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Modified version of ElementTree with two additional parameters to the write() method: "sortflag" and "sortcmp". "sortflag" defaults to "default", which results in unmodified behavior. "sortcmp" defaults to None, which results in unmodified behavior. See discussion for usage and justification. Changes made begin on line 655.

EDIT: in most cases, unless sortflag happened to be intended for the root, it would be ignored; added sortflag and sortcmp to self._write() call on line 724. Expect another revision in the near future to allow for specifying different orders for different xml tags.

EDIT, the second: Added tag-specific ordering.

Python, 1294 lines
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#
# ElementTree
# $Id: ElementTree.py 2326 2005-03-17 07:45:21Z fredrik $
#
# light-weight XML support for Python 1.5.2 and later.
#
# history:
# 2001-10-20 fl   created (from various sources)
# 2001-11-01 fl   return root from parse method
# 2002-02-16 fl   sort attributes in lexical order
# 2002-04-06 fl   TreeBuilder refactoring, added PythonDoc markup
# 2002-05-01 fl   finished TreeBuilder refactoring
# 2002-07-14 fl   added basic namespace support to ElementTree.write
# 2002-07-25 fl   added QName attribute support
# 2002-10-20 fl   fixed encoding in write
# 2002-11-24 fl   changed default encoding to ascii; fixed attribute encoding
# 2002-11-27 fl   accept file objects or file names for parse/write
# 2002-12-04 fl   moved XMLTreeBuilder back to this module
# 2003-01-11 fl   fixed entity encoding glitch for us-ascii
# 2003-02-13 fl   added XML literal factory
# 2003-02-21 fl   added ProcessingInstruction/PI factory
# 2003-05-11 fl   added tostring/fromstring helpers
# 2003-05-26 fl   added ElementPath support
# 2003-07-05 fl   added makeelement factory method
# 2003-07-28 fl   added more well-known namespace prefixes
# 2003-08-15 fl   fixed typo in ElementTree.findtext (Thomas Dartsch)
# 2003-09-04 fl   fall back on emulator if ElementPath is not installed
# 2003-10-31 fl   markup updates
# 2003-11-15 fl   fixed nested namespace bug
# 2004-03-28 fl   added XMLID helper
# 2004-06-02 fl   added default support to findtext
# 2004-06-08 fl   fixed encoding of non-ascii element/attribute names
# 2004-08-23 fl   take advantage of post-2.1 expat features
# 2005-02-01 fl   added iterparse implementation
# 2005-03-02 fl   fixed iterparse support for pre-2.2 versions
#
# Copyright (c) 1999-2005 by Fredrik Lundh.  All rights reserved.
#
# fredrik@pythonware.com
# http://www.pythonware.com
#
# --------------------------------------------------------------------
# The ElementTree toolkit is
#
# Copyright (c) 1999-2005 by Fredrik Lundh
#
# By obtaining, using, and/or copying this software and/or its
# associated documentation, you agree that you have read, understood,
# and will comply with the following terms and conditions:
#
# Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and
# its associated documentation for any purpose and without fee is
# hereby granted, provided that the above copyright notice appears in
# all copies, and that both that copyright notice and this permission
# notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of
# Secret Labs AB or the author not be used in advertising or publicity
# pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written
# prior permission.
#
# SECRET LABS AB AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD
# TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT-
# ABILITY AND FITNESS.  IN NO EVENT SHALL SECRET LABS AB OR THE AUTHOR
# BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY
# DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS,
# WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS
# ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE
# OF THIS SOFTWARE.
# --------------------------------------------------------------------

# Licensed to PSF under a Contributor Agreement.
# See http://www.python.org/2.4/license for licensing details.

__all__ = [
    # public symbols
    "Comment",
    "dump",
    "Element", "ElementTree",
    "fromstring",
    "iselement", "iterparse",
    "parse",
    "PI", "ProcessingInstruction",
    "QName",
    "SubElement",
    "tostring",
    "TreeBuilder",
    "VERSION", "XML",
    "XMLParser", "XMLTreeBuilder",
    ]

##
# The <b>Element</b> type is a flexible container object, designed to
# store hierarchical data structures in memory. The type can be
# described as a cross between a list and a dictionary.
# <p>
# Each element has a number of properties associated with it:
# <ul>
# <li>a <i>tag</i>. This is a string identifying what kind of data
# this element represents (the element type, in other words).</li>
# <li>a number of <i>attributes</i>, stored in a Python dictionary.</li>
# <li>a <i>text</i> string.</li>
# <li>an optional <i>tail</i> string.</li>
# <li>a number of <i>child elements</i>, stored in a Python sequence</li>
# </ul>
#
# To create an element instance, use the {@link #Element} or {@link
# #SubElement} factory functions.
# <p>
# The {@link #ElementTree} class can be used to wrap an element
# structure, and convert it from and to XML.
##

import string, sys, re

class _SimpleElementPath:
    # emulate pre-1.2 find/findtext/findall behaviour
    def find(self, element, tag):
        for elem in element:
            if elem.tag == tag:
                return elem
        return None
    def findtext(self, element, tag, default=None):
        for elem in element:
            if elem.tag == tag:
                return elem.text or ""
        return default
    def findall(self, element, tag):
        if tag[:3] == ".//":
            return element.getiterator(tag[3:])
        result = []
        for elem in element:
            if elem.tag == tag:
                result.append(elem)
        return result

try:
    import ElementPath
except ImportError:
    # FIXME: issue warning in this case?
    ElementPath = _SimpleElementPath()

# TODO: add support for custom namespace resolvers/default namespaces
# TODO: add improved support for incremental parsing

VERSION = "1.2.6"

