From: Keith Fahlgren <keith@...>
Date: 2007-02-22T11:40:57+09:00
Subject: Re: Rexml - StreamListener - Where I am in the XML?

On 2/21/07, beikel.meikel@web.de <beikel.meikel@web.de> wrote:
> I'm using REXML::StreamListener to analyze a big xml file. My ruby
> code looks like this:
>...
> At the "tag_start" method I need sometimes the information where I am
> in the xml. What is my parent tag and so on. Is there is a method to
> get this information at this time?

Hi,

I've used REXML::Parsers::PullParser instead of stream parsing (same
general idea), here's an example of a function that waits until it
sees a tag that matches element_name and then pulls the text from it:

    def self.get_element_text(filename, element_name)
      parser = REXML::Parsers::PullParser.new(File.new(filename))
      text = false
      while parser.has_next?
        el = parser.pull
        if el.start_element? and el[0] == element_name
          text = parser.peek[0]
          break
        end
      end
      return text
    end

So, while the above certainly won't work for your application, you
could try playing a little with parser.peek to see if you can find the
child node (or next node, whatever) that you're looking for.


HTH,
Keith