diff --git a/djangorestframework/mixins.py b/djangorestframework/mixins.py
index 9fed61221..9b238d306 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/mixins.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/mixins.py
@@ -185,7 +185,6 @@ class RequestMixin(object):
             return (None, None)
 
         parsers = as_tuple(self.parsers)
-
         for parser_cls in parsers:
             parser = parser_cls(self)
             if parser.can_handle_request(content_type):
diff --git a/djangorestframework/parsers.py b/djangorestframework/parsers.py
index 2ff64bd3e..235017fdb 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/parsers.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/parsers.py
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@ from djangorestframework import status
 from djangorestframework.compat import yaml
 from djangorestframework.response import ErrorResponse
 from djangorestframework.utils.mediatypes import media_type_matches
+from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
+import datetime
+import decimal
 
 
 __all__ = (
@@ -28,6 +31,7 @@ __all__ = (
     'FormParser',
     'MultiPartParser',
     'YAMLParser',
+    'XMLParser',
 )
 
 
@@ -167,10 +171,66 @@ class MultiPartParser(BaseParser):
             raise ErrorResponse(status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST,
                                 {'detail': 'multipart parse error - %s' % unicode(exc)})
         return django_parser.parse()
+    
+    
+
+class XMLParser(BaseParser):
+    """
+    XML parser.
+    """
+
+    media_type = 'application/xml'
+
+    def parse(self, stream):
+        """
+        Returns a 2-tuple of `(data, files)`.
+        
+        `data` will simply be a string representing the body of the request.
+        `files` will always be `None`.
+        """
+        data = {}
+        tree = ET.parse(stream)
+        for child in tree.getroot().getchildren():
+            data[child.tag] = self._type_convert(child.text)
+        
+        return (data, None)
+    
+    def _type_convert(self, value): 
+        """
+        Converts the value returned by the XMl parse into the equivalent 
+        Python type
+        """
+        if value is None:
+            return value
+        
+        try:
+            return datetime.datetime.strptime(value,'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S')
+        except ValueError:
+            pass
+        
+        try:
+            return int(value)
+        except ValueError:
+            pass
+        
+        
+        try:
+            return decimal.Decimal(value)
+        except decimal.InvalidOperation:
+            pass
+        
+        return value
+        
+
 
 DEFAULT_PARSERS = ( JSONParser,
                     FormParser,
-                    MultiPartParser )
+                    MultiPartParser,
+                    XMLParser
+                    )
 
 if YAMLParser:
     DEFAULT_PARSERS += ( YAMLParser, )
+    
+
+
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/__init__.py b/djangorestframework/tests/__init__.py
index f664c5c12..65d8ec43c 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/__init__.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/__init__.py
@@ -11,3 +11,4 @@ for module in modules:
     exec("from djangorestframework.tests.%s import *" % module)
     __test__[module] = module_doc or ""
 
+print 'TestXMLParser' in locals().keys()
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/parsers.py b/djangorestframework/tests/parsers.py
index deba688e5..08b963304 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/parsers.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/parsers.py
@@ -136,6 +136,8 @@ from cgi import parse_qs
 from django import forms
 from django.test import TestCase
 from djangorestframework.parsers import FormParser
+from djangorestframework.parsers import XMLParser
+import datetime
 
 class Form(forms.Form):
     field1 = forms.CharField(max_length=3)
@@ -153,3 +155,30 @@ class TestFormParser(TestCase):
         (data, files) = parser.parse(stream)
 
         self.assertEqual(Form(data).is_valid(), True)
+        
+
+class TestXMLParser(TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.input = StringIO(
+            '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>'
+            '<root>'
+            '<field_a>121.0</field_a>'
+            '<field_b>dasd</field_b>'
+            '<field_c></field_c>'
+            '<field_d>2011-12-25 12:45:00</field_d>'
+            '</root>'
+        )
+        self.data = {
+            'field_a': 121,
+            'field_b': 'dasd',
+            'field_c': None,
+            'field_d': datetime.datetime(2011, 12, 25, 12, 45, 00)  
+         
+        }
+        
+    def test_parse(self):
+        parser = XMLParser(None)
+        
+        (data, files) = parser.parse(self.input)
+        self.assertEqual(data, self.data)
+
diff --git a/djangorestframework/tests/renderers.py b/djangorestframework/tests/renderers.py
index d2046212f..9ae43cdda 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/tests/renderers.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/tests/renderers.py
@@ -4,13 +4,16 @@ from django.test import TestCase
 