##
# Internal element class.  This class defines the Element interface,
# and provides a reference implementation of this interface.
# <p>
# You should not create instances of this class directly.  Use the
# appropriate factory functions instead, such as {@link #Element}
# and {@link #SubElement}.
#
# @see Element
# @see SubElement
# @see Comment
# @see ProcessingInstruction

class _ElementInterface:
    # <tag attrib>text<child/>...</tag>tail

    ##
    # (Attribute) Element tag.

    tag = None

    ##
    # (Attribute) Element attribute dictionary.  Where possible, use
    # {@link #_ElementInterface.get},
    # {@link #_ElementInterface.set},
    # {@link #_ElementInterface.keys}, and
    # {@link #_ElementInterface.items} to access
    # element attributes.

    attrib = None

    ##
    # (Attribute) Text before first subelement.  This is either a
    # string or the value None, if there was no text.

    text = None

    ##
    # (Attribute) Text after this element's end tag, but before the
    # next sibling element's start tag.  This is either a string or
    # the value None, if there was no text.

    tail = None # text after end tag, if any

    def __init__(self, tag, attrib):
        self.tag = tag
        self.attrib = attrib
        self._children = []

    def __repr__(self):
        return "<Element %s at %x>" % (self.tag, id(self))

    ##
    # Creates a new element object of the same type as this element.
    #
    # @param tag Element tag.
    # @param attrib Element attributes, given as a dictionary.
    # @return A new element instance.

    def makeelement(self, tag, attrib):
        return Element(tag, attrib)

    ##
    # Returns the number of subelements.
    #
    # @return The number of subelements.

    def __len__(self):
        return len(self._children)

    ##
    # Returns the given subelement.
    #
    # @param index What subelement to return.
    # @return The given subelement.
    # @exception IndexError If the given element does not exist.

    def __getitem__(self, index):
        return self._children[index]

    ##
    # Replaces the given subelement.
    #
    # @param index What subelement to replace.
    # @param element The new element value.
    # @exception IndexError If the given element does not exist.
    # @exception AssertionError If element is not a valid object.

    def __setitem__(self, index, element):
        assert iselement(element)
        self._children[index] = element

    ##
    # Deletes the given subelement.
    #
    # @param index What subelement to delete.
    # @exception IndexError If the given element does not exist.

    def __delitem__(self, index):
        del self._children[index]

    ##
    # Returns a list containing subelements in the given range.
    #
    # @param start The first subelement to return.
    # @param stop The first subelement that shouldn't be returned.
    # @return A sequence object containing subelements.

    def __getslice__(self, start, stop):
        return self._children[start:stop]

    ##
    # Replaces a number of subelements with elements from a sequence.
    #
    # @param start The first subelement to replace.
    # @param stop The first subelement that shouldn't be replaced.
    # @param elements A sequence object with zero or more elements.
    # @exception AssertionError If a sequence member is not a valid object.

    def __setslice__(self, start, stop, elements):
        for element in elements:
            assert iselement(element)
        self._children[start:stop] = list(elements)

    ##
    # Deletes a number of subelements.
    #
    # @param start The first subelement to delete.
    # @param stop The first subelement to leave in there.

    def __delslice__(self, start, stop):
        del self._children[start:stop]

    ##
    # Adds a subelement to the end of this element.
    #
    # @param element The element to add.
    # @exception AssertionError If a sequence member is not a valid object.

    def append(self, element):
        assert iselement(element)
        self._children.append(element)

    ##
    # Inserts a subelement at the given position in this element.
    #
    # @param index Where to insert the new subelement.
    # @exception AssertionError If the element is not a valid object.

    def insert(self, index, element):
        assert iselement(element)
        self._children.insert(index, element)

    ##
    # Removes a matching subelement.  Unlike the <b>find</b> methods,
    # this method compares elements based on identity, not on tag
    # value or contents.
    #
    # @param element What element to remove.
    # @exception ValueError If a matching element could not be found.
    # @exception AssertionError If the element is not a valid object.

    def remove(self, element):
        assert iselement(element)
        self._children.remove(element)

    ##
    # Returns all subelements.  The elements are returned in document
    # order.
    #
    # @return A list of subelements.
    # @defreturn list of Element instances

    def getchildren(self):
        return self._children

    ##
    # Finds the first matching subelement, by tag name or path.
    #
    # @param path What element to look for.
    # @return The first matching element, or None if no element was found.
    # @defreturn Element or None

    def find(self, path):
        return ElementPath.find(self, path)

    ##
    # Finds text for the first matching subelement, by tag name or path.
    #
    # @param path What element to look for.
    # @param default What to return if the element was not found.
    # @return The text content of the first matching element, or the
    #     default value no element was found.  Note that if the element
    #     has is found, but has no text content, this method returns an
    #     empty string.
    # @defreturn string

    def findtext(self, path, default=None):
        return ElementPath.findtext(self, path, default)

    ##
    # Finds all matching subelements, by tag name or path.
    #
    # @param path What element to look for.
    # @return A list or iterator containing all matching elements,
    #    in document order.
    # @defreturn list of Element instances

    def findall(self, path):
        return ElementPath.findall(self, path)

    ##
    # Resets an element.  This function removes all subelements, clears
    # all attributes, and sets the text and tail attributes to None.

    def clear(self):
        self.attrib.clear()
        self._children = []
        self.text = self.tail = None

    ##
    # Gets an element attribute.
    #
    # @param key What attribute to look for.
    # @param default What to return if the attribute was not found.
    # @return The attribute value, or the default value, if the
    #     attribute was not found.
    # @defreturn string or None

    def get(self, key, default=None):
        return self.attrib.get(key, default)

    ##
    # Sets an element attribute.
    #
    # @param key What attribute to set.
    # @param value The attribute value.

