Go - XML Example - Marshal and Unmarshal

 Go offers built-in support for XML and XML-like formats with the encoding/xml package.

Go - XML Marshal Example - Marshal Method

Let's use the Marshal method to marshal the XML content:

package main

import (
	"encoding/xml"
	"fmt"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	type Address struct {
		City, State string
	}
	type Person struct {
		XMLName   xml.Name `xml:"person"`
		Id        int      `xml:"id,attr"`
		FirstName string   `xml:"name>first"`
		LastName  string   `xml:"name>last"`
		Age       int      `xml:"age"`
		Height    float32  `xml:"height,omitempty"`
		Married   bool
		Address
		Comment string `xml:",comment"`
	}

	v := &Person{Id: 13, FirstName: "John", LastName: "Doe", Age: 42}
	v.Comment = " Need more details. "
	v.Address = Address{"Hanga Roa", "Easter Island"}

	output, err := xml.Marshal(v)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Printf("error: %v\n", err)
	}

	os.Stdout.Write(output)
}

Output:

<person id="13"><name><first>John</first><last>Doe</last></name><age>42</age><Married>false</Married><City>Hanga Roa</City><State>Easter Island</State><!-- Need more details. --></person>

Go - XML Marshal Example - MarshalIndent Method

MarshalIndent works like Marshal, but each XML element begins on a new indented line that starts with prefix and is followed by one or more copies of indent according to the nesting depth.

package main

import (
	"encoding/xml"
	"fmt"
	"os"
)

func main() {
	type Address struct {
		City, State string
	}
	type Person struct {
		XMLName   xml.Name `xml:"person"`
		Id        int      `xml:"id,attr"`
		FirstName string   `xml:"name>first"`
		LastName  string   `xml:"name>last"`
		Age       int      `xml:"age"`
		Height    float32  `xml:"height,omitempty"`
		Married   bool
		Address
		Comment string `xml:",comment"`
	}

	v := &Person{Id: 13, FirstName: "John", LastName: "Doe", Age: 42}
	v.Comment = " Need more details. "
	v.Address = Address{"Hanga Roa", "Easter Island"}

	output, err := xml.MarshalIndent(v, "  ", "    ")
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Printf("error: %v\n", err)
	}

	os.Stdout.Write(output)
}

Output:

  <person id="13">
      <name>
          <first>John</first>
          <last>Doe</last>
      </name>
      <age>42</age>
      <Married>false</Married>
      <City>Hanga Roa</City>
      <State>Easter Island</State>
      <!-- Need more details. -->
  </person>

Go - Unmarshaling XML Example

This example demonstrates unmarshaling an XML excerpt into a value with some preset fields. Note that the Phone field isn't modified and that the XML element is ignored. Also, the Groups field is assigned considering the element path provided in its tag.

package main

import (
	"encoding/xml"
	"fmt"
)

func main() {
	type Email struct {
		Where string `xml:"where,attr"`
		Addr  string
	}
	type Address struct {
		City, State string
	}
	type Result struct {
		XMLName xml.Name `xml:"Person"`
		Name    string   `xml:"FullName"`
		Phone   string
		Email   []Email
		Groups  []string `xml:"Group>Value"`
		Address
	}
	v := Result{Name: "none", Phone: "none"}

	data := `
		<Person>
			<FullName>Grace R. Emlin</FullName>
			<Company>Example Inc.</Company>
			<Email where="home">
				<Addr>gre@example.com</Addr>
			</Email>
			<Email where='work'>
				<Addr>gre@work.com</Addr>
			</Email>
			<Group>
				<Value>Friends</Value>
				<Value>Squash</Value>
			</Group>
			<City>Hanga Roa</City>
			<State>Easter Island</State>
		</Person>
	`
	err := xml.Unmarshal([]byte(data), &v)
	if err != nil {
		fmt.Printf("error: %v", err)
		return
	}
	fmt.Printf("XMLName: %#v\n", v.XMLName)
	fmt.Printf("Name: %q\n", v.Name)
	fmt.Printf("Phone: %q\n", v.Phone)
	fmt.Printf("Email: %v\n", v.Email)
	fmt.Printf("Groups: %v\n", v.Groups)
	fmt.Printf("Address: %v\n", v.Address)
}

Output:

XMLName: xml.Name{Space:"", Local:"Person"}
Name: "Grace R. Emlin"
Phone: "none"
Email: [{home gre@example.com} {work gre@work.com}]
Groups: [Friends Squash]
Address: {Hanga Roa Easter Island}