tinyxml2-rs

A ground-up Rust implementation of the TinyXML2 API.

What is tinyxml2-rs?

tinyxml2-rs is a native Rust implementation that provides behavioral and API compatibility with TinyXML-2. It treats TinyXML-2 as a behavioral specification — not as source code to translate.

Key Architectural Advantages

• 100% Safe Rust Core: The core tinyxml2 crate enforces #![forbid(unsafe_code)]. Memory safety is statically guaranteed by the compiler.
• Generational Arena DOM: Nodes are stored in a cache-friendly, allocation-efficient generational arena managed by Document. Use-after-free or dangling references return None rather than panicking or causing UB.
• Strict FFI Isolation: Raw pointers and unsafe code are strictly confined to the tinyxml2-capi FFI boundary.
• Zero Dependencies: The core parser has no external runtime crate dependencies.

Feature Matrix

Quick Start

Rust Quick Start

Add the dependency to your Cargo.toml:

cargo add tinyxml2

use tinyxml2::Document;

fn main() {
    let xml = r#"
        <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
        <bookstore name="Sci-Fi Zone">
            <book category="fiction">
                <title lang="en">Dune</title>
                <author>Frank Herbert</author>
                <price>9.99</price>
            </book>
        </bookstore>
    "#;

    // Parse XML
    let doc = Document::parse(xml).expect("Failed to parse XML");

    // Navigate elements
    let root = doc.root_element().expect("No root bookstore found");
    let bookstore = doc.element_ref(root).unwrap();
    println!("Store Name: {}", bookstore.attribute("name").unwrap());

    // Iterate child elements
    for book in doc.child_elements(root, Some("book")) {
        let title_id = doc.first_child_element(book.id(), Some("title")).unwrap();
        let title = doc.element_ref(title_id).unwrap().text().unwrap();
        let price: f64 = doc.query_double_attribute(book.id(), "price").unwrap();
        println!("- Book: \"{}\" (${})", title, price);
    }
}

C/C++ FFI Quick Start

Because Rust compiles to standard native dynamic and static libraries, tinyxml2-rs can be dropped directly into existing C and C++ projects as a binary replacement (producing libtinyxml2.so on Linux, libtinyxml2.dylib on macOS, or tinyxml2.dll on Windows).

By swapping in tinyxml2-capi, C/C++ developers get the memory safety of a Rust-backed parser under the hood. Furthermore, in upcoming releases, they will gain access to advanced features—like XPath queries and XML Namespace validation—that the original C++ TinyXML2 lacks, fully exposed through C FFI functions!

#include "tinyxml2_capi.h"
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    // Allocate document
    TxDocument* doc = tx_document_new();
    
    // Parse
    const char* xml = "<config><theme>dark</theme></config>";
    tx_document_parse(doc, xml);

    // Navigate
    TxNodeId root = tx_root_element(doc);
    TxNodeId theme = tx_first_child_element(doc, root, "theme");
    
    printf("Theme: %s\n", tx_element_get_text(doc, theme));

    // Cleanup
    tx_document_free(doc);
    return 0;
}

Workspace Structure

tinyxml2-rs/
├── crates/
│   ├── tinyxml2/          # Core library — DOM, parser, writer, entities, errors
│   ├── tinyxml2-capi/     # C FFI compatibility layer (cdylib + staticlib)
│   └── tinyxml2-bench/    # Benchmark harness (criterion)
├── tests/                 # Integration & conformance tests
├── fuzz/                  # Fuzz testing targets
├── benches/               # Benchmark data & fixtures
├── spec/                  # TinyXML2 behavioral specification tests
└── examples/              # Usage examples

Minimum Supported Rust Version (MSRV)

Our MSRV policy guarantees compatibility with Rust 1.85.0 or newer. Changes to MSRV are considered breaking changes and will only occur with minor or major version bumps.

Release Status & Roadmap

Phase 8 — Documentation & Release (v1.0.0) ✅ Complete

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read CONTRIBUTING.md before submitting a pull request. We enforce the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct.

License

Licensed under the MIT License. Copyright (c) 2026 Teebot.