    def set(self, key, value):
        self.attrib[key] = value

    ##
    # Gets a list of attribute names.  The names are returned in an
    # arbitrary order (just like for an ordinary Python dictionary).
    #
    # @return A list of element attribute names.
    # @defreturn list of strings

    def keys(self):
        return self.attrib.keys()

    ##
    # Gets element attributes, as a sequence.  The attributes are
    # returned in an arbitrary order.
    #
    # @return A list of (name, value) tuples for all attributes.
    # @defreturn list of (string, string) tuples

    def items(self):
        return self.attrib.items()

    ##
    # Creates a tree iterator.  The iterator loops over this element
    # and all subelements, in document order, and returns all elements
    # with a matching tag.
    # <p>
    # If the tree structure is modified during iteration, the result
    # is undefined.
    #
    # @param tag What tags to look for (default is to return all elements).
    # @return A list or iterator containing all the matching elements.
    # @defreturn list or iterator

    def getiterator(self, tag=None):
        nodes = []
        if tag == "*":
            tag = None
        if tag is None or self.tag == tag:
            nodes.append(self)
        for node in self._children:
            nodes.extend(node.getiterator(tag))
        return nodes

# compatibility
_Element = _ElementInterface

##
# Element factory.  This function returns an object implementing the
# standard Element interface.  The exact class or type of that object
# is implementation dependent, but it will always be compatible with
# the {@link #_ElementInterface} class in this module.
# <p>
# The element name, attribute names, and attribute values can be
# either 8-bit ASCII strings or Unicode strings.
#
# @param tag The element name.
# @param attrib An optional dictionary, containing element attributes.
# @param **extra Additional attributes, given as keyword arguments.
# @return An element instance.
# @defreturn Element

def Element(tag, attrib={}, **extra):
    attrib = attrib.copy()
    attrib.update(extra)
    return _ElementInterface(tag, attrib)

##
# Subelement factory.  This function creates an element instance, and
# appends it to an existing element.
# <p>
# The element name, attribute names, and attribute values can be
# either 8-bit ASCII strings or Unicode strings.
#
# @param parent The parent element.
# @param tag The subelement name.
# @param attrib An optional dictionary, containing element attributes.
# @param **extra Additional attributes, given as keyword arguments.
# @return An element instance.
# @defreturn Element

def SubElement(parent, tag, attrib={}, **extra):
    attrib = attrib.copy()
    attrib.update(extra)
    element = parent.makeelement(tag, attrib)
    parent.append(element)
    return element

##
# Comment element factory.  This factory function creates a special
# element that will be serialized as an XML comment.
# <p>
# The comment string can be either an 8-bit ASCII string or a Unicode
# string.
#
# @param text A string containing the comment string.
# @return An element instance, representing a comment.
# @defreturn Element

def Comment(text=None):
    element = Element(Comment)
    element.text = text
    return element

##
# PI element factory.  This factory function creates a special element
# that will be serialized as an XML processing instruction.
#
# @param target A string containing the PI target.
# @param text A string containing the PI contents, if any.
# @return An element instance, representing a PI.
# @defreturn Element

def ProcessingInstruction(target, text=None):
    element = Element(ProcessingInstruction)
    element.text = target
    if text:
        element.text = element.text + " " + text
    return element

PI = ProcessingInstruction

##
# QName wrapper.  This can be used to wrap a QName attribute value, in
# order to get proper namespace handling on output.
#
# @param text A string containing the QName value, in the form {uri}local,
#     or, if the tag argument is given, the URI part of a QName.
# @param tag Optional tag.  If given, the first argument is interpreted as
#     an URI, and this argument is interpreted as a local name.
# @return An opaque object, representing the QName.

class QName:
    def __init__(self, text_or_uri, tag=None):
        if tag:
            text_or_uri = "{%s}%s" % (text_or_uri, tag)
        self.text = text_or_uri
    def __str__(self):
        return self.text
    def __hash__(self):
        return hash(self.text)
    def __cmp__(self, other):
        if isinstance(other, QName):
            return cmp(self.text, other.text)
        return cmp(self.text, other)

##
# ElementTree wrapper class.  This class represents an entire element
# hierarchy, and adds some extra support for serialization to and from
# standard XML.
#
# @param element Optional root element.
# @keyparam file Optional file handle or name.  If given, the
#     tree is initialized with the contents of this XML file.

class ElementTree:

    def __init__(self, element=None, file=None):
        assert element is None or iselement(element)
        self._root = element # first node
        if file:
            self.parse(file)

    ##
    # Gets the root element for this tree.
    #
    # @return An element instance.
    # @defreturn Element

    def getroot(self):
        return self._root

    ##
    # Replaces the root element for this tree.  This discards the
    # current contents of the tree, and replaces it with the given
    # element.  Use with care.
    #
    # @param element An element instance.

    def _setroot(self, element):
        assert iselement(element)
        self._root = element

    ##
    # Loads an external XML document into this element tree.
    #
    # @param source A file name or file object.
    # @param parser An optional parser instance.  If not given, the
    #     standard {@link XMLTreeBuilder} parser is used.
    # @return The document root element.
    # @defreturn Element

    def parse(self, source, parser=None):
        if not hasattr(source, "read"):
            source = open(source, "rb")
        if not parser:
            parser = XMLTreeBuilder()
        while 1:
            data = source.read(32768)
            if not data:
                break
            parser.feed(data)
        self._root = parser.close()
        return self._root

    ##
    # Creates a tree iterator for the root element.  The iterator loops
    # over all elements in this tree, in document order.
    #
    # @param tag What tags to look for (default is to return all elements)
    # @return An iterator.
    # @defreturn iterator

    def getiterator(self, tag=None):
        assert self._root is not None
        return self._root.getiterator(tag)

