What's the most efficient process for parsing XML and building a Core Data database?

Question

Let's say I'm getting I'm receiving XML files from some web service, like these two examples..

<news>
<item id="123" created="10/09/10" expires="07/07/10" modified="10/09/10">
<title>Xiabo receives Nobel></title>
<content>Lorem ipsum lorem ipsum</content>
</item>
</news>

.

<products>
<item id="1" category="shoes">
<name>Nike Air</name>
<logo><![CDATA[http://example.com/images/logos/nikeair.png]&gt;&lt;/logo&gt; 
<content>Lorem ipsum lorem ipsum</content>
</item>
<item id="2" category="jeans">
<name>Wrangler</name>
<logo><![CDATA[http://example.com/images/logos/wrangler.png]&gt;&lt;/logo&gt; 
<content>Lorem ipsum lorem ipsum</content>
</item>
</products>

How would I parse these XML files and then add them to Core Data, so that next time I load the app the data will be there without reloading the XML.

Sorry my question is so vague, I'm just trying to get my head around it.

Answer 1

If you have any control over the web service, you should change XML format to JSON. Obj-C can digest JSON very efficiently. XML parsing(be it with xmllib or NSXMLParser) is not very efficient. My empirical analyses shows that NSXMLParser is faster at the expense of flexibility.