From: Kevin Jackson <foamdino@...>
Date: 2006-12-06T17:05:56+09:00
Subject: Re: Newbie: working with a text file and converting to xml

> I have a tab-delimited text file that I would like to convert into an
> xml file that can be read/imported into Apple's Final Cut Pro.
>
> The text file is 2 columns.
> The first column is the time (timecode)
> The second column is text (for sub-titling)
>
> I thought this might be a good starting project to get into Ruby
>
> Any suggestions on how I might approach this?

look at XMLBuilder and FasterCSV

Setup FasterCSV to use a tab as the delimiter instead of the comma and
then use it to read the input and then use XMLBuilder to output
<timecode>data</timecode><sub-title>data</subtitle>

should be fairly simple, or you can avoid libraries and do it by
yourself to learn more about ruby without getting bogged down in 3rd
party libs

x = Builder::XmlMarkup.new(:target => $stdout, :indent => 1)
x.instruct
x.timcode data
x.sub-title data

etc

Kev