    ##
    # Finds the first toplevel element with given tag.
    # Same as getroot().find(path).
    #
    # @param path What element to look for.
    # @return The first matching element, or None if no element was found.
    # @defreturn Element or None

    def find(self, path):
        assert self._root is not None
        if path[:1] == "/":
            path = "." + path
        return self._root.find(path)

    ##
    # Finds the element text for the first toplevel element with given
    # tag.  Same as getroot().findtext(path).
    #
    # @param path What toplevel element to look for.
    # @param default What to return if the element was not found.
    # @return The text content of the first matching element, or the
    #     default value no element was found.  Note that if the element
    #     has is found, but has no text content, this method returns an
    #     empty string.
    # @defreturn string

    def findtext(self, path, default=None):
        assert self._root is not None
        if path[:1] == "/":
            path = "." + path
        return self._root.findtext(path, default)

    ##
    # Finds all toplevel elements with the given tag.
    # Same as getroot().findall(path).
    #
    # @param path What element to look for.
    # @return A list or iterator containing all matching elements,
    #    in document order.
    # @defreturn list of Element instances

    def findall(self, path):
        assert self._root is not None
        if path[:1] == "/":
            path = "." + path
        return self._root.findall(path)

    ##
    # Writes the element tree to a file, as XML.
    #
    # @param file A file name, or a file object opened for writing.
    # @param encoding Optional output encoding (default is US-ASCII).

    def write(self, file, encoding="us-ascii", sortflag="default", sortcmp=None):
        assert self._root is not None
        if not hasattr(file, "write"):
            file = open(file, "wb")
        if not encoding:
            encoding = "us-ascii"
        elif encoding != "utf-8" and encoding != "us-ascii":
            file.write("<?xml version='1.0' encoding='%s'?>\n" % encoding)
        self._write(file, self._root, encoding, {}, sortflag, sortcmp)

    def _write(self, file, node, encoding, namespaces, sortflag="default", sortcmp=None): # don't break existing code that relies on _write()s parameters, if any
        # write XML to file
        tag = node.tag
        if tag is Comment:
            file.write("<!-- %s -->" % _escape_cdata(node.text, encoding))
        elif tag is ProcessingInstruction:
            file.write("<?%s?>" % _escape_cdata(node.text, encoding))
        else:
            items = node.items()
            xmlns_items = [] # new namespaces in this scope
            try:
                if isinstance(tag, QName) or tag[:1] == "{":
                    tag, xmlns = fixtag(tag, namespaces)
                    if xmlns: xmlns_items.append(xmlns)
            except TypeError:
                _raise_serialization_error(tag)
            file.write("<" + _encode(tag, encoding))
            if items or xmlns_items:
                
                ##NEW

                if sortflag!="default":
                    if ":" not in sortflag:
                        sortflag = ":"+sortflag
                    sortitems = sortflag.split(";")
                    try:
                        sortitems = [[tagdef.split(":")[0], tagdef.split(":")[1].split(",")] for tagdef in sortitems]
                        temp = []
                        for tagdef in sortitems:
                            if tagdef[0] in node.tag:
                                for sortitem in tagdef[1]:
                                    temp.extend([i for i in items if sortitem in i]) # add what matches pattern
                                break
                        # then sort and add what's left
                        items.sort(cmp=sortcmp)
                        temp.extend([i for i in items if i not in temp])
                        items = temp
                    except IndexError:
                        sys.stderr.write("sortflag not formatted correctly, order won't be applied")
                        try:
                            items.sort(cmp=sortcmp)
                        except:
                            sys.stderr.write("sortcmp not a valid comparator, sorting alphabetically instead")
                            items.sort()
                else:
                    try:
                        items.sort(cmp=sortcmp)
                    except:
                        sys.stderr.write("sortcmp not a valid comparator, sorting alphabetically instead")
                        items.sort()
                ###

                        
                for k, v in items:
                    try:
                        if isinstance(k, QName) or k[:1] == "{":
                            k, xmlns = fixtag(k, namespaces)
                            if xmlns: xmlns_items.append(xmlns)
                    except TypeError:
                        _raise_serialization_error(k)
                    try:
                        if isinstance(v, QName):
                            v, xmlns = fixtag(v, namespaces)
                            if xmlns: xmlns_items.append(xmlns)
                    except TypeError:
                        _raise_serialization_error(v)
                    file.write(" %s=\"%s\"" % (_encode(k, encoding),
                                               _escape_attrib(v, encoding)))
                for k, v in xmlns_items:
                    file.write(" %s=\"%s\"" % (_encode(k, encoding),
                                               _escape_attrib(v, encoding)))
            if node.text or len(node):
                file.write(">")
                if node.text:
                    file.write(_escape_cdata(node.text, encoding))
                for n in node:
                    self._write(file, n, encoding, namespaces, sortflag, sortcmp)
                file.write("</" + _encode(tag, encoding) + ">")
            else:
                file.write(" />")
            for k, v in xmlns_items:
                del namespaces[v]
        if node.tail:
            file.write(_escape_cdata(node.tail, encoding))

# --------------------------------------------------------------------
# helpers

##
# Checks if an object appears to be a valid element object.
#
# @param An element instance.
# @return A true value if this is an element object.
# @defreturn flag

def iselement(element):
    # FIXME: not sure about this; might be a better idea to look
    # for tag/attrib/text attributes
    return isinstance(element, _ElementInterface) or hasattr(element, "tag")

##
# Writes an element tree or element structure to sys.stdout.  This
# function should be used for debugging only.
# <p>
# The exact output format is implementation dependent.  In this
# version, it's written as an ordinary XML file.
#
# @param elem An element tree or an individual element.

