CODEWITHSUNDEEP
xmlscalawhitespace
user826955
user826955

Reputation: 3206

How to remove whitespaces when we create XML

Given the following code:

def createXmlOutput(...) : Elem =
{
   <something>
     { if (condition == true) <child>{ "my child value if condition would be true" }</child> }
     <otherchild>{ "my other child value" }</otherchild>
   </something>
}

I will get the following output in case the condition is false:

<something>

  <otherchild>my other child value</otherchild>
</something>

So, the { if.. } block leads to an extra blank line in case the condition is false and the element is not placed.

How can I avoid this? I am building a rather large XML with lots of optional elements, which leads to excess whitespace and empty lines when doing it this way.

Is there a way to completely collapse whitespace & newlines after creating the XML, so I have it all in one line? (which would be my preferred style anyway, because its for machine-to-machine communication)

Upvotes: 1

Views: 610

Answers (1)

Amit Prasad
Amit Prasad

Reputation: 725

Looks like you have to add children manually is one way and another way is to use scala.xml.Utility.trim. I have taken your code and re-written like this : 

 def createXmlOutput(condition:Boolean) : Elem =
 {
   val parent: Elem = <something>
                      <otherchild>{ "my other child value" }</otherchild>
                      </something>
  val child = <child>{ "my child value if condition would be true" }</child>
  if(condition == true) parent.copy(child = parent.child :+ child)
   else parent
 }

Hope this helps

And also you can use something like this scala.xml.Utility.trim(createXmlOutput(true)) if you are not adding the child manually.

Upvotes: 4

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