[FIXED] How to change the structure of a an XML in python

Issue

From this string :

label_config={
    "label1": [
        "modality1",
        "modality2",
        "modality3"],
    "choice":"single",
    "required": "true",
    "name" : "sentiment"},{
    "label2": [
        "modality1",
        "modality2"],
    "name" : "price"
 }

I created this XML which is printed :

Anyone knows how thanks to this library : from lxml import etree can move the slashes of the yellow elements from the end to the beggining ?

Here is the code of the generation :

from lxml import etree
import sys

def topXML(dictAttrib = None):
    root : {lxml.etree._Element}
    root = etree.Element("View")
    textEl = etree.SubElement(root, "Text")
    if dictAttrib == None:
        dictAttrib = {
            "name":"text",
            "value":"$text"
        }
        for k_,v_ in dictAttrib.items():
            textEl.set(k_,v_)
            
    return root

def choiceXML(root,locChoice):

    headerEl = etree.SubElement(root, "Header")
    choisesEl = etree.SubElement(root, "Choices")
    for k_,v_ in locChoice.items():
        if (isinstance(k_,str) & isinstance(v_,list)):
            choices = v_
            headerEl.set("value",k_)
            if locChoice.get("toName") == None:
                choisesEl.set("toName","text")
            for op_ in choices:
                opEl = etree.SubElement(root, "Choice")
                opEl.set("value",op_)
        else :
            choisesEl.set(k_,v_)
    choisesEl = etree.SubElement(root, "Choices")
    
    return root

def checkConfig(locChoice):

    if locChoice.get("name") == None : 
        sys.exit("Warning : label_config needs a parameter called 'name' assigned")

def xmlConstructor(label_config):

    root = topXML()
    for ch_ in label_config:
        checkConfig(ch_)
        root = choiceXML(root,ch_)
    return root

The generated code will be used in this site https://labelstud.io/playground/ . They use some type of XML do create the code. Unfortunately, using etree it doesn't achieve the wanted product and I found out that if I made the changes described above it will work .

In the meantime I am contacting theirs team to get more info but if somoeone here has any idea on how to make it work, please come forward.

I am open to every advice, however I am searching for a well structured solution and not creating the code by appending pieces of code.

Solution

To correctly encapsulate the <Choice> nodes under its parent, <Choices>, simply make the following very simple two changes to your choiceXML method. Namely, add opEl sub elements under the choisesEl element (not root) and remove the redundant second choisesEl line at the end.

def choiceXML(root, locChoice):
    headerEl = etree.SubElement(root, "Header")
    choisesEl = etree.SubElement(root, "Choices")
    for k_,v_ in locChoice.items():
        if (isinstance(k_,str) & isinstance(v_,list)):
            choices = v_
            headerEl.set("value",k_)
            if locChoice.get("toName") == None:
                choisesEl.set("toName","text")
            for op_ in choices:
                opEl = etree.SubElement(choisesEl, "Choice")     # CHANGE root to choisesEl
                opEl.set("value",op_)
        else :
            choisesEl.set(k_,v_)
    #choisesEl = etree.SubElement(root, "Choices")               # REMOVE THIS LINE

    return root

Full Process

label_config = {
    "label1": [
        "modality1",
        "modality2",
        "modality3"],
    "choice":"single",
    "required": "true",
    "name" : "sentiment"},{
    "label2": [
        "modality1",
        "modality2"],
    "name" : "price"
 }

def topXML(dictAttrib = None):
    # ...NO CHANGE...

def choiceXML(root,locChoice):
    # ...ABOVE CHANGE...

def checkConfig(locChoice):
    # ...NO CHANGE...

def xmlConstructor(label_config):
    # ...NO CHANGE...

output = xmlConstructor(label_config)

Output

print(etree.tostring(output, pretty_print=True).decode("utf-8"))

# <View>
#   <Text name="text" value="$text"/>
#   <Header value="label1"/>
#   <Choices toName="text" choice="single" required="true" name="sentiment">
#     <Choice value="modality1"/>
#     <Choice value="modality2"/>
#     <Choice value="modality3"/>
#   </Choices>
#   <Header value="label2"/>
#   <Choices toName="text" name="price">
#     <Choice value="modality1"/>
#     <Choice value="modality2"/>
#   </Choices>
# </View>

Answered By - Parfait