Parsing XML

[rpack78]

I am trying to parse an XML file using XML::Simple. Everything is working fine except when the node has no value. When I do this:

print my $car_vin = $record->{LoanUniversal}->[$i]->{Loan}->{LoanInformation}->{CollateralID};

I get "HASH(0xa1fc9d8)". How can I test if $car_vin has this HASH/hex crap in it so I can blank it out? Or should I go about it another way? I'm not quite understanding what's going on. Thanks.

 

[TonyGroves]

What you are seeing is a hash reference. CollateralID points to another hash, so you need to lengthen it to[tt]
$record->{LoanUniversal}->[$i]->{Loan}
->{LoanInformation}->{CollateralID}->{something};[/tt]

 

[azzazzello]

HASH/hex crap you are refering to indicates that the value is a pointer to another HASH. It seems that you can drill down even further into this. Try this

my $car_vin = $record->{LoanUniversal}->[$i]->{Loan}->{LoanInformation}->{CollateralID};

if ($car_vin =~ /^HASH(/)
{
#POINTER - we can drill down further
while (my($key,$val) = each (%$car_vin))
{ print "$key -> $val\n"; }
}
else
{
#it's just a value
print "$car_vin\n";
}

 

[rpack78]

Thanks for the response, guys. It makes sense what you are saying. I tried the code you suggested and it entered the "if" part but printed nothing. Here is what the XML looks like up to the node in question.

<LoanApps>
 <LoanUniversal>
  <Loan Counter="275317" RecordCounter="1042222">
   <LoanInformation>
    <ApplicationNumber>0194260</ApplicationNumber> 
    <ApplicationDate>1/6/2005</ApplicationDate> 
    <LoanType>DEL NORTE CU</LoanType> 
    <LoanPurpose>PURCHASE</LoanPurpose> 
    <LoanNumber /> 
    <RequestedLoanAmount>17570.0000</RequestedLoanAmount> 
    <RequestedTerm>60</RequestedTerm> 
    <RequestedRate>5.3500</RequestedRate> 
    <CollateralID /> 
    <CollateralType>USED AUTO</CollateralType> 
    ...

Notice how CollateralID doesn't have a value? It doesn't have any child nodes either. I guess I could just use the regex you supplied and blank out the value if "HASH(" is found. I just want to know why the HASH/hex crap is printing.

 

[TonyGroves]

You can use the SuppressEmpty option to tell the parser what to do with empty elements like CollateralID. The possible values are:
1 Skips empty elements
'' Produces an empty string
undef Produces an undefined value

for example:[tt]
$xml=XMLin("loanapps.xml",SuppressEmpty=>1);[/tt]

 

[rpack78]

Perfect! Thank you very much.

Ryan