def dump(elem):
    # debugging
    if not isinstance(elem, ElementTree):
        elem = ElementTree(elem)
    elem.write(sys.stdout)
    tail = elem.getroot().tail
    if not tail or tail[-1] != "\n":
        sys.stdout.write("\n")

def _encode(s, encoding):
    try:
        return s.encode(encoding)
    except AttributeError:
        return s # 1.5.2: assume the string uses the right encoding

if sys.version[:3] == "1.5":
    _escape = re.compile(r"[&<>\"\x80-\xff]+") # 1.5.2
else:
    _escape = re.compile(eval(r'u"[&<>\"\u0080-\uffff]+"'))

_escape_map = {
    "&": "&amp;",
    "<": "&lt;",
    ">": "&gt;",
    '"': "&quot;",
}

_namespace_map = {
    # "well-known" namespace prefixes
    "http://www.w3.org/XML/1998/namespace": "xml",
    "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml": "html",
    "http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#": "rdf",
    "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/": "wsdl",
}

def _raise_serialization_error(text):
    raise TypeError(
        "cannot serialize %r (type %s)" % (text, type(text).__name__)
        )

def _encode_entity(text, pattern=_escape):
    # map reserved and non-ascii characters to numerical entities
    def escape_entities(m, map=_escape_map):
        out = []
        append = out.append
        for char in m.group():
            text = map.get(char)
            if text is None:
                text = "&#%d;" % ord(char)
            append(text)
        return string.join(out, "")
    try:
        return _encode(pattern.sub(escape_entities, text), "ascii")
    except TypeError:
        _raise_serialization_error(text)

#
# the following functions assume an ascii-compatible encoding
# (or "utf-16")

def _escape_cdata(text, encoding=None, replace=string.replace):
    # escape character data
    try:
        if encoding:
            try:
                text = _encode(text, encoding)
            except UnicodeError:
                return _encode_entity(text)
        text = replace(text, "&", "&amp;")
        text = replace(text, "<", "&lt;")
        text = replace(text, ">", "&gt;")
        return text
    except (TypeError, AttributeError):
        _raise_serialization_error(text)

def _escape_attrib(text, encoding=None, replace=string.replace):
    # escape attribute value
    try:
        if encoding:
            try:
                text = _encode(text, encoding)
            except UnicodeError:
                return _encode_entity(text)
        text = replace(text, "&", "&amp;")
        text = replace(text, "'", "&apos;") # FIXME: overkill
        text = replace(text, "\"", "&quot;")
        text = replace(text, "<", "&lt;")
        text = replace(text, ">", "&gt;")
        return text
    except (TypeError, AttributeError):
        _raise_serialization_error(text)

def fixtag(tag, namespaces):
    # given a decorated tag (of the form {uri}tag), return prefixed
    # tag and namespace declaration, if any
    if isinstance(tag, QName):
        tag = tag.text
    namespace_uri, tag = string.split(tag[1:], "}", 1)
    prefix = namespaces.get(namespace_uri)
    if prefix is None:
        prefix = _namespace_map.get(namespace_uri)
        if prefix is None:
            prefix = "ns%d" % len(namespaces)
        namespaces[namespace_uri] = prefix
        if prefix == "xml":
            xmlns = None
        else:
            xmlns = ("xmlns:%s" % prefix, namespace_uri)
    else:
        xmlns = None
    return "%s:%s" % (prefix, tag), xmlns

##
# Parses an XML document into an element tree.
#
# @param source A filename or file object containing XML data.
# @param parser An optional parser instance.  If not given, the
#     standard {@link XMLTreeBuilder} parser is used.
# @return An ElementTree instance

def parse(source, parser=None):
    tree = ElementTree()
    tree.parse(source, parser)
    return tree

##
# Parses an XML document into an element tree incrementally, and reports
# what's going on to the user.
#
# @param source A filename or file object containing XML data.
# @param events A list of events to report back.  If omitted, only "end"
#     events are reported.
# @return A (event, elem) iterator.

class iterparse:

    def __init__(self, source, events=None):
        if not hasattr(source, "read"):
            source = open(source, "rb")
        self._file = source
        self._events = []
        self._index = 0
        self.root = self._root = None
        self._parser = XMLTreeBuilder()
        # wire up the parser for event reporting
        parser = self._parser._parser
        append = self._events.append
        if events is None:
            events = ["end"]
        for event in events:
            if event == "start":
                try:
                    parser.ordered_attributes = 1
                    parser.specified_attributes = 1
                    def handler(tag, attrib_in, event=event, append=append,
                                start=self._parser._start_list):
                        append((event, start(tag, attrib_in)))
                    parser.StartElementHandler = handler
                except AttributeError:
                    def handler(tag, attrib_in, event=event, append=append,
                                start=self._parser._start):
                        append((event, start(tag, attrib_in)))
                    parser.StartElementHandler = handler
            elif event == "end":
                def handler(tag, event=event, append=append,
                            end=self._parser._end):
                    append((event, end(tag)))
                parser.EndElementHandler = handler
            elif event == "start-ns":
                def handler(prefix, uri, event=event, append=append):
                    try:
                        uri = _encode(uri, "ascii")
                    except UnicodeError:
                        pass
                    append((event, (prefix or "", uri)))
                parser.StartNamespaceDeclHandler = handler
            elif event == "end-ns":
                def handler(prefix, event=event, append=append):
                    append((event, None))
                parser.EndNamespaceDeclHandler = handler

    def next(self):
        while 1:
            try:
                item = self._events[self._index]
            except IndexError:
                if self._parser is None:
                    self.root = self._root
                    try:
                        raise StopIteration
                    except NameError:
                        raise IndexError
                # load event buffer
                del self._events[:]
                self._index = 0
                data = self._file.read(16384)
                if data:
                    self._parser.feed(data)
                else:
                    self._root = self._parser.close()
                    self._parser = None
            else:
                self._index = self._index + 1
                return item

    try:
        iter
        def __iter__(self):
            return self
    except NameError:
        def __getitem__(self, index):
            return self.next()

