XML Lua

General

If you process xml with ConTeXt Mkiv, you have the power of the Lua language at your fingertips. All \xml... commands have their Lua counterparts. Unfortunately, this is not yet fully documented, so this wiki page is a place-holder until Hans finishes this section in Mkiv manual.

A few general observations to help you getting started:

• There are two sets of Lua commands: the xml... commands allow you to work with the content of your xml elements within Lua; lxml... commands pass the content to ConTeXt and typeset it.
• Both commands receive the content as a Lua table.

Now let's get started with a silly example to show you what we can do in Lua.

The xml file

Here is the xml file that we will be processing, a price list for cars. Prices are given in Euros; this used to be a currency in some countries in Europe:

<list>
  <item>
    <model>Volkswagen</model>
    <price>12000</price>
  </item>
  <item>
    <model>Mercedes</model>
    <price>35000</price>
  </item>
  <item>
    <model>Ferrari</model>
    <price>150000</price>
  </item>
</list>