xml parsing

[Damon Register <damonregister bellsouth net>]

I am attempting to find a relatively simple means for parsing an xml
file for initializing an application.  So far I have found two possible
toolsets that might help me do it: libxml and the Simple XML Subset Parser
http://library.gnome.org/devel/glib/stable/glib-Simple-XML-Subset-Parser.html

I found some libxml examples but they only print the contents of a file
but don't provide any obvious means of parsing for some particular item.
After some google searching I still couldn't find any examples using
the Simple XML Subset Parser.  I only found this one item
http://osdir.com/ml/gnome.gtk+.general/2002-09/msg00081.html
with a bad link to an example.

All I really need is something simple such as was provided by Windows
ini files.  I did it once using xerces and xalan but I can only
compile that with Visual Studio on Windows.  I made a simple parsing
class that I construct with the xml file name and then call something
like
myparser->get_value("/xml_root_node/some_value", "default_val");
I would really like to do something similar that works with MinGW.
Since Xalan doesn't work with MinGW, I am trying to find a way to do
it with something else such as libxml or the Simple XML Subset Parser.

Does anyone have a suggestion or a good example?

Damon Register