##
# Parses an XML document from a string constant.  This function can
# be used to embed "XML literals" in Python code.
#
# @param source A string containing XML data.
# @return An Element instance.
# @defreturn Element

def XML(text):
    parser = XMLTreeBuilder()
    parser.feed(text)
    return parser.close()

##
# Parses an XML document from a string constant, and also returns
# a dictionary which maps from element id:s to elements.
#
# @param source A string containing XML data.
# @return A tuple containing an Element instance and a dictionary.
# @defreturn (Element, dictionary)

def XMLID(text):
    parser = XMLTreeBuilder()
    parser.feed(text)
    tree = parser.close()
    ids = {}
    for elem in tree.getiterator():
        id = elem.get("id")
        if id:
            ids[id] = elem
    return tree, ids

##
# Parses an XML document from a string constant.  Same as {@link #XML}.
#
# @def fromstring(text)
# @param source A string containing XML data.
# @return An Element instance.
# @defreturn Element

fromstring = XML

##
# Generates a string representation of an XML element, including all
# subelements.
#
# @param element An Element instance.
# @return An encoded string containing the XML data.
# @defreturn string

def tostring(element, encoding=None):
    class dummy:
        pass
    data = []
    file = dummy()
    file.write = data.append
    ElementTree(element).write(file, encoding)
    return string.join(data, "")

##
# Generic element structure builder.  This builder converts a sequence
# of {@link #TreeBuilder.start}, {@link #TreeBuilder.data}, and {@link
# #TreeBuilder.end} method calls to a well-formed element structure.
# <p>
# You can use this class to build an element structure using a custom XML
# parser, or a parser for some other XML-like format.
#
# @param element_factory Optional element factory.  This factory
#    is called to create new Element instances, as necessary.

class TreeBuilder:

    def __init__(self, element_factory=None):
        self._data = [] # data collector
        self._elem = [] # element stack
        self._last = None # last element
        self._tail = None # true if we're after an end tag
        if element_factory is None:
            element_factory = _ElementInterface
        self._factory = element_factory

    ##
    # Flushes the parser buffers, and returns the toplevel documen
    # element.
    #
    # @return An Element instance.
    # @defreturn Element

    def close(self):
        assert len(self._elem) == 0, "missing end tags"
        assert self._last != None, "missing toplevel element"
        return self._last

    def _flush(self):
        if self._data:
            if self._last is not None:
                text = string.join(self._data, "")
                if self._tail:
                    assert self._last.tail is None, "internal error (tail)"
                    self._last.tail = text
                else:
                    assert self._last.text is None, "internal error (text)"
                    self._last.text = text
            self._data = []

    ##
    # Adds text to the current element.
    #
    # @param data A string.  This should be either an 8-bit string
    #    containing ASCII text, or a Unicode string.

    def data(self, data):
        self._data.append(data)

    ##
    # Opens a new element.
    #
    # @param tag The element name.
    # @param attrib A dictionary containing element attributes.
    # @return The opened element.
    # @defreturn Element

    def start(self, tag, attrs):
        self._flush()
        self._last = elem = self._factory(tag, attrs)
        if self._elem:
            self._elem[-1].append(elem)
        self._elem.append(elem)
        self._tail = 0
        return elem

    ##
    # Closes the current element.
    #
    # @param tag The element name.
    # @return The closed element.
    # @defreturn Element

    def end(self, tag):
        self._flush()
        self._last = self._elem.pop()
        assert self._last.tag == tag,\
               "end tag mismatch (expected %s, got %s)" % (
                   self._last.tag, tag)
        self._tail = 1
        return self._last

##
# Element structure builder for XML source data, based on the
# <b>expat</b> parser.
#
# @keyparam target Target object.  If omitted, the builder uses an
#     instance of the standard {@link #TreeBuilder} class.
# @keyparam html Predefine HTML entities.  This flag is not supported
#     by the current implementation.
# @see #ElementTree
# @see #TreeBuilder

class XMLTreeBuilder:

    def __init__(self, html=0, target=None):
        try:
            from xml.parsers import expat
        except ImportError:
            raise ImportError(
                "No module named expat; use SimpleXMLTreeBuilder instead"
                )
        self._parser = parser = expat.ParserCreate(None, "}")
        if target is None:
            target = TreeBuilder()
        self._target = target
        self._names = {} # name memo cache
        # callbacks
        parser.DefaultHandlerExpand = self._default
        parser.StartElementHandler = self._start
        parser.EndElementHandler = self._end
        parser.CharacterDataHandler = self._data
        # let expat do the buffering, if supported
        try:
            self._parser.buffer_text = 1
        except AttributeError:
            pass
        # use new-style attribute handling, if supported
        try:
            self._parser.ordered_attributes = 1
            self._parser.specified_attributes = 1
            parser.StartElementHandler = self._start_list
        except AttributeError:
            pass
        encoding = None
        if not parser.returns_unicode:
            encoding = "utf-8"
        # target.xml(encoding, None)
        self._doctype = None
        self.entity = {}

    def _fixtext(self, text):
        # convert text string to ascii, if possible
        try:
            return _encode(text, "ascii")
        except UnicodeError:
            return text

    def _fixname(self, key):
        # expand qname, and convert name string to ascii, if possible
        try:
            name = self._names[key]
        except KeyError:
            name = key
            if "}" in name:
                name = "{" + name
            self._names[key] = name = self._fixtext(name)
        return name

