I'm constructing a dictionary with Python to use with a SOAP API.

My SOAP API takes an input like this:

<dataArray><AccountingYearData><Handle><Year>string</Year></Handle><Year>string</Year><FromDate>dateTime</FromDate><ToDate>dateTime</ToDate><IsClosed>boolean</IsClosed></AccountingYearData><AccountingYearData><Handle><Year>string</Year></Handle><Year>string</Year><FromDate>dateTime</FromDate><ToDate>dateTime</ToDate><IsClosed>boolean</IsClosed></AccountingYearData>
</dataArray>

Se this for the full string https://api.e-conomic.com/secure/api1/EconomicWebService.asmx?op=AccountingYear_CreateFromDataArray

Notice how the field appears multiple times.

How can I create a Python dict with this data?

If I do this:

data = {'dataArray':{'AccountingYearData':{'Handle':{'Year':'2017'}, 'Year':'2017','FromDate':'2017-01-01', 'ToDate':'2017-12-31', 'IsClosed':'False'},'AccountingYearData':{'Handle':{'Year':'2017'}, 'Year':'2017','FromDate':'2017-01-01', 'ToDate':'2017-12-31', 'IsClosed':'False'}}
}

I get:

>>> type (data)
<type 'dict'>
>>> data {'dataArray': {'AccountingYearData': {'IsClosed': 'False', 'FromDate': '2017-01-01', 'Handle': {'Year': '2017'}, 'ToDate': '2017-12-31', 'Year': '2017'}}
}

It's as expected I think, but now what I need.

Well, the answer seems obvious and is even hinted by the "dataArray" name: if you have a list of items, then you want to use a list to store them:

data = {'dataArray':[{'AccountingYearData':{'Handle':{'Year':'2017'}, 'Year':'2017','FromDate':'2017-01-01', 'ToDate':'2017-12-31', 'IsClosed':'False'},},{'AccountingYearData':{'Handle':{'Year':'2017'}, 'Year':'2017','FromDate':'2017-01-01', 'ToDate':'2017-12-31', 'IsClosed':'False'},},]}