 2006-01-16 |
| s-xml | SAX, XSML, LXML, xml-element struct | LLGPL | Y | 2005-02-03 | 2006-01-16 |
| cl-xml | SAX (primitive), CLOS, s-expr | LGPL/W3C? | Y | 2003-04-09 | 2006-01-16 |
| cxml | SAX, W3C DOM Level 2 Core, xmls | LLGPL | Y | 2006-01-05 | 2006-01-16 |
| XMLisp | CLOS/MOP | LGPL | Y | 2005-02-15 | 2006-01-16 |
XML Features
| Library | Validation | Namespaces | XPath | XQuery | XSL | Schemata | Encoding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| xmls | N | Y | N | N | N | N | ? |
| s-xml | N | N | N | N | N | N | simple |
| cl-xml | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | N | iso-8859-1, all three UTF formats (unless Base Lisp limited) |
| cxml | Y | Y | N | N | N | Relax NG | UTF-8, UTF-16, iso-8859-n, koi8-r (UTF-8 even w/o Base Lisp Unicode) |
| XMLisp | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
XML Standards Conformance
| Library | Conformance | Provides Test Suite |
|---|---|---|
| xmls | passes 85/98 valid documents | ? |
| s-xml | N | N |
| cl-xml | passes 1749/1812 | Y |
| cxml | passes 1829/1829; skipped 333 | Y |
| XMLisp | ? | N |
Itemized Library Details
xmls
Xmls is a small, simple, non-validating xml parser for Common Lisp. It's designed to be a self-contained, easily embedded parser that recognizes a useful subset of the XML spec. It provides a simple mapping from xml to lisp s-expressions and back.
| Author | Miles Eagan |
| Maintainer | Drew Crampsie |
| Version | 1.2 |
| Homepage | http://common-lisp.org/project/xmls |
| Download | http://common-lisp.org/project/xmls/xmls-1.2.tar.gz |
Features
- Free (BSD license).
- Understands enough of the xml spec to parse many common documents, including those occurring in common internet protocols like xml-rpc, webdav, and BEEP. Parses 85 out of the 98 valid documents in the oasis parser compliance suite.
- Small and easily embedded. The entire parser is contained in one file and it's currently less than 600 lines of code. Xmls is written in pure lisp and requires no external parsing tools or foreign libraries.
- Supports xml namespaces.
- Threadsafe.
- Serializes s-expr list structures back to xml as well as parsing xml.
Limitations
- Parses entire document into memory and consequently can't handle large documents.
- No detailed error reporting.
User Comments
Include usage-related tidbits here...
s-xml
S-XML is a simple XML parser implemented in Common Lisp. Originally it was written by Sven Van Caekenberghe. It is now being maintained by Sven Van Caekenberghe, Rudi Schlatte and Brian Mastenbrook. S-XML is used by S-XML-RPC and CL-PREVALENCE.
| Author | Sven Van Caekenberghe |
| Maintainers | Sven Van Caekenberghe, Rudi Schlatte, Brian Mastenbrook |
| Version | 1.2 |
| Homepage | http://common-lisp.org/project/s-xml |
| Download | http://common-lisp.org/project/s-xml/s-xml.tgz |
Features
- It works (handling many common XML usages).
- It is very small (the core is about 400 lines of code, including comments and whitespace).
- It has a core API that is simple, efficient and pure functional, much like that from SSAX (see also http://ssax.sourceforge.net).
- It supports different DOM models: an XSML-based one, an LXML-based one and a classic xml-element struct based one.
- It is reasonably time and space efficient (internally avoiding garbage generatation as much as possible).
Limitations
- It does not support CDATA.
- Only supports simple character sets.
- It does not support name spaces
- It does not support any special tags (like processing instructions).
- It is not validating, even skips DTD's all together.
User Comments
Include usage-related tidbits here...
cl-xml
CL-XML is a collection of Common LISP modules for data stream parsing and serialization according to the "Extensible Markup Language" and anscilliary standards. The modules perform parsing and serialization between XML, XML Query, and XML Path expressions and DOM-compatible CLOS instances. The XML processor includes a conformant, validating, namespace-aware model-based parser. It supports, in particular, namespace-aware DTD-based validation. The XPATH module comprises LISP bindings for the XML Path library, an S-expression-based namespace-aware path model, and a macro-based path model compiler which implements an XPATH-algebra. The XQUERY module comprises LISP bindings for the XML Query library, an S-expression-based query model which incorporates the XPATH facilities, and a macro-based query compiler. The base CLOS model class library implements the XML Query Data Model and presents an Infoset compatiable programming interface.
| Author | James Anderson |
| Maintainer | James Anderson |
| Version | 0.949 |
| Homepage | http://pws.prserv.net/James.Anderson/XML/ |
| Download | http://pws.prserv.net/James.Anderson/XML/documentation/releases.html |
| Howtos | http://pws.prserv.net/James.Anderson/XML/documentation/howto/index.html |
User Comments
Include usage-related tidbits here...
cxml
An XML parser written in Common Lisp.
CXML implements a namespace-aware, validating SAX-like XML 1.0 parser as well as the DOM Level 2 Core interfaces.
CXML is licensed under Lisp-LGPL.
| Author | Gilbert Baumann |
| Maintainer | David Lichteblau |
| Version | 2006-01-05 |
| Homepage | http://common-lisp.org/project/cxml/ |
| Download | http://common-lisp.org/project/cxml/download/ |
User Comments
Include usage-related tidbits here...
XMLisp
XMLisp is the integration of Lisp with XML. The Lisp Meta Object Protocol is used to establish a simple and highly efficient mapping between CLOS objects and the XML extensible markup language. It is not just an API to read XML files and turn them into some Lisp flavored representation. Instead, it integrates Lisp and XML into one environment at two levels. At a language level it allows the arbitrary combination of Lisp expressions and XML elements. CLOS objects can be printed as XML elements. XML elements evaluate into CLOS objects. At a tool level XMLisp allows users to fluidly experiment with XML. Type XML elements into the lisp listener. Evaluate complete or parts of hierarchical XML elements. Inspect complex XML elements using the inspector. Get support from symbol completion when editing XML.
| Author | Alexander Repenning |
| Maintainer | Alexander Repenning |
| Version | 2.3 |
| Homepage | http://www.agentsheets.com/lisp/XMLisp/ |
| Download | http://www.agentsheets.com/lisp/XMLisp/XMLisp.zip |
User Comments
Include usage-related tidbits here...
Tasks
- _ contact XMLisp maintainer for update
- _ do conformance testing of each library
- _ add usage code snippets & first time run-through feedback
- _ add lisp implementation table to each library
- X write the first draft
- X submit for review to mailing list
References
Categories
Gardeners Reports