From: James Gray <james@...>
Date: 2007-12-21T11:40:00+09:00
Subject: Re: xml-rpc client result

On Dec 20, 2007, at 5:35 PM, s.ross wrote:

> On Dec 20, 2007, at 3:05 PM, James Gray wrote:
>
>> On Dec 20, 2007, at 4:58 PM, s.ross wrote:
>>
>>> As a followup, I can parse the returned XML string using  
>>> XmlSimple, which works ok. I just thought the parsing took place  
>>> automagically in the XMLRPC parser.
>>
>> OK, forgive me for not getting this, but you've shown us two pieces  
>> of XML.  One look XML-RPCish, but the other did not.  Can you  
>> please show the full response, as you receive it?  If those item  
>> codes are returned inside of the <string> … </string> tags you  
>> showed earlier, XML-RPC is just giving you what the XML said it  
>> received, a String.
>>
>> James Edward Gray II
>
> No, forgive me for the sort of vague question.

No worries.  I get it now.

> <?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>
> <methodResponse>
> <params>
>  <param>
>    <value>
>      <string>
>        <theWSResponse sessionid="02632086050044137264314155577353"  
> membername="my_member_name">
>          <imageList>
>            <image fileid="3782426" type="Image" title="Wide Angle of  
> 777 Building""/>
>            <image fileid="3782472" type="Image" title="Buoys for  
> Lobster Pots, Bar Harbor, Maine"/>
>            <image fileid="3782503" type="Image" title="Ornate Clock  
> in Grand Central Station"/>
>          </imageList>
>      </theWSResponse>
>    </string>
>  </param>
> </methodResponse>

Yeah, that's an odd use of XML-RPC structures.  Instead of passing you  
an Array of Structs, which a library could completely extract, they  
give you a custom XML protocol inside a normal String.  Sad really as  
they clearly don't understand the point of XML-RPC.

There's no getting around it, you'll need to make a second XML parsing  
pass as you have mentioned doing.

> By the way, is there a better way to get this raw data than in ruby- 
> debug?

I'm not aware of an easy way to get the data, no.

James Edward Gray II