From: ser@... (Sean Russell)
Date: 2003-06-17T02:36:23+09:00
Subject: Re: [REXML] getting line/file from element

Joel VanderWerf <vjoel@PATH.Berkeley.EDU> wrote in message news:<3EED0578.3060109@path.berkeley.edu>...
> Is it possible to get the line number(s) and file name where an element 
> was parsed, assuming it was parsed from a file?

Not currently, although that's a good idea.  I'll stick it in the
feature request list.

With the REXML 2.7 branch (or Ruby CVS), you can get the line numbers.
 Here's an example:

  source = REXML::IOSource.new( File.new( "documentat.xml" ))
  REXML::Document.new(s)    # Parse the document
  bytes, line_sep_lines, lines = s.current_line

'bytes', in this particular case, should be equal to the size of the
file, in bytes.  'nodes' is, effectively, equal to the number of '>'
characters there are in the XML document; it probably won't be of much
use to you, as it pertains to how REXML internally parses streams. 
'lines' is the actual number of CR/LF lines there are in the document.

If you combine this information with the SAX or Pull parsers, you
should be able to extrapolate the line number of a particular parse
event.  It isn't much help in the case of a tree parser, I'm afraid.

--- SER