Class: Ox::Element

Inherits:
Node
  • Object
show all
Includes:
HasAttrs
Defined in:
lib/ox/element.rb

Overview

An Element represents a element of an XML document. It has a name, attributes, and sub-nodes.

To access the child elements or attributes there are several options. One is to walk the nodes and attributes. Another is to use the locate() method. The easiest for simple regularly formatted XML is to reference the sub elements or attributes simply by name. Repeating elements with the same name can be referenced with an element count as well. A few examples should explain the 'easy' API more clearly.

Example

doc = Ox.parse(%Q{
<?xml?>
<People>
  <Person age="58">
    <given>Peter</given>
    <surname>Ohler</surname>
  </Person>
  <Person>
    <given>Makie</given>
    <surname>Ohler</surname>
  </Person>
</People>
})

doc.People.Person.given.text
=> "Peter"
doc.People.Person(1).given.text
=> "Makie"
doc.People.Person.age
=> "58"

Direct Known Subclasses

Document

Instance Attribute Summary

Attributes inherited from Node

#value

Instance Method Summary (collapse)

Methods included from HasAttrs

#[], #[]=, #attributes

Constructor Details

- (Element) initialize(name)

Creates a new Element with the specified name.

Parameters:

  • name (String) —

    name of the Element



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# File 'lib/ox/element.rb', line 41

def initialize(name)
  super
  @attributes = nil
  @nodes = nil
end

Dynamic Method Handling

This class handles dynamic methods through the method_missing method

- (Element|Node|String|nil) method_missing(id, *args, &block)

Handles the 'easy' API that allows navigating a simple XML by referencing elements and attributes by name.

Parameters:

  • id (Symbol) —

    element or attribute name

Returns:

  • (Element|Node|String|nil) —

    the element, attribute value, or Node identifed by the name

Raises:

  • (NoMethodError) —

    if no match is found



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# File 'lib/ox/element.rb', line 135

def method_missing(id, *args, &block)
  ids = id.to_s
  i = args[0].to_i # will be 0 if no arg or parsing fails
  nodes.each do |n|
    if (n.is_a?(Element) || n.is_a?(Instruct)) && (n.value == id || n.value == ids)
      return n if 0 == i
      i -= 1
    end
  end
  if instance_variable_defined?(:@attributes)
    return @attributes[id] if @attributes.has_key?(id)
    return @attributes[ids] if @attributes.has_key?(ids)
  end
  raise NoMethodError.new("#{ids} not found", name)
end

Instance Method Details

- (Object) <<(node)

Appends a Node to the Element's nodes array. Returns the element itself so multiple appends can be chained together.

Parameters:

  • node (Node) —

    Node to append to the nodes array



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# File 'lib/ox/element.rb', line 59

def <<(node)
  @nodes = [] if !instance_variable_defined?(:@nodes) or @nodes.nil?
  raise "argument to << must be a String or Ox::Node." unless node.is_a?(String) or node.is_a?(Node)
  @nodes << node
  self
end

- (Object) alocate(path, found)

Parameters:

  • path (Array) —

    array of steps in a path

  • found (Array) —

    matching nodes



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# File 'lib/ox/element.rb', line 153

