Save XML response from GET call using Python

Question

I'm trying to create a realtime report using an API that allows me to grab the data I need and returns it in XML format. What I want to know is, after receiving the response, how can I save it to an .xml file locally? Or cache it, that way I can parse it before parsing the response.

import requests
r = requests.get('url',  auth=('user', 'pass'))

I'm using requests since it's the easiest way to make a GET call in my opinion. Also, this is my first question and I'm barely starting to learn Python, I'd appreciate it if you guys had a little patience. Thanks.

I was looking at a similar question but for JSON, not sure if it would work the same, https://mcmap.net/q/544068/-saving-a-json-file-to-computer-python

import requests
import json
solditems = requests.get('https://github.com/timeline.json') # (your url)
data = solditems.json()
with open('data.json', 'w') as f:
    json.dump(data, f)

Disembark

file.open('foo.xml').write(r.text) – Waggle

Answer 1

If you want to be able to parse the returned XML before doing stuff with it, the xml tree is your friend.

import requests
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

r = requests.get('url',  auth=('user', 'pass'))
tree = ET.parse(r.text)
root = tree.getroot()

Otherwise, as jordanm has commented, you could just save it to a file and be done with it.

with open('data.xml', 'w') as f:
    f.write(r.text)

Hagfish

Thanks, I'm looking at the documentation now, really helpful. Sorry, don't have the reputation to upvote you. – Disembark

@JulioMontes if the answer is sufficient, you may mark it as accepted by clicking the tick next to the voting buttons. If you need extra help or hints, comment below and I'll help you out. Or you can wait it out a bit to see what other answers come up :) – Hagfish

Well, I'm going to keep this open (not sure if thats allowed) and do some digging myself and see how much further I get, don't want it all handed to me, I appreciate it though. – Disembark

I was wondering if there is a way for me to get the response and be able to choose what to print. I know when its tree = ET.parse(r.text) the response is the whole XML. However, I want to be selective. I tried just using tree = ET.parse(r) but I must be missing something. – Disembark

@juliomontes do you have an example? Do you mean like a particular child tag for instance? – Hagfish

yes, i'm trying to show only the values of the tags and not the whole xml file. <Assets total="157" pageSize="2147483647" pageStart="0"> <Asset href="url1" id="Epic:45919"> <Attribute name="Name">Project X</Attribute> <Attribute name="Scope.Name">Site Management</Attribute> <Attribute name="Owners.Name"> <Value>Stacey</Value> </Attribute> </Asset> </Assets> This is an example of the XML response that I get. I'm not sure how to print it, I've been trying: for Asset in root: print child.tag, child.attrib but doesn't work. – Disembark

Sorry, the above looks like a mess, but mainly I think it's that I'm trying to call all the child values in root. For example, Name, Scope.Name, and Owners.Name, etc. Not sure if it makes any sense. – Disembark

Are you able to figure out the solution to print only selected child? I am in need of that – Housum

Answer 2

Few notes related to Python3 (at least 3.6 versions):

1) when using xml.etree.ElementTree with requests, you use fromstring not parse. r.text returns a string, and xml.etree.ElementTree.parse is for files

import requests
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET

r = requests.get("https://xml.returning.uri")
root = ET.fromstring(r.text)

2) This creates an element object as the root (no more tree). So to write it back out, you'll need to make it a tree:

tree = ET.ElementTree(root)
tree.write("file.xml")

From the docs

xml.etree.ElementTree.parse(source, parser=None) Parses an XML section into an element tree. source is a filename or file object containing XML data.

xml.etree.ElementTree.fromstring(text) Parses an XML section from a string constant. Same as XML(). text is a string containing XML data. Returns an Element instance

Misogyny