diff --git a/src/data.js b/src/data.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..44ce3f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/data.js
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+import xml2js from 'xml2js';
+
+class Data {
+	#obj;
+	#expression;
+
+	constructor(obj, expression) {
+		this.#obj = typeof obj === 'string' ? { _: obj } : obj;
+		this.#expression = expression;
+	}
+
+	get value() {
+		const value = this.#obj._;
+		if (value === undefined) {
+			throw new Error(`Could not get value from ${this.#expression}.`);
+		}
+
+		return value;
+	}
+
+	#buildExpression(propName, index) {
+		let expression = `${this.#expression}.${propName}`;
+		if (index !== undefined) {
+			expression += `[${index}]`;
+		}
+
+		return expression;
+	}
+
+	#getPropArray(propName, isRequired) {
+		const propArray = this.#obj[propName];
+		if (propArray === undefined && isRequired) {
+			throw new Error(`Could not find ${this.#buildExpression(propName)}.`);
+		}
+
+		return propArray;
+	}
+
+	getAll(propName, isRequired = true) {
+		const propArray = this.#getPropArray(propName, isRequired);
+		return propArray !== undefined ? propArray.map((value, index) => new Data(value, this.#buildExpression(propName, index))) : undefined;
+	}
+
+	getSingle(propName, index, isRequired = true) {
+		const prop = (this.#getPropArray(propName, isRequired) ?? [])[index];
+
+		if (prop === undefined && isRequired) {
+			throw new Error(`Could not find ${this.#buildExpression(propName, index)}.`)
+		}
+
+		return prop !== undefined ? new Data(prop, this.#buildExpression(propName, index)) : undefined;
+	}
+
+	getAttribute(attrName) {
+		const attribute = this.#obj.$?.[attrName];
+		if (attribute === undefined) {
+			throw new Error(`Could not get attribute ${attrName} from ${this.#expression}.`);
+		}
+
+		return attribute;
+	}
+}
+
+export async function load(content) {
+	const rootData = await xml2js.parseStringPromise(content, {
+		tagNameProcessors: [xml2js.processors.stripPrefix],
+		trim: true
+	}).catch((ex) => {
+		ex.message = 'Could not parse XML. This likely means your import file is malformed.\n\n' + ex.message;
+		throw ex;
+	});
+
+	const rssData = rootData.rss;
+	if (rssData === undefined) {
+		throw new Error('Could not find <rss> root node. This likely means your import file is malformed.')
+	}
+
+	return new Data(rssData, 'rss');
+}
diff --git a/src/frontmatter.js b/src/frontmatter.js
index bae2b64..e600198 100644
--- a/src/frontmatter.js
+++ b/src/frontmatter.js
@@ -1,16 +1,14 @@
-import * as shared from './shared.js';
-
 export function author(post) {
 	// not decoded, WordPress doesn't allow funky characters in usernames anyway
-	return shared.getValue(post.data, 'creator', 0);
+	return post.data.getSingle('creator', 0).value;
 }
 
 export function categories(post) {
 	// array of decoded category names, excluding 'uncategorized'
-	const categories = shared.getOptionalValue(post.data, 'category') ?? [];
+	const categories = post.data.getAll('category', false) ?? [];
 	return categories
-		.filter((category) => category.$.domain === 'category' && category.$.nicename !== 'uncategorized')
-		.map((category) => decodeURIComponent(category.$.nicename));
+		.filter((category) => category.getAttribute('domain') === 'category' && category.getAttribute('nicename') !== 'uncategorized')
+		.map((category) => decodeURIComponent(category.getAttribute('nicename')));
 }
 
 export function coverImage(post) {
@@ -30,7 +28,7 @@ export function draft(post) {
 
 export function excerpt(post) {
 	// not decoded, newlines collapsed
-	return shared.getValue(post.data, 'encoded', 1).replace(/[\r\n]+/gm, ' ');
+	return post.data.getSingle('encoded', 1).value.replace(/[\r\n]+/gm, ' ');
 }
 
 export function id(post) {
@@ -45,15 +43,15 @@ export function slug(post) {
 
 export function tags(post) {
 	// array of decoded tag names (yes, they come from <category> nodes, not a typo)
-	const categories = shared.getOptionalValue(post.data, 'category') ?? [];
+	const categories = post.data.getAll('category', false) ?? [];
 	return categories
-		.filter((category) => category.$.domain === 'post_tag')
-		.map((category) => decodeURIComponent(category.$.nicename));
+		.filter((category) => category.getAttribute('domain') === 'post_tag')
+		.map((category) => decodeURIComponent(category.getAttribute('nicename')));
 }
 
