bash to parse XML into multidimensional array - arrays

Question

I have a XML file which I want to parse into bash variables/arrays.
I have limited linux commands (busybox) available since I am working on a NAS box.
My XML file looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> .
<WEBCAMS>
<CAM>
<DESCRIPTION>description for cam 1</DESCRIPTION>
<URL>http://myURLtoWebcam1/cam1/pic.jpg</URL>
<FILENAME>filename1</FILENAME>
</CAM>
<CAM>
<DESCRIPTION>description for cam 2</DESCRIPTION>
<URL>http://myURLtoWebcam2/cam2/pic.jpg</URL>
<FILENAME>filename2</FILENAME>
</CAM>
</WEBCAMS>
my bash script so far:
#!/bin/sh
rdom () { local IFS=\> ; read -d \< E C ;}
while rdom; do
if [[ $E = DESCRIPTION ]]; then
counter=$((counter+1))
declare cam$counter="$C"
fi
done < webcams.xml
I want to get the XML content like the following:
echo "Cam1 description: ${cam1[0]}"; ## should show: description for cam 1
echo "Cam1 URL: ${cam1[1]}"; ## should show: http://myURLtoWebcam1/cam1/pic.jpg
echo "Cam1 filename: ${cam1[2]}"; should show: filename1
echo "Cam2 description: ${cam2[0]}"; ## should show: description for cam 2
echo "Cam2 URL: ${cam2[1]}"; ## should show: http://myURLtoWebcam1/cam2/pic.jpg
echo "Cam2 filename: ${cam2[2]}"; ## should show: filename2
So far I am only able to read the "DESCRIPTION" fields into bash variables.
Any idea how to get the other fields "URL" and "FILENAME" into my arrays/variables? The so far found solutions did not fit or could not be modified to my needs due to the limited Linux commands on my NAS.

Answer 1

If XSLTPROC is available you can use it - bonus its a real XML parser.
> xsltproc transform.xsl webcams.xml
Cam1 description: description for cam 1
Cam1 URL: http://myURLtoWebcam1/cam1/pic.jpg
Cam1 filename: filename1
Cam2 description: description for cam 2
Cam2 URL: http://myURLtoWebcam2/cam2/pic.jpg
Cam2 filename: filename2
Where transform.xsl is
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="text" omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="no"/>
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
<xsl:template match="CAM">
<xsl:variable name="i" select="position()" />
Cam<xsl:value-of select="$i"/> description: <xsl:value-of select="DESCRIPTION"/>
Cam<xsl:value-of select="$i"/> URL: <xsl:value-of select="URL"/>
Cam<xsl:value-of select="$i"/> filename: <xsl:value-of select="FILENAME"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="/WEBCAMS"><xsl:apply-templates select="*"/>
<xsl:text>
</xsl:text>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Answer 2

This seems to work ... but still the 1,5D dimensional array or the way to escape variables makes me headache - see below problems within a FOR loop:
#!/bin/sh
rdom () { local IFS=\> ; read -d \< E C ;}
while rdom; do
if [[ $E = DESCRIPTION ]]; then
counter0=$((counter0+1))
declare -a cam$((counter0))[0]="$C"
fi
if [[ $E = URL ]]; then
counter1=$((counter1+1))
declare -a cam$((counter1))[1]="$C"
fi
if [[ $E = FILENAME ]]; then
counter2=$((counter2+1))
declare -a cam$((counter2))[2]="$C"
fi
done < webcams.xml
echo "Cam1 description: ${cam1[0]}";
echo "Cam1 URL: ${cam1[1]}";
echo "Cam1 filename: ${cam1[2]}";
echo "Cam2 description: ${cam2[0]}";
echo "Cam2 URL: ${cam2[1]}";
echo "Cam2 filename: ${cam2[2]}";
But it is still impossible to get the values within a FOR loop like:
for (( c=1; c<=$counter0; c++ ))
do
var=cam$c;
echo "Cam$c description: ${!var[0]}";
echo "Cam$c URL: ${!var[1]}";
echo "Cam$c filename: ${!var[2]}";
done