    def _start(self, tag, attrib_in):
        fixname = self._fixname
        tag = fixname(tag)
        attrib = {}
        for key, value in attrib_in.items():
            attrib[fixname(key)] = self._fixtext(value)
        return self._target.start(tag, attrib)

    def _start_list(self, tag, attrib_in):
        fixname = self._fixname
        tag = fixname(tag)
        attrib = {}
        if attrib_in:
            for i in range(0, len(attrib_in), 2):
                attrib[fixname(attrib_in[i])] = self._fixtext(attrib_in[i+1])
        return self._target.start(tag, attrib)

    def _data(self, text):
        return self._target.data(self._fixtext(text))

    def _end(self, tag):
        return self._target.end(self._fixname(tag))

    def _default(self, text):
        prefix = text[:1]
        if prefix == "&":
            # deal with undefined entities
            try:
                self._target.data(self.entity[text[1:-1]])
            except KeyError:
                from xml.parsers import expat
                raise expat.error(
                    "undefined entity %s: line %d, column %d" %
                    (text, self._parser.ErrorLineNumber,
                    self._parser.ErrorColumnNumber)
                    )
        elif prefix == "<" and text[:9] == "<!DOCTYPE":
            self._doctype = [] # inside a doctype declaration
        elif self._doctype is not None:
            # parse doctype contents
            if prefix == ">":
                self._doctype = None
                return
            text = string.strip(text)
            if not text:
                return
            self._doctype.append(text)
            n = len(self._doctype)
            if n > 2:
                type = self._doctype[1]
                if type == "PUBLIC" and n == 4:
                    name, type, pubid, system = self._doctype
                elif type == "SYSTEM" and n == 3:
                    name, type, system = self._doctype
                    pubid = None
                else:
                    return
                if pubid:
                    pubid = pubid[1:-1]
                self.doctype(name, pubid, system[1:-1])
                self._doctype = None

    ##
    # Handles a doctype declaration.
    #
    # @param name Doctype name.
    # @param pubid Public identifier.
    # @param system System identifier.

    def doctype(self, name, pubid, system):
        pass

    ##
    # Feeds data to the parser.
    #
    # @param data Encoded data.

    def feed(self, data):
        self._parser.Parse(data, 0)

    ##
    # Finishes feeding data to the parser.
    #
    # @return An element structure.
    # @defreturn Element

    def close(self):
        self._parser.Parse("", 1) # end of data
        tree = self._target.close()
        del self._target, self._parser # get rid of circular references
        return tree

# compatibility
XMLParser = XMLTreeBuilder

When an ElementTree's write method is called, by design (I believe), the attributes of its elements are sorted in lexical order before being written out. This affects machine-reading of the resulting xml not at all. However, if a certain order is expected by another program (against W3C specifications), or if the xml will be read by people and is easier to read when the attributes are in a particular order, the easiest (and kludgiest) recourse used to be to artificially affect the order by inserting letters before attribute names (i.e. Aattribute_z, Battribute_y, Zattribute_a, etc.) and removing them once the file had been written to by ElementTree. Instead, I modified ElementTree to allow for basic matching of attributes and arbitrary compare functions for more complex sorting behavior.

I only modified the parameters to the write() and _write() methods of the ElementTree class, changed the call to _write() in the write() method, modified the default sort statement to include sortcmp, and added an if-statement to allow for the sortflag to do its thing.

Note: Be careful when writing comparators, because xml attributes are stored like [(key, value), (key, value), etc.]. Which means that unless you really want to compare both the key and the value together, you should be sure to specify which you mean.

USAGE:

>>> et.write(filename) # default behavior
>>> et.write(filename, sortflag="type,id,nextZoneID,col,row,width,height,status,offsets,segmentation")
>>> et.write(filename, sortcmp=comparator)
>>> et.write(filename, sortflag="type,col,row,width,height") # attributes not specified are sorted alphabetically
>>> et.write(filename, sortflag="type", sortcmp=comparator) # type first, then sort rest by comparator
>>> et.write(filename, sortflag="Box:type,col,row,width,height;Page:height,width,type;Document:src") # tag-specific ordering

Note that the syntax for tag-specific ordering is "tag:attribute;tag:attribute". If you end with a semicolon, you'll get an error and it'll just sort alphabetically (or by your comparator, if you've specified one).

EXAMPLES:

