REXML and Empty-Elements

Ruby
1

Hello all,

I have been using REXML to help me merge some XML files. I noticed that
simply opening an XML document and writing it to a file will
automatically convert the blank nodes with a start-tag and an end-tag to
empty-element tags. Here is an example:

Original.xml:

John
123 Maple Lane

Chicago
IL

Basic Ruby Script:
require ‘rexml/document’
xml = REXML::Document.new(File.open(“Original.xml”))
f = File.new(“New.xml”,“w”)
f.puts xml

New.xml:

John
123 Maple Lane

Chicago
IL

In this example I would like to prevent Address2 from being modified to
use empty-element tags. I would rather it be displayed as
. Is there a way to prevent REXML from converting
blank nodes?

Thank you for your time.

Ryan

2

On 21.10.2008 01:04, Ryan Fitz wrote:

123 Maple Lane

Chicago
IL

Basic Ruby Script:
require ‘rexml/document’
xml = REXML::Document.new(File.open(“Original.xml”))
f = File.new(“New.xml”,“w”)
f.puts xml

Better use the block form of File.open here.

use empty-element tags. I would rather it be displayed as
. Is there a way to prevent REXML from converting
blank nodes?

There is no point in doing this since both representations are
equivalent from an XML point of view. I don’t believe there is such a
mechanism. What does REXML’s documentation say?

Cheers

robert