[ANN] xx-0.1.0 : xhtml and xml make it twice as dirty
Ara.T.Howard
NAME
xx - twice as dirty
SYNOPSIS
~ > gem install "double x"
require "xx"
include XX::XHTML
doc = xhtml_{
html_{
head_{ title_{ " go xx! " } }
body_{ " one more and it would be illegal " }
}
}
URI
http://rubyforge.org/frs/?group_id=1024
DESCRIPTION
xx is a library designed to extend ruby objects with html, xhtml, and xml
generation methods. the syntax provided by xx aims to make the generation of
xml or xhtml as clean looking and natural as ruby it self.
the approach taken, that of extending objects, allows natural document
generation while preserving access to instance data. in essence it provides
ruby objects (including the top level 'main' object) an intuitive means to
generate various markup views of their data in a way that is correct and
elegant.
xx is brought to you by the good folks at http://eparklabs.com.
SAMPLES
<========< sample/a.rb >========>
~ > cat sample/a.rb
require "xx"
include XX::XHTML
#
# xx modules extend the current object to allow natural document markup
#
doc = xhtml_{
html_{
head_{ title_{ " go xx! " } }
body_{ " one more and it would be illegal " }
}
}
puts doc.pretty
~ > ruby sample/a.rb
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html lang='en' xml:lang='en' xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<head>
<title> go xx! </title>
</head>
<body> one more and it would be illegal </body>
</html>
<========< sample/b.rb >========>
~ > cat sample/b.rb
require "xx"
#
# xml is as easy as html. xx extends your object very carefully, adding an
# one method that is not prefaced with 'xx_' : 'method_missing'. the
# method_missing defined is conservatively, recognizing only methods that end
# with underscore ('_') as 'tag' methods intended to generate markup. as with
# html, attributes may be passed to any tag method as either symbol or string.
#
class Table < ::Array
include XX::XML
attr "fields"
def initialize *a, &b
@fields = a.shift
replace a
end
def self::[] *a, &b
new *a, &b
end
def to_xml
xml_{
table_{
each do |row|
row_{
fields.zip(row) do |field, value|
field_(:name => field, 'width' => value.size){ value }
end
}
end
}
}
end
end
table = Table[
%w( first_name last_name ssn ),
%w( jane doe 424-24-2424 ),
%w( john buck 574-86-4242 ),
]
puts table.to_xml.pretty
~ > ruby sample/b.rb
<?xml version='1.0'?>
<table>
<row>
<field name='first_name' width='4'>jane</field>
<field name='last_name' width='3'>doe</field>
<field name='ssn' width='11'>424-24-2424</field>
</row>
<row>
<field name='first_name' width='4'>john</field>
<field name='last_name' width='4'>buck</field>
<field name='ssn' width='11'>574-86-4242</field>
</row>
</table>
<========< sample/c.rb >========>
~ > cat sample/c.rb
require "xx"
#
# xx makes it impossible to generate invalid (syntactically) invalid documents
# - unless to instruct it in insert raw html or xml using the 'h_' or 'x_'
# methods. text inserted with 't_' is automatically escaped. like all xx
# methods these can have one or more underscores after them in case there is a
# collision with another method or the tag 'h', 'x', or 't' needs to be
# generated.
#
include XX::XML
doc = xml_{
root_{
div_{ t_ "this is escaped < > & text" }
div_{ h_ "this is raw <html>. & is not escaped" }
div_{ x_ "<raw> xml </raw>" }
div_{ x_{ even_{ entire_{ documents_{ "nest" } } } } }
}
}
puts doc.pretty
~ > ruby sample/c.rb
<?xml version='1.0'?>
<root>
<div>this is escaped < > & text</div>
<div>this is raw <html>. & is not escaped</div>
<div><raw> xml </raw></div>
<div><even><entire><documents>nest</documents></entire></even></div>
</root>
<========< sample/d.rb >========>
~ > cat sample/d.rb
require "xx"
#
# xx has only a few methods which end in '_'. these methods, therefore, cannot
# be used in conjuction with method_missing to auto-generate tags. for those
# methods a tag of the same method can be generated using and escaped form,
# namely two or more underscores always mean 'generate a tag'. those methods
# are:
#
# - g_
# - text_
# - t_
# - h_
# - x_
# - c_
# - at_
# - att_
# - yat_
#
include XX::XML
doc = xml_{
root_{
t_{ "this is a text element" }
t__{ "this is not text, but a __tag__ called t" }
x_{ "this un-escaped & < > stuff" }
x__{ "this is not un-escaped & < > stuff but a tag called x" }
}
}
puts doc.pretty
~ > ruby sample/d.rb
<?xml version='1.0'?>
<root>this is a text element<t>this is not text, but a __tag__ called t</t>this un-escaped & < > stuff<x>this is not un-escaped & < > stuff but a tag called x</x>
</root>
HISTORY
0.1.0:
- added the "g_" method, which generates any tag
^
g_("anytag", "key" => "value"){ b_{ "bold" } }
- added at_ and att_ methods to parse yaml and k=v strings as hashes.
at_("src : image.jpg, width : 100%")
#=> {"src"=>"image.jpg", "width"=> "100%"}
0.0.0:
- initial version
AUTHORS
dan fitzpatrick <d...@eparklabs.com>
ara.t.howard <ara.t....@eparklabs.com>
BUGS
please send bug reports to /dev/null. patches to addresses above. ;-)
LICENSE
ePark Labs Public License version 1 Copyright (c) 2005, ePark Labs, Inc. and
contributors All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. Neither the name of ePark Labs nor the names of its contributors may be
used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without
specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,
OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
enjoy.
-a
--
sleep is the best meditation. -- h.h. the 14th dali lama
men...@rydia.net
> doc = xhtml_{
> html_{
> head_{ title_{ " go xx! " } }
> body_{ " one more and it would be illegal " }
> }
> }
Out of curiousity, how does this compare with markaby?
-mental
James Britt
Or the XML Builder in Nitro, which has a similar syntax?
James
--
James Britt
http://www.ruby-doc.org - Ruby Help & Documentation
http://www.artima.com/rubycs/ - The Journal By & For Rubyists
http://www.rubystuff.com - The Ruby Store for Ruby Stuff
http://www.jamesbritt.com - Playing with Better Toys
http://www.30secondrule.com - Building Better Tools
ara.t....@noaa.gov
> men...@rydia.net wrote:
>> Quoting "Ara.T.Howard" <ara.t....@gmail.com>:
>>
>>
>>> doc = xhtml_{
>>> html_{
>>> head_{ title_{ " go xx! " } }
>>> body_{