def alocate(path, found)
  step = path[0]
  if step.start_with?('@') # attribute
    raise InvalidPath.new(path) unless 1 == path.size
    if instance_variable_defined?(:@attributes)
      step = step[1..-1]
      sym_step = step.to_sym
      @attributes.each do |k,v|
        found << v if ('?' == step or k == step or k == sym_step)
      end
    end
  else # element name
    if (i = step.index('[')).nil? # just name
      name = step
      qual = nil
    else
      name = step[0..i-1]
      raise InvalidPath.new(path) unless step.end_with?(']')
      i += 1
      qual = step[i..i] # step[i] would be better but some rubies (jruby, ree, rbx) take that as a Fixnum.
      if '0' <= qual and qual <= '9'
        qual = '+'
      else
        i += 1
      end
      index = step[i..-2].to_i
    end
    if '?' == name or '*' == name
      match = nodes
    elsif '^' == name[0..0] # 1.8.7 thinks name[0] is a fixnum
      case name[1..-1]
       when 'Element'
        match = nodes.select { |e| e.is_a?(Element) }
       when 'String', 'Text'
        match = nodes.select { |e| e.is_a?(String) }
      when 'Comment'
        match = nodes.select { |e| e.is_a?(Comment) }
      when 'CData'
        match = nodes.select { |e| e.is_a?(CData) }
      when 'DocType'
        match = nodes.select { |e| e.is_a?(DocType) }
      else
        #puts "*** no match on #{name}"
        match = []
      end
    else
      match = nodes.select { |e| e.is_a?(Element) and name == e.name }
    end
    unless qual.nil? or match.empty?
      case qual
      when '+'
        match = index < match.size ? [match[index]] : []
      when '-'
        match = index <= match.size ? [match[-index]] : []
      when '<'
        match = 0 < index ? match[0..index - 1] : []
      when '>'
        match = index <= match.size ? match[index + 1..-1] : []
      else
        raise InvalidPath.new(path)
      end
    end
    if (1 == path.size)
      match.each { |n| found << n }
    elsif '*' == name
      match.each { |n| n.alocate(path, found) if n.is_a?(Element) }
      match.each { |n| n.alocate(path[1..-1], found) if n.is_a?(Element) }
    else
      match.each { |n| n.alocate(path[1..-1], found) if n.is_a?(Element) }
    end
  end
end

- (Boolean) eql?(other) Also known as: ==

Returns true if this Object and other are of the same type and have the equivalent value and the equivalent elements otherwise false is returned.

Parameters:

  • other (Object) —

    Object compare self to.

Returns:

  • (Boolean) —

    true if both Objects are equivalent, otherwise false.



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# File 'lib/ox/element.rb', line 70

def eql?(other)
  return false if (other.nil? or self.class != other.class)
  return false unless super(other)
  return false unless self.attributes == other.attributes
  return false unless self.nodes == other.nodes
  true
end

- (Object) locate(path)

Returns an array of Nodes or Strings that correspond to the locations specified by the path parameter. The path parameter describes the path to the return values which can be either nodes in the XML or attributes. The path is a relative description. There are similarities between the locate() method and XPath but locate does not follow the same rules as XPath. The syntax is meant to be simpler and more Ruby like.

Like XPath the path delimiters are the slash (/) character. The path is split on the delimiter and each element of the path then describes the child of the current Element to traverse.

Attributes are specified with an @ prefix.

Each element name in the path can be followed by a bracket expression that narrows the paths to traverse. Supported expressions are numbers with a preceeding qualifier. Qualifiers are -, , &lt;, and &gt;. The qualifier is the default. A - qualifier indicates the index begins at the end of the children just like for Ruby Arrays. The < and > qualifiers indicates all elements either less than or greater than should be matched. Note that unlike XPath, the element index starts at 0 similar to Ruby be contrary to XPath.

Element names can also be wildcard characters. A * indicates any decendent should be followed. A ? indicates any single Element can match the wildcard. A ^ character followed by the name of a Class will match any node of the specified class. Valid class names are Element, Comment, String (or Text), CData, DocType.

Examples are:

  • element.locate("Family/Pete/*") returns all children of the Pete Element.

  • element.locate("Family/?[1]") returns the first element in the Family Element.

  • element.locate("Family/?[<3]") returns the first 3 elements in the Family Element.

  • element.locate("Family/?/@age") returns the arg attribute for each child in the Family Element.

  • element.locate("Family/*/@type") returns the type attribute value for decendents of the Family.

  • element.locate("Family/^Comment") returns any comments that are a child of Family.

Parameters:

  • path (String) —

    path to the Nodes to locate



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# File 'lib/ox/element.rb', line 122

def locate(path)
  return [self] if path.nil?
  found = []
  pa = path.split('/')
  alocate(pa, found)
  found
end

- (Array) nodes

Returns the Element's nodes array. These are the sub-elements of this Element.

Returns:

  • (Array) —

    all child Nodes.



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# File 'lib/ox/element.rb', line 51

def nodes
  @nodes = [] if !instance_variable_defined?(:@nodes) or @nodes.nil?
  @nodes
end

- (Object) text

Returns the first String in the elements nodes array or nil if there is no String node.



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# File 'lib/ox/element.rb', line 81

def text()
  nodes.each { |n| return n if n.is_a?(String) }
  nil
end