[xml] XML typing

["fabio antonini kaskonetworks it" <fabio antonini kaskonetworks it>]

Hi
I'm a XML newbie and I'm facing the following (trivial)
problem.
I have read and implemented the XMLTutorial. Now I want to
use libxml for reading a XML file I have created. The XML
file seems like that

        <command CMD="CMD_TBL_HELP">
                <name>help</name>
                <lmin>4</lmin>
                <maxargs>25</maxargs>
                <rep>1</rep>
                <cmd>do_help</cmd>
                <usage>help - &lt;cli command name&gt; =
|command_name]</usage>
                <shelp>help - Show help information (for
'command')</shelp>
        </command>

The XML file includes both strings and decimal value.
I have no problem to parse the string values (usage or shelp
fields), but
how can I import the decimal fields as "rep" or "maxargs".
When I parse the file their value is always a string. I
would like to import their decimal value.
Sorry if this question is really trivial, but I'm a beginner
at the moment
Any help will be appreciated.
With regards

Fabio Antonini