What is this?

The XML to JSON Plugin (jQuery.xml2json) is a script you can use to convert simple XML into a JSON object.

Convert this...

<xml>
 <message>Hello world</message>
</xml>

...into this:

{
 message: 'Hello world';
}

How does it work?

With XML in a string

Click here to test this code 
var xml = '<xml><message>Hello world</message></xml>';
var json = $.xml2json(xml);
alert(json.message);

With XML loaded via Ajax

Click here to test this code 
$.get('data/hello.xml', function(xml){
 var json = $.xml2json(xml);
 alert(json.message);
});

Consider the following XML file (data/animals.xml):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<animals>
 <dog color='Black'>
  <name>Rufus</name>
  <breed>labrador</breed>
 </dog>
 <dog breed='whippet'>
  Adopted
  <name>Marty</name>
 </dog>
 <cat color="White">
  <name>Matilda</name>
 </cat>
</animals>

Simple Mode

Click here to test this code 
$.get('data/animals.xml', function(xml){
 var animals = $.xml2json(xml);
 alert(animals.dog[1].name +'/'+ animals.dog[1]);
});

In simple mode, the plugin will only use arrays and objects when necessary. It also means you don't have to use .text (or .nodeValue) to retrieve the text of each node.

Resulting JSON object

{
 dog:[
  { name:'Rufus', breed:'labrador', color:'Black' },
  { text:'Adopted', name:'Marty', breed:'whippet' }
 ],
 cat:{ name:'Matilda', color:'White'}
}

Accessing the data

animals.dog = '{Array}';
animals.dog[0] = '{Object}'; // No text in node
animals.dog[0].name === 'Rufus';
animals.dog[0].color === 'Black';// from attribute
animals.dog[0].breed === 'labrador';
animals.dog[1] === 'Adopted'; // text in node (animals.dog[1].text)
animals.dog[1].name === 'Marty';
animals.dog[1].breed === 'whippet';
animals.cat = '{Object}'; // only 1 cat, array not required
animals.cat.name === 'Matilda';
animals.cat.color === 'White';

Extended Mode

Click here to test this code 
$.get('data/animals.xml', function(xml){
 var animals = $.xml2json(xml, true);
 alert(animals.dog[1].name[0].text +'/'+ animals.dog[1].text);
});

In extended mode, the plugin converts each and every node into an array.

Resulting JSON object

{
 dog:[
  { name:['Rufus'], breed:['labrador'], color:'Black' },
  { text:'Adopted', name:['Marty'], breed:'whippet' }
 ],
 cat:[
  { name:'Matilda', color:'White'}
 ]
}

Accessing the data

animals.dog = '{Array}';
animals.dog[0] = '{Object}'; // No text in node
animals.dog[0].name[0].text === 'Rufus';
animals.dog[0].color[0].text === 'Black';// from attribute
animals.dog[0].breed[0].text === 'labrador';
animals.dog[1].text === 'Adopted'; // text in node (animals.dog[1].text)
animals.dog[1].name[0].text === 'Marty';
animals.dog[1].breed[0].text === 'whippet';
animals.cat = '{Array}';
animals.cat[0] = '{Object}';
animals.cat[0].name[0].text === 'Matilda';
animals.cat[0].color[0].text === 'White';

This is how the plugin works in simple mode (default) - which represents the XML data in a structure that is as simple and easy to use as possible.

FILE: data/notes.xml FILE: data/menu.xml FILE: data/catalog.xml

Why do this?

The benefit of this behaviour is that arrays are only used when necessary.

So you can do this... 
json.node
 ...instead of this: 
json.node[0].text

This is how the plugin works in extended mode - where each and every node is an array.

FILE: data/notes.xml FILE: data/menu.xml FILE: data/catalog.xml

This is what I need. How do I get it?

Simple, just add 'true' to the second parameter when you call the plugin, like this: 

// ... get your xml data
var json = $.xml2json(xml, true /* extended structure */);
// ... do some stuff

You can load and format an RSS feed just like you would work on any other XML file. The plugin loads the structure onto an easy to use JSON object so you can easily loop through every item in the rss channel like this: 

$.get('data/rss.xml', function(xml){
  $('#test-rss').html(''); /* clear result div */
  var rss = $.xml2json(xml);
  $.each(rss.channel.item, function(i, item){
    $('#test-rss').append('<p>'
      +'<strong>'+item.title+'</strong><br/>'
      +'<u>Description</u>: '+item.description+'<br/>'
      +'<u>Author</u>: '+item.author+'<br/>'
      +'<small style="color:green;">'+item.link+'</small>'
    +'</p>');
  });
});

Copy code | RUN TEST »

This is div#test-rss. Results of the test above will be shown here

View Structure

In simple mode

FILE: data/rss.xml

In extended mode

FILE: data/rss.xml

Download

Package: v1.0 xml-to-json.zip
previous versions -
Files: These are the individual required files (already included in the zip package above)
jQuery: jquery-latest.js (see jQuery.com)

Installation

<script src="jquery-latest.js" type="text/javascript" language="javascript"></script>
<script src="jquery.xml2json.js" type="text/javascript" language="javascript"></script>

Support

Quick Support Links: Help me! | Report a bug | Suggest new feature

Support for this plugin is available through the jQuery Mailing List. This is a very active list to which many jQuery developers and users subscribe.
Access to the jQuery Mailing List is also available through the Nabble Forums, the jQuery Google Group and the official project page.

Credit

Attribute this work

Attribution link: (c) Fyneworks.com
HTML Code:

License Info

XML to JSON Plugin by Fyneworks.com is licensed under the MIT License and the GPL License. Creative Commons License 
Copyright (c) 2008 Fyneworks.com
 
 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
 obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation
 files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without
 restriction, including without limitation the rights to use,
 copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
 copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
 Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
 conditions:
 
 The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
 included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 
 THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
 EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES
 OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
 NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT
 HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
 WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
 FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR
 OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.