--- a
+++ b/OSSEval/OSSEval/utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+from json import JSONEncoder
+
+class TrivialJSONEncoder(JSONEncoder):
+    def default(self, o):
+        return o.__dict__
+
+class xmlMinidom():
+    @staticmethod    
+    def getString(xmldoc, tag):
+        try:
+            return xmldoc.getElementsByTagName(tag)[0].firstChild.data
+        except:
+            return ""
+
+    @staticmethod    
+    def getStringAttribute(xmldoc, tag):
+        try:
+            return xmldoc.attributes[tag].firstChild.data
+        except:
+            return "" 
+        
+    @staticmethod    
+    def getNaturalAttribute(xmldoc, tag):
+        '''
+        a natural number; if it's not there -1 is returned
+        '''
+        try:
+            return int(xmldoc.attributes[tag].firstChild.data)
+        except:
+            return -1
+