/ 
XML-Tidy-1.0.4C9JpoP
River stage two • 6 direct dependents • 18 total dependents
/ XML::Tidy

NAME

XML::Tidy - tidy indenting of XML documents

VERSION

This documentation refers to version 1.0.4C9JpoP of XML::Tidy, which was released on Thu Dec 9 19:51:50:25 2004.

SYNOPSIS

use XML::Tidy;

# create new   XML::Tidy object from         MainFile.xml
my $tidy_obj = XML::Tidy->new('filename' => 'MainFile.xml');

# Tidy up the indenting
   $tidy_obj->tidy();

# Write out changes back to MainFile.xml
   $tidy_obj->write();

DESCRIPTION

This module creates XML document objects (with inheritance from XML::XPath) to tidy mixed-content (ie. non-data) text node indenting.

2DO

- mk 03prune.t && tst write(flnm, xplc)
- mk tidy keep doc order when duping attz, namespaces, (hopefully someday PIs) into temp $docu && $tnod
- What else does Tidy need?

USAGE

new()

This is the standard Tidy object constructor. It can take the same parameters as an XML::XPath object constructor to initialize the XML document object. These can be any one of:

'filename' => 'SomeFile.xml'
'xml'      => $variable_which_holds_a_bunch_of_XML_data
'ioref'    => $file_InputOutput_reference
'context'  => $existing_node_at_specified_context_to_become_new_obj

reload()

The reload() member function causes the latest data contained in a Tidy object to be re-parsed which re-indexes all nodes. This can be necessary after modifications have been made to nodes which impact the tree node hierarchy because XML::XPath's find() member preserves state info which can get out-of-sync. reload() is probably rarely useful by itself but it is needed by reload() && is exposed as a method in case it comes in handy for other uses.

strip()

The strip() member function searches the Tidy object for all mixed-content (ie. non-data) text nodes && empties them out. This will basically unformat any markup indenting. strip() is probably barely useful by itself but it is needed by tidy() && is exposed as a method in case it comes in handy for other uses.

tidy()

The tidy() member function can take two optional parameters. The first parameter should either be 'spaces' or 'tabs' (or alternately ' ' or "\t") && the second parameter should be the number of times to repeat the indent character per indent level. Some examples:

# Tidy up the indenting with two  (2) spaces per indent level
   $tidy_obj->tidy();

# Tidy up the indenting with four (4) spaces per indent level
   $tidy_obj->tidy('spaces', 4);

# Tidy up the indenting with one  (1) tab    per indent level
   $tidy_obj->tidy('tabs');

# Tidy up the indenting with two  (2) tabs   per indent level
   $tidy_obj->tidy('tabs', 2);

The default behavior is to use two (2) spaces for each indent level. The Tidy object gets all mixed-content (ie. non-data) text nodes reformatted to appropriate indent levels according to tree nesting depth.

NOTE: There seems to be a bug in XML::XPath which does not allow finding XML processing instructions (PI) properly so they have been commented out of tidy(). This means that (to great dismay) tidy() removes processing instructions from files it operates on. I hope this shortcoming can be repaired in the near future. tidy() also disturbs some XML escapes in the same ways that XML::XPath does.

prune()

The prune() member function takes an XPath location to remove (along with all attributes && child nodes) from the Tidy object. For example, to remove all comments:

$tidy_obj->prune('//comment()');

or to remove the third baz:

$tidy_obj->prune('/foo/bar/baz[3]');

write()

The write() member function can take an optional filename parameter to write out any changes to the Tidy object. If no parameters are given, write() overwrites the original XML document file (if a 'filename' parameter was given to the constructor).

write() will croak() if no filename can be found to write to.

write() can also take a secondary parameter which specifies an XPath location to be written out as the new root element instead of the Tidy object's root. Only the first matching element is written.

CHANGES

Revision history for Perl extension XML::Tidy:

- 1.0.4C9JpoP Thu Dec 9 19:51:50:25 2004

* added xplc option to write()

* added prune()

- 1.0.4C8K1Ah Wed Dec 8 20:01:10:43 2004

* inherited from XPath so that those methods can be called directly

* original version (separating Tidy.pm from Merge.pm)

INSTALL

From the command shell, please run:

`perl -MCPAN -e "install XML::Tidy"`

or uncompress the package && run the standard:

`perl Makefile.PL; make; make test; make install`

FILES

XML::Tidy requires:

Carp to allow errors to croak() from calling sub

XML::XPath to use XPath statements to query && update XML

XML::XPath::XMLParser to parse XML documents into XPath objects

LICENSE

Most source code should be Free! Code I have lawful authority over is && shall be! Copyright: (c) 2004, Pip Stuart. Copyleft : This software is licensed under the GNU General Public License (version 2), && as such comes with NO WARRANTY. Please consult the Free Software Foundation (http://FSF.Org) for important information about your freedom.

AUTHOR

Pip Stuart <Pip@CPAN.Org>