I'm working with SOAP and WSDL at the moment and golly that xml can be hard to read.
In the past I've used
GraphViz to draw pictures of data structures, once I did an IVR call flow diagram that helped to define what the client wanted and then the source was used to write the dialplan directly.
This is only roughly working, but it's starting to be useful. The python program takes a wsdl file on the command line, and outputs a "dot" file that can be rendered with GraphViz. Note that on the Mac
OmniGraffle can also render this format really nicely.
Please let me know if a better tool exists, for the Mac or Unix in general - surely it must, and any improvements would be gratefully accepted. (I am aware of
XMLSpy, which looks great but there is no version for the Mac and it looks like it costs "Starting at €399" whatever that means).
#!/usr/bin/env python
"""
A little utility to visualise wsdl using Graphviz.
(http://www.graphviz.org/)
OmniGraffle does an excellent job too.
by Peter B Marks
http://marxy.org
License: You are free to use this for any purpose.
History:
6-April-2008 1 Roughly working for comment.
6-April-2008 2 Skip duplicate arcs.
6-April-2008 3 Add verbose command line switch.
6-April-2008 4 Add levels and outfile options.
"""
import sys
import string
from optparse import OptionParser
import logging
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
# global list of nodes we've already outout
# so we don't overwrite them
ALREADY_DONE_NODES = []
ALREADY_DONE_ARCS = []
RECURSE_LEVELS = 50
CURRENT_LEVEL = 0
def main():
global RECURSE_LEVELS
parser = OptionParser()
parser.usage = "%prog [options] infile"
parser.add_option("-v", "--verbose", dest="verbose",
action="store_true", help="print lots of info")
parser.add_option("-o", "--outfile",
dest="outfile", help="Output file to write to")
parser.add_option("-l", "--levels",
dest="levels",
help="Number of levels to recurse or %d" % RECURSE_LEVELS)
(options, args) = parser.parse_args()
if len(args) > 0:
fileName = args[0]
else:
parser.print_help()
return
if options.verbose:
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
else:
logging.basicConfig(level=logging.ERROR)
if options.levels:
RECURSE_LEVELS = int(options.levels)
if options.outfile:
outfile = options.outfile
else:
outfile = fileName + ".dot"
logging.debug("Reading file %s" % fileName)
infile = open(fileName, "r")
xmldata = infile.read()
infile.close()
logging.debug("Writing to file: %s" % outfile)
of = open(outfile, "w")
of.write('digraph g {graph [rankdir = "LR"];\n')
tree = ET.parse(fileName)
root = tree.getroot()
outputLevel(of, root, root.tag)
of.write('}')
of.close()
logging.debug("Done.")
def removeNamespace(fullString):
where = string.rindex(fullString, "}")
return fullString[where + 1:]
def outputLevel(of, itemList, itemListName):
"""Recursive function for outputting a level"""
global ALREADY_DONE_NODES, ALREADY_DONE_ARCS, RECURSE_LEVELS, CURRENT_LEVEL
itemListLabel = "%s" % (removeNamespace(itemList.tag))
logging.debug("Processing: %s" % itemList.tag)
itemCounter = 0
for item in itemList:
itemName = "%s-%d" % (item.tag, itemCounter)
itemCounter += 1
itemLabel = "%s" % (removeNamespace(item.tag))
for attribute in item.attrib.keys():
itemLabel += "|%s:%s" % (attribute, item.attrib[attribute])
if item.text:
itemText = item.text.strip()
if len(itemText) > 0:
itemLabel += "|%s" % item.text
if itemListName not in ALREADY_DONE_NODES:
ALREADY_DONE_NODES.append(itemListName)
of.write('"%s" [ label = "%s", shape="record" ];\n' % (itemListName, itemListLabel))
else:
logging.debug("Skipping duplicate node:%s" % itemListName)
if itemName not in ALREADY_DONE_NODES:
ALREADY_DONE_NODES.append(itemName)
of.write('"%s" [ label = "%s", shape="record" ];\n' % (itemName, itemLabel))
else:
logging.debug("Skipping duplicate node:%s" % itemName)
arc = '"%s" -> "%s";\n' % (itemListName, itemName)
if arc not in ALREADY_DONE_ARCS:
ALREADY_DONE_ARCS.append(arc)
of.write(arc) # the arc
else:
logging.debug("Skipping duplicate arc:%s" % arc)
CURRENT_LEVEL += 1
logging.debug("Recursed to level %d" % CURRENT_LEVEL)
if CURRENT_LEVEL >= RECURSE_LEVELS:
logging.debug("Hit maximum recursion level %d" % RECURSE_LEVELS)
else:
outputLevel(of, item, itemName) # recurse
if __name__ == "__main__":
main()
The diagram above is a clipping from the output generated from some
annotated WSDL.
While I'm here can I mention how useful the techniques shown in this example make python for making little command line utilities. See how OptionParser makes it simple to handle short and long style command line options. Marvel at how you can use the logging module to write output if chosen by the --verbose switch.
It's sometimes a bit hard to find simple examples like this.
I've taken some time off regular work to build BaristaReview.com, a site where you can find and review your local coffee shops. 
I'm working with SOAP and WSDL at the moment and golly that xml can be hard to read.
