🔗 How to work with XML documents in Elixir using xmerl

I am currently working on a project that needs to process a bunch of SVG files by applying a few predefined operations on them, for example:

• Find an element with id door and set its fill attribute to black,
• Find an element with id roof and set its class attribute to on-fire,
• Change the width, height, and viewport attributes of the root svg element to shrink the image on the x-axis by 50%,
• …and so on.

Afterward, I need to export the data back to a string representing a valid SVG document.

The Erlang xmerl library is capable of doing all of those operations. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy for an Elixir developer without a solid Erlang background to use.

Today I’m sharing with you what learned about using xmerl in your Elixir project: how to parse strings containing XML documents, modify them, and export back to string.