 from djangorestframework import status
 from djangorestframework.compat import View as DjangoView
-from djangorestframework.renderers import BaseRenderer, JSONRenderer, YAMLRenderer
-from djangorestframework.parsers import JSONParser, YAMLParser
+from djangorestframework.renderers import BaseRenderer, JSONRenderer, YAMLRenderer,\
+    XMLRenderer
+from djangorestframework.parsers import JSONParser, YAMLParser, XMLParser
 from djangorestframework.mixins import ResponseMixin
 from djangorestframework.response import Response
 from djangorestframework.utils.mediatypes import add_media_type_param
 
 from StringIO import StringIO
+import datetime
+from decimal import Decimal
 
 DUMMYSTATUS = status.HTTP_200_OK
 DUMMYCONTENT = 'dummycontent'
@@ -223,4 +226,66 @@ if YAMLRenderer:
     
             content = renderer.render(obj, 'application/yaml')
             (data, files) = parser.parse(StringIO(content))
-            self.assertEquals(obj, data)    
\ No newline at end of file
+            self.assertEquals(obj, data)   
+            
+            
+class XMLRendererTestCase(TestCase):
+    """
+    Tests specific to the JSON Renderer
+    """
+
+    def test_render_string(self):
+        """
+        Test XML rendering.
+        """
+        renderer = XMLRenderer(None)
+        content = renderer.render({'field': 'astring'}, 'application/xml')
+        self.assertXMLContains(content, '<field>astring</field>')
+
+    def test_render_integer(self):
+        """
+        Test XML rendering.
+        """
+        renderer = XMLRenderer(None)
+        content = renderer.render({'field': 111}, 'application/xml')
+        self.assertXMLContains(content, '<field>111</field>')
+
+    def test_render_datetime(self):
+        """
+        Test XML rendering.
+        """
+        renderer = XMLRenderer(None)
+        content = renderer.render({
+            'field': datetime.datetime(2011, 12, 25, 12, 45, 00)
+        }, 'application/xml')
+        self.assertXMLContains(content, '<field>2011-12-25 12:45:00</field>')
+
+    def test_render_float(self):
+        """
+        Test XML rendering.
+        """
+        renderer = XMLRenderer(None)
+        content = renderer.render({'field': 123.4}, 'application/xml')
+        self.assertXMLContains(content, '<field>123.4</field>')
+
+    def test_render_decimal(self):
+        """
+        Test XML rendering.
+        """
+        renderer = XMLRenderer(None)
+        content = renderer.render({'field': Decimal('111.2')}, 'application/xml')
+        self.assertXMLContains(content, '<field>111.2</field>')
+
+    def test_render_none(self):
+        """
+        Test XML rendering.
+        """
+        renderer = XMLRenderer(None)
+        content = renderer.render({'field': None}, 'application/xml')
+        self.assertXMLContains(content, '<field></field>')
+
+
+    def assertXMLContains(self, xml, string):
+        self.assertTrue(xml.startswith('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>\n<root>'))
+        self.assertTrue(xml.endswith('</root>'))
+        self.assertTrue(string in xml, '%r not in %r' % (string, xml))             
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/djangorestframework/utils/__init__.py b/djangorestframework/utils/__init__.py
index 99f9724ce..1f1a08661 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/utils/__init__.py
@@ -150,7 +150,9 @@ class XMLRenderer():
                 xml.startElement(key, {})
                 self._to_xml(xml, value)
                 xml.endElement(key)
-
+        elif data is None:
+            # Don't output any value
+            pass
         else:
             xml.characters(smart_unicode(data))