I’m working with an API that returns XML data, but I need to convert it to JSON format for my integration to work properly. The platform I’m using has a scripting feature but doesn’t offer real-time testing capabilities, which makes development really frustrating.
I found some sample code that shows how to transform XML into JSON, but I want to test it with my actual data before implementing it. JSFiddle seems like the perfect place to experiment with this conversion, but I’m not sure how to set it up correctly.
My API returns XML data that looks something like this:
What’s the best way to create a working example in JSFiddle where I can input my XML data and see the JSON output? I want to make sure the conversion handles my specific XML structure correctly before I use it in production.
Been there! I’ve dealt with legacy APIs that only spit out XML before. Here’s what works: set up a simple test in JSFiddle that mocks your API response instead of hitting the actual endpoint. Just hardcode your XML as a string in the JS panel, then use DOMParser to turn it into a DOM object. Write a recursive function to walk through the XML nodes and build your JSON. For your XML format, you’ll need to handle those repeating item elements correctly so they become arrays in the final JSON. Pro tip: test edge cases like empty nodes, attributes, and special characters - learned that one the hard way. JSFiddle’s console shows exactly what’s happening during conversion, which is a lifesaver for debugging. Don’t forget to throw some malformed XML at it too - you want to see how your code handles errors before it goes live.
For XML to JSON conversion in JSFiddle, I’d go with the xml2js library - it handles complex XML structures without breaking. Add it through external resources, then make a simple HTML form where you can paste XML and hit a button to see the JSON output. This saved me tons of time when dealing with a shipping API that returned horrible XML responses. Make sure you wrap your conversion code in try-catch blocks so you can see exactly where it fails. I usually set up JSFiddle with XML input on the left and JSON output on the right. You can quickly test different XML samples and make sure your conversion logic works before going live.
just use XMLHttpRequest’s responseXML property and parse it yerself. create an html input field, paste ur xml there, then write a simple parser function that turns nodes into objects. way easier than importing libraries and u’ll know exactly what’s happening with ur data.