diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index b6b8dd6..df5a05a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
-*.pyc
+*.py[co]
 *.egg-info
 .tox
 build/
 docs/_build/
 dist/
 .DS_Store
+/bin
+/include
+/lib
+.Python
diff --git a/mysolr/mysolr.py b/mysolr/mysolr.py
index bfad496..d9b50b2 100644
--- a/mysolr/mysolr.py
+++ b/mysolr/mysolr.py
@@ -351,7 +351,8 @@ def fetch(self, rows=None):
             self.query['start'] += self.query['rows']
 
 
-def _get_add_xml(array_of_hash, overwrite=True):
+def _get_add_xml(array_of_hash, overwrite=True, commit_within=None,
+                 boost_values=None):
     """ Creates add XML message to send to Solr based on the array of hashes
     (documents) provided.
 
@@ -359,19 +360,34 @@ def _get_add_xml(array_of_hash, overwrite=True):
                       with the same uniqueKey (default is True)
 
     """
-    xml = '<add overwrite="%s">' % ('true' if overwrite else 'false')
+    xml = '<add overwrite="%s"' % ('true' if overwrite else 'false')
+    if commit_within:
+        xml += ' commitWithin="%s"' % (commit_within)
+    xml += '>'
+
+    def add_field_xml(doc, key, value):
+        if isinstance(value, get_basestring()):
+            value = escape(value)
+        if key in boost_values:
+            boost = ' boost="%s"' % boost_values[key]
+        else:
+            boost = ''
+        doc += '<field name="%s"%s>%s</field>' % (key, boost, value)
+        return doc
+
     for doc_hash in array_of_hash:
-        doc = '<doc>'
+        if boost_values is None:
+           boost_values = {}
+        if '' in boost_values:      # boost value for the entire document
+            doc = '<doc boost="%s">' % boost_values['']
+        else:
+            doc = '<doc>'
         for key, value in doc_hash.items():
             if isinstance(value, list):
                 for v in value:
-                    if isinstance(v, get_basestring()):
-                        v = escape(v)
-                    doc += '<field name="%s">%s</field>' % (key, v)
+                    doc = add_field_xml(doc, key, v)
             else:
-                if isinstance(value, get_basestring()):
-                    value = escape(value)
-                doc += '<field name="%s">%s</field>' % (key, value)
+                doc = add_field_xml(doc, key, value)
         doc += '</doc>'
         xml += doc
     xml += '</add>'
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3ec7198
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+# -*- coding:  utf-8 -*-
+
+import unittest
+from mysolr import mysolr
+
+
+class AddXmlTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_add_xml(self):
+        self.assertEqual(mysolr._get_add_xml([{'id': 5, 'foo': 'bar'}]),
+                         ('<add overwrite="true"><doc><field name="foo">bar'
+                          '</field><field name="id">5</field></doc></add>'))
+
+    def test_add_xml_nooverwrite(self):
+        self.assertEqual(mysolr._get_add_xml([{'id': 5, 'foo': 'bar'}],
+                         overwrite=False),
+                         ('<add overwrite="false"><doc><field name="foo">bar'
+                          '</field><field name="id">5</field></doc></add>'))
+
+    def test_add_xml_commit_within(self):
+        self.assertEqual(mysolr._get_add_xml([{'id': 5, 'foo': 'bar'}],
+                         commit_within=2.0),
+                         ('<add overwrite="true" commitWithin="2.0"><doc>'
+                          '<field name="foo">bar</field><field name="id">5'
+                          '</field></doc></add>'))
+
+    def test_add_xml_commit_doc_boost(self):
+        self.assertEqual(mysolr._get_add_xml([{'id': 7, 'foo': 'bar'}],
+                         boost_values={'': 2.3}),
+                         ('<add overwrite="true"><doc boost="2.3">'
+                          '<field name="foo">bar</field><field name="id">7'
+                          '</field></doc></add>'))
+
+    def test_add_xml_commit_field_boost(self):
+        self.assertEqual(mysolr._get_add_xml([{'id': 7, 'foo': 'bar'}],
+                         boost_values={'foo': 4.2}),
+                         ('<add overwrite="true"><doc>'
+                          '<field name="foo" boost="4.2">bar</field>'
+                          '<field name="id">7</field></doc></add>'))
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()