toXML Method

The toXML() method serializes the collection into an XML string, with options to control field inclusion and exclusion. It automatically creates a root element <items> containing individual <item> elements for each record in the collection.

Basic Syntax

toXML(options: SerializationOptions = {}): string

// SerializationOptions interface
interface SerializationOptions {
  exclude?: string[]      // Fields to exclude from output
  include?: string[]      // Fields to explicitly include
}

Examples

Basic Usage

import { collect } from 'ts-collect'

const users = collect([
  { name: 'Chris', email: 'chris@example.com' },
  { name: 'Avery', email: 'avery@example.com' }
])

console.log(users.toXML())
// <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
// <items>
//   <item>
//     <name>Chris</name>
//     <email>chris@example.com</email>
//   </item>
//   <item>
//     <name>Avery</name>
//     <email>avery@example.com</email>
//   </item>
// </items>

Field Selection

interface Product {
  id: number
  name: string
  price: number
  internalCode: string
  metadata: Record<string, any>
}

const products = collect<Product>([
  {
    id: 1,
    name: 'Laptop',
    price: 999,
    internalCode: 'LAP001',
    metadata: { weight: '2kg' }
  }
])

// Exclude internal fields
console.log(products.toXML({
  exclude: ['internalCode', 'metadata']
}))
// <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
// <items>
//   <item>
//     <id>1</id>
//     <name>Laptop</name>
//     <price>999</price>
//   </item>
// </items>

Real-world Example: E-commerce Feed Generator

interface ProductFeed {
  sku: string
  title: string
  price: number
  category: string
  inStock: boolean
  supplierCode: string
  internalNotes: string
}

class ProductFeedGenerator {
  private products: Collection<ProductFeed>

  constructor(products: ProductFeed[]) {
    this.products = collect(products)
  }

  generateGoogleFeed(): string {
    return this.products.toXML({
      include: ['sku', 'title', 'price', 'category', 'inStock']
    })
  }

  generateSupplierFeed(): string {
    return this.products.toXML({
      exclude: ['internalNotes']
    })
  }
}

const feedGenerator = new ProductFeedGenerator([
  {
    sku: 'LAP001',
    title: 'Professional Laptop',
    price: 1299,
    category: 'Electronics',
    inStock: true,
    supplierCode: 'SUP123',
    internalNotes: 'High demand item'
  }
])

console.log(feedGenerator.generateGoogleFeed())

Return Value

• Returns a valid XML string with UTF-8 encoding declaration
• Root element <items> contains individual <item> elements
• Special characters are properly escaped in XML format
• Empty collection results in empty items container
• Maintains hierarchical data structure
• Can be parsed by standard XML parsers

Common Use Cases

1. Product Feed Generation

   • Creating product feeds for shopping platforms
   • Generating marketplace listings
   • Building syndication feeds
   • Export for comparison sites

2. Data Exchange

   • Integration with legacy systems
   • EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
   • B2B data sharing
   • Cross-platform synchronization

3. System Integration

   • Third-party service integration
   • ERP system feeds
   • Inventory management systems
   • CRM data exchange

4. Document Generation

   • Generating structured reports
   • Creating machine-readable documents
   • Building configuration files
   • System backups

5. Service Communication

   • Web service responses
   • API integrations
   • Data synchronization
   • Configuration exports