From: Jari Williamsson <jari.williamsson@...>
Date: 2007-11-25T00:29:27+09:00
Subject: Re: REXML: Raw tags in element text?

Robert Klemme wrote:
> 2007/11/24, Jari Williamsson <jari.williamsson@mailbox.swipnet.se>:
>> Phrogz wrote:
>>> On Nov 23, 2:26 pm, Jari Williamsson
>>> <jari.williams...@mailbox.swipnet.se> wrote:
>>>> In REXML, is it possible to add raw tags to element text, without having
>>>> to add elements for those tags?
>>>> (I would like to add a few HTML tags like <b></b> to strings, before I
>>>> know what element nodes they will appear at.)
>>> Are you wanting to ad XML elements as children of another without
>>> using the DOM to create them (like setting .innerHTML in a web
>>> browser, causing it to parse your string and create elements as
>>> necessary),
>> Yes, this is what I want.
> 
> I believe you can do it (i.e. add raw tags to text) BUT they will not
> show up as tags when output.  Which is completely logical once you
> think about it.  If you work with a DOM you have to add nodes as
> nodes.  Maybe you can just create a small sub tree with a <b> node and
> your text as nested text and later put that <b> node into the tree.

Since nothing seems to exist I wrote my own 2-line method: It adds a raw 
string, parses it and passes all nodes to the parent element. Here's the 
code if anyone else would need it:

---
class REXML::Element
    def add_raw_text(raw_text)
       doc = REXML::Document.new("<fake>"+raw_text+"</fake>")
       doc.root.children.each { |e| self << e }
    end
end
---

Example:
myelement.add_raw_text("here's a <b>bold</b> test")


Best regards,

Jari Williamsson