CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xmlscala
David
David

Reputation: 5214

Why are Scala XML literals sensitive to whitespace between the tags?

I've discovered that Scala XML literals are sensitive to whitespace, which is kinda strange, isn't it? since XML parsers don't normally give a damn about spaces between the tags.

This is a bummer because I'd like to set out my XML neatly in my code:

<sample>
  <hello />
</sample>

but Scala considers this to be a different value to

<sample><hello /></sample>

Proof is in the pudding:

scala> val xml1 = <sample><hello /></sample>
xml1: scala.xml.Elem = <sample><hello></hello></sample>

scala> val xml2 = <sample>
     | <hello />
     | </sample>
xml2: scala.xml.Elem = 
<sample>
<hello></hello>
</sample>

scala> xml1 == <sample><hello /></sample>
res0: Boolean = true

scala> xml1 == xml2
res1: Boolean = false

... What gives?

Upvotes: 14

Views: 1871

Answers (2)

Daniel C. Sobral
Daniel C. Sobral

Reputation: 297205

If you liked it you should have put a trim on it:

scala> val xml1 = <sample><hello /></sample>
xml1: scala.xml.Elem = <sample><hello></hello></sample>

scala> val xml2 = <sample>
     | <hello />
     | </sample>
xml2: scala.xml.Elem = 
<sample>
<hello></hello>
</sample>

scala> xml1 == xml2
res14: Boolean = false

scala> xml.Utility.trim(xml1) == xml.Utility.trim(xml2)
res15: Boolean = true

Upvotes: 16

Bradford
Bradford

Reputation: 4193

If you want to convert the XML literal to a StringBuilder:

scala> val xml1 = <sample><hello /></sample>
xml1: scala.xml.Elem = <sample><hello></hello></sample>

scala> xml.Utility.toXML(xml1, minimizeTags=true)
res2: StringBuilder = <sample><hello /></sample>

Upvotes: 0

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