>>> from xml.etree.ElementTree import ElementTree
>>> et = ElementTree()
>>> xmlstring="""<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Document src="014-0646-04582.tif" docTag="xml" NrOfPages="1">
    <Page type="Page" src="014-0646-04582.tif" pageID="1" width="5100" height="6523">
        <Box type="Text" id="1" nextZoneID="2" col="4438" row="460" width="344" height="133" status="" offsets=""  segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="2" nextZoneID="3" col="4251" row="515" width="4" height="8" status="" offsets=""  segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="3" nextZoneID="4" col="4032" row="447" width="224" height="91" status="" offsets=""  segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="4" nextZoneID="5" col="3480" row="459" width="452" height="143" status="" offsets=""  segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="5" col="2845" row="436" width="520" height="137" status="" offsets=""  segmentation="word"> </Box>
    </Page>
</Document>"""
>>> from StringIO import StringIO
>>> xmlfile = StringIO(xmlstring)
>>> xml = et.parse(xmlfile)
>>> import sys
>>> et.write(sys.stdout) # default behavior
<Document NrOfPages="1" docTag="xml" src="014-0646-04582.tif">
    <Page height="6523" pageID="1" src="014-0646-04582.tif" type="Page" width="5100">
        <Box col="4438" height="133" id="1" nextZoneID="2" offsets="" row="460" segmentation="word" status="" type="Text" width="344"> </Box>
        <Box col="4251" height="8" id="2" nextZoneID="3" offsets="" row="515" segmentation="word" status="" type="Text" width="4"> </Box>
        <Box col="4032" height="91" id="3" nextZoneID="4" offsets="" row="447" segmentation="word" status="" type="Text" width="224"> </Box>
        <Box col="3480" height="143" id="4" nextZoneID="5" offsets="" row="459" segmentation="word" status="" type="Text" width="452"> </Box>
        <Box col="2845" height="137" id="5" offsets="" row="436" segmentation="word" status="" type="Text" width="520"> </Box>
    </Page>
</Document>
>>> et.write(sys.stdout, sortflag="type,id,nextZoneID,col,row,width,height,status,offsets,segmentation")
<Document NrOfPages="1" docTag="xml" src="014-0646-04582.tif">
    <Page type="Page" width="5100" height="6523" pageID="1" src="014-0646-04582.tif">
        <Box type="Text" id="1" nextZoneID="2" col="4438" row="460" width="344" height="133" status="" offsets="" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="2" nextZoneID="3" col="4251" row="515" width="4" height="8" status="" offsets="" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="3" nextZoneID="4" col="4032" row="447" width="224" height="91" status="" offsets="" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="4" nextZoneID="5" col="3480" row="459" width="452" height="143" status="" offsets="" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="5" col="2845" row="436" width="520" height="137" status="" offsets="" segmentation="word"> </Box>
    </Page>
</Document>
>>> def comparator(a, b):
    return cmp(len(str(a[0])), len(str(b[0])))



>>> et.write(sys.stdout, sortcmp=comparator)
<Document src="014-0646-04582.tif" docTag="xml" NrOfPages="1">
    <Page src="014-0646-04582.tif" type="Page" width="5100" height="6523" pageID="1">
        <Box id="1" col="4438" row="460" type="Text" width="344" status="" height="133" offsets="" nextZoneID="2" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box id="2" col="4251" row="515" type="Text" width="4" status="" height="8" offsets="" nextZoneID="3" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box id="3" col="4032" row="447" type="Text" width="224" status="" height="91" offsets="" nextZoneID="4" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box id="4" col="3480" row="459" type="Text" width="452" status="" height="143" offsets="" nextZoneID="5" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box id="5" col="2845" row="436" type="Text" width="520" status="" height="137" offsets="" segmentation="word"> </Box>
    </Page>
</Document>
>>> et.write(sys.stdout, sortflag="type,col,row,width,height") # attributes not specified are sorted alphabetically
<Document NrOfPages="1" docTag="xml" src="014-0646-04582.tif">
    <Page type="Page" width="5100" height="6523" pageID="1" src="014-0646-04582.tif">
        <Box type="Text" col="4438" row="460" width="344" height="133" id="1" nextZoneID="2" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="4251" row="515" width="4" height="8" id="2" nextZoneID="3" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="4032" row="447" width="224" height="91" id="3" nextZoneID="4" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="3480" row="459" width="452" height="143" id="4" nextZoneID="5" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="2845" row="436" width="520" height="137" id="5" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
    </Page>
</Document>
>>> et.write(sys.stdout, sortflag="type", sortcmp=comparator)
<Document src="014-0646-04582.tif" docTag="xml" NrOfPages="1">
    <Page type="Page" src="014-0646-04582.tif" width="5100" height="6523" pageID="1">
        <Box type="Text" id="1" col="4438" row="460" width="344" status="" height="133" offsets="" nextZoneID="2" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="2" col="4251" row="515" width="4" status="" height="8" offsets="" nextZoneID="3" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="3" col="4032" row="447" width="224" status="" height="91" offsets="" nextZoneID="4" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="4" col="3480" row="459" width="452" status="" height="143" offsets="" nextZoneID="5" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="5" col="2845" row="436" width="520" status="" height="137" offsets="" nextZoneID="6" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="6" col="4684" row="656" width="134" status="" height="98" offsets="" nextZoneID="7" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="7" col="4265" row="625" width="379" status="" height="149" offsets="" nextZoneID="8" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="8" col="4130" row="652" width="66" status="MISSING" height="85" offsets="" nextZoneID="9" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="9" col="3719" row="627" width="389" status="" height="169" offsets="" nextZoneID="10" segmentation="word"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" id="10" col="3399" row="641" width="205" status="" height="192" offsets="" segmentation="word"> </Box>
    </Page>
</Document>
>>> et.write(sys.stdout, sortflag="Box:type,col,row,width,height;Page:height,width,type;Document:src")
<Document src="014-0646-04582.tif" NrOfPages="1" docTag="xml">
    <Page height="6523" width="5100" type="Page" pageID="1" src="014-0646-04582.tif">
        <Box type="Text" col="4438" row="460" width="344" height="133" id="1" nextZoneID="2" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="4251" row="515" width="4" height="8" id="2" nextZoneID="3" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="4032" row="447" width="224" height="91" id="3" nextZoneID="4" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="3480" row="459" width="452" height="143" id="4" nextZoneID="5" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="2845" row="436" width="520" height="137" id="5" nextZoneID="6" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="4684" row="656" width="134" height="98" id="6" nextZoneID="7" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="4265" row="625" width="379" height="149" id="7" nextZoneID="8" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="4130" row="652" width="66" height="85" id="8" nextZoneID="9" offsets="" segmentation="word" status="MISSING"> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="3719" row="627" width="389" height="169" id="9" nextZoneID="10" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
        <Box type="Text" col="3399" row="641" width="205" height="192" id="10" offsets="" segmentation="word" status=""> </Box>
    </Page>
</Document>