Python appending XML SubElement twice

Question

I wrote the code below to append a XML SubElement, but it is appending the same code twice:

Python Code:

from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
tree = ET.parse("sample.xml")
root = tree.getroot()

child = parent = ''
NOTFOUND = 0
pos = 0

for user in root:
    Id = user.get("id")
    if Id == '012345':
        for attr in user:
            attr_name = attr.get('name')
            pos = len(user)
            if attr_name != "attrib3" and NOTFOUND != 1:
                print "#1: ", user.get('id'), attr.get('name')
                NOTFOUND = NOTFOUND + 1
                parent = user
                child = attr
                continue

if NOTFOUND == 1:
    newattr = ET.SubElement(parent,'res',attrib={'name':'attrib3'})
    newattr_first_seem = ET.SubElement(newattr, 'first_seem', attrib={'date':'2018-08-01', 'status':'GRANTED'})
    print "#2: ", newattr.attrib
    parent.append(newattr)

tree.write('sample.xml')

Desired output:

<stop>
    <user id="012345">
        <res name="attrib1">
            <first_seem date="2018-07-31" status="REQUESTED" />
            <last_seem date="2018-07-31" status="INPROCESS" />
        </res>
        <res name="attrib2">
            <first_seem date="2018-07-31" status="REQUESTED" />
            <last_seem date="2018-07-31" status="COMPLETED" />
        </res>
        **<res name="attrib3">
            <first_seem date="2018-08-01" status="GRANTED" />
        </res>**        
    </user>
    <user id="123456">
        <res name="attrib1">
            <first_seem date="2018-07-31" status="REQUESTED" />
            <last_seem date="2018-07-31" status="REQUESTED" />
        </res>
    </user>
</stop>

Output created:

<stop>
    <user id="012345">
        <res name="attrib1">
            <first_seem date="2018-07-31" status="REQUESTED" />
            <last_seem date="2018-07-31" status="INPROCESS" />
        </res>
        <res name="attrib2">
            <first_seem date="2018-07-31" status="REQUESTED" />
            <last_seem date="2018-07-31" status="COMPLETED" />
        </res>
        **<res name="attrib3">
            <first_seem date="2018-08-01" status="GRANTED" />
        </res>
        <res name="attrib3">
            <first_seem date="2018-08-01" status="GRANTED" />
        </res>**
    </user>
    <user id="123456">
        <res name="attrib1">
            <first_seem date="2018-07-31" status="REQUESTED" />
            <last_seem date="2018-07-31" status="REQUESTED" />
        </res>
    </user>
</stop>

Could someone help me to figure out why the new SubElement is being record twice? I put the print and the math controls into the if to be sure it is not looping twice (and it is not doing).

are you sure that the new SubElement isn't already there in the input xml file? as I see your code, the if statement " if attr_name != "attrib3" and NOTFOUND != 1:" evaluates to True just in the first iteration of your for loop and it doesn't even check whether attribute3 exists or not. — Aida
– Aida, Commented Aug 3, 2018 at 12:01
Hi Ai Da, yes I am sure the attrib3 is not in the source file when first run the script, I am sure and I put the 'if' just to guarantee a second append could happen after the first one when NOTFOUND will be update from 0 to 1 — Emerson
– Emerson, Commented Aug 3, 2018 at 12:42

Rakesh · Accepted Answer · 2018-08-03 11:51:04Z

1

Use ET.dump(newattr)

Ex:

from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
tree = ET.parse(filename)
root = tree.getroot()

parent = ''
NOTFOUND = False

for user in root:
    Id = user.get("id")
    if Id == '012345':
        if "attrib3" not in [attr.get('name') for attr in user]:  
            print user, "----"          
            NOTFOUND = True
            parent = user

if NOTFOUND:
    newattr = ET.SubElement(parent,'res',attrib={'name':'attrib3'})
    newattr_first_seem = ET.SubElement(newattr, 'first_seem', attrib={'date':'2018-08-01', 'status':'GRANTED'})
    print "#2: ", newattr.attrib
    ET.dump(newattr)    #Update!!!!

tree.write(filename)

edited Aug 3, 2018 at 11:51

answered Aug 3, 2018 at 11:23

Rakesh

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1 Comment

Emerson Over a year ago

Thank you so much Rakesh :)

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