 export function title(post) {
 	// not decoded
-	return shared.getValue(post.data, 'title', 0);
+	return post.data.getSingle('title', 0).value;
 }
 
 export function type(post) {
diff --git a/src/parser.js b/src/parser.js
index daed8a6..924cc2c 100644
--- a/src/parser.js
+++ b/src/parser.js
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import fs from 'fs';
 import * as luxon from 'luxon';
-import xml2js from 'xml2js';
+import * as data from './data.js';
 import * as frontmatter from './frontmatter.js';
 import * as shared from './shared.js';
 import * as translator from './translator.js';
@@ -8,23 +8,10 @@ import * as translator from './translator.js';
 export async function parseFilePromise() {
 	console.log('\nParsing...');
 	const content = await fs.promises.readFile(shared.config.input, 'utf8');
+	const rssData = await data.load(content);
 
-	const rootData = await xml2js.parseStringPromise(content, {
-		trim: true,
-		tagNameProcessors: [xml2js.processors.stripPrefix]
-	}).catch((ex) => {
-		ex.message = 'Could not parse XML. This likely means your import file is malformed.\n\n' + ex.message;
-		throw ex;
-	});
-
-	const rssData = rootData.rss;
-	if (rssData === undefined) {
-		throw new Error('Could not find <rss> root node. This likely means your import file is malformed.')
-	}
-	rssData['wetm-expression'] = 'rss';
-
-	const channelData = shared.getValue(rssData, 'channel', 0);
-	const allPostData = shared.getValue(channelData, 'item');
+	const channelData = rssData.getSingle('channel', 0);
+	const allPostData = channelData.getAll('item');
 
 	const postTypes = getPostTypes(allPostData);
 	const posts = collectPosts(allPostData, postTypes);
@@ -45,9 +32,9 @@ export async function parseFilePromise() {
 
 function getPostTypes(allPostData) {
 	// search export file for all post types minus some specific types we don't want
-	const types = allPostData
-		.map(item => shared.getValue(item, 'post_type', 0))
-		.filter(type => ![
+	const postTypes = allPostData
+		.map((postData) => postData.getSingle('post_type', 0).value)
+		.filter((postType) => ![
 			'attachment',
 			'revision',
 			'nav_menu_item',
@@ -60,20 +47,20 @@ function getPostTypes(allPostData) {
 			'wp_navigation',
 			'wp_template',
 			'wp_template_part'
-		].includes(type));
-	return [...new Set(types)]; // remove duplicates
+		].includes(postType));
+	return [...new Set(postTypes)]; // remove duplicates
 }
 
 function getItemsOfType(allPostData, type) {
-	return allPostData.filter(item => shared.getValue(item, 'post_type', 0) === type);
+	return allPostData.filter(item => item.getSingle('post_type', 0).value === type);
 }
 
 function collectPosts(allPostData, postTypes) {
 	let allPosts = [];
 	postTypes.forEach(postType => {
 		const postsForType = getItemsOfType(allPostData, postType)
-			.filter(postData => shared.getValue(postData, 'status', 0) !== 'trash')
-			.filter(postData => !(postType === 'page' && shared.getValue(postData, 'post_name', 0) === 'sample-page'))
+			.filter(postData => postData.getSingle('status', 0).value !== 'trash')
+			.filter(postData => !(postType === 'page' && postData.getSingle('post_name', 0).value === 'sample-page'))
 			.map(postData => buildPost(postData));
 
 		if (postsForType.length > 0) {
@@ -92,13 +79,13 @@ function buildPost(data) {
 		data,
 
 		// body content converted to markdown
-		content: translator.getPostContent(shared.getValue(data, 'encoded', 0)),
+		content: translator.getPostContent(data.getSingle('encoded', 0).value),
 
 		// particularly useful values for all sorts of things
-		type: shared.getValue(data, 'post_type', 0),
-		id: shared.getValue(data, 'post_id', 0),
-		isDraft: shared.getValue(data, 'status', 0) === 'draft',
-		slug: decodeURIComponent(shared.getValue(data, 'post_name', 0)),
+		type: data.getSingle('post_type', 0).value,
+		id: data.getSingle('post_id', 0).value,
+		isDraft: data.getSingle('status', 0).value === 'draft',
+		slug: decodeURIComponent(data.getSingle('post_name', 0).value),
 		date: getPostDate(data),
 		coverImageId: getPostMetaValue(data, '_thumbnail_id'),
 
