ElementTree in Python 2.6.2 Processing Instructions support?
elementtree, python, xml
Solution
Try the `lxml` library: it follows the ElementTree api, plus adds a lot of extras. From the compatibility overview:
ElementTree ignores comments and processing instructions when parsing XML, while etree will read them in and treat them as Comment or ProcessingInstruction elements respectively. This is especially visible where comments are found inside text content, which is then split by the Comment element.
You can disable this behaviour by passing the boolean `remove_comments` and/or `remove_pis` keyword arguments to the parser you use. For convenience and to support portable code, you can also use the `etree.ETCompatXMLParser` instead of the default `etree.XMLParser`. It tries to provide a default setup that is as close to the ElementTree parser as possible.
Not in the stdlib, I know, but in my experience the best bet when you need stuff that the standard ElementTree doesn't provide.
Problem
I'm trying to create XML using the ElementTree object structure in python. It all works very well except when it comes to processing instructions. I can create a PI easily using the factory function ProcessingInstruction(), but it doesn't get added into the elementtree. I can add it manually, but I can't figure out how to add it above the root element where PI's are normally placed. Anyone know how to do this? I know of plenty of alternative methods of doing it, but it seems that this must be built in somewhere that I just can't find.