XML attributes in JSON

XML attributes have no direct JSON equivalent. The most common convention uses a prefix character (typically '@') to distinguish attributes from child elements. For example, <book id="123"> becomes {"@id": 123}. Other conventions include a nested "_attributes" object or flattening attributes as regular keys. DevBolt's converter uses a configurable prefix (default: '@').

<!-- XML input -->
<product id="P001" category="electronics">
  <name>Wireless Mouse</name>
  <price currency="USD">29.99</price>
</product>

// JSON output (with @ prefix)
{
  "@id": "P001",
  "@category": "electronics",
  "name": "Wireless Mouse",
  "price": {
    "@currency": "USD",
    "#text": 29.99
  }
}

Handling repeated elements as arrays

When multiple sibling elements share the same tag name, they are grouped into a JSON array. A single element becomes a plain value. This can cause inconsistency — one <item> produces a value, two <item> elements produce an array. Some converters offer a 'force array' option for specific tags to ensure consistent array output regardless of element count.

CDATA and mixed content

CDATA sections (<![CDATA[...]]>) contain text that should not be parsed as XML markup. In JSON conversion, CDATA content is extracted as plain text. Mixed content (elements containing both text and child elements) uses a text key (default: '#text') to preserve the text alongside child element keys.