@@ -109,27 +96,27 @@ function buildPost(data) {
 }
 
 function getPostDate(data) {
-	const date = luxon.DateTime.fromRFC2822(shared.getValue(data, 'pubDate', 0) ?? '', { zone: shared.config.customDateTimezone });
+	const date = luxon.DateTime.fromRFC2822(data.getSingle('pubDate', 0).value ?? '', { zone: shared.config.customDateTimezone });
 	return date.isValid ? date : undefined;
 }
 
 function getPostMetaValue(data, key) {
-	const metas = shared.getOptionalValue(data, 'postmeta');
-	const meta = metas && metas.find((meta) => shared.getValue(meta, 'meta_key', 0) === key);
-	return meta ? shared.getValue(meta, 'meta_value', 0) : undefined;
+	const metas = data.getAll('postmeta', false) ?? [];
+	const meta = metas.find((meta) => meta.getSingle('meta_key', 0).value === key);
+	return meta ? meta.getSingle('meta_value', 0).value : undefined;
 }
 
 function collectAttachedImages(allPostData) {
 	const images = getItemsOfType(allPostData, 'attachment')
 		// filter to certain image file types
 		.filter(attachment => {
-			const url = shared.getOptionalValue(attachment, 'attachment_url', 0);
+			const url = attachment.getSingle('attachment_url', 0).value;
 			return url && (/\.(gif|jpe?g|png|webp)$/i).test(url);
 		})
 		.map(attachment => ({
-			id: shared.getValue(attachment, 'post_id', 0),
-			postId: shared.getValue(attachment, 'post_parent', 0),
-			url: shared.getValue(attachment, 'attachment_url', 0)
+			id: attachment.getSingle('post_id', 0).value,
+			postId: attachment.getSingle('post_parent', 0).value,
+			url: attachment.getSingle('attachment_url', 0).value
 		}));
 
 	console.log(images.length + ' attached images found.');
@@ -140,9 +127,9 @@ function collectScrapedImages(allPostData, postTypes) {
 	const images = [];
 	postTypes.forEach(postType => {
 		getItemsOfType(allPostData, postType).forEach(postData => {
-			const postId = shared.getValue(postData, 'post_id', 0);
-			const postContent = shared.getValue(postData, 'encoded', 0);
-			const postLink = shared.getValue(postData, 'link', 0);
+			const postId = postData.getSingle('post_id', 0).value;
+			const postContent = postData.getSingle('encoded', 0).value;
+			const postLink = postData.getSingle('link', 0).value;
 
 			const matches = [...postContent.matchAll(/<img[^>]*src="(.+?\.(?:gif|jpe?g|png|webp))"[^>]*>/gi)];
 			matches.forEach(match => {
diff --git a/src/shared.js b/src/shared.js
index e15cb02..38316af 100644
--- a/src/shared.js
+++ b/src/shared.js
@@ -7,48 +7,6 @@ export function camelCase(str) {
 	return str.replace(/-(.)/g, (match) => match[1].toUpperCase());
 }
 
-export function getValue(obj, propName, index) {
-	if (obj === undefined) {
-		throw new Error(`Could not find undefined.${propName}.`)
-	}
-
-	let expression = `${obj['wetm-expression'] ?? 'object'}.${propName}`;
-	
-	const values = obj[propName];
-	if (values === undefined) {
-		throw new Error(`Could not find ${expression}.`)
-	}
-
-	if (index === undefined) {
-		values.forEach((value, index) => {
-			value['wetm-expression'] = `${expression}[${index}]`;
-			// console.log('>>>', value['wetm-expression']);
-		});
-		return values;
-	} else {
-		expression += `[${index}]`;
-
-		const value = values[index];
-		if (value === undefined) {
-			throw new Error(`Could not find ${expression}.`)
-		}
-
-		if (typeof value === 'object') {
-			value['wetm-expression'] = expression;
-			// console.log('>>>', value['wetm-expression']);
-		}
-		return value;
-	}
-}
-
-export function getOptionalValue(obj, propName, index) {
-	try {
-		return getValue(obj, propName, index);
-	} catch (ex) {
-		return undefined;
-	}
-}
-
 export function getSlugWithFallback(post) {
 	return post.slug ? post.slug : 'id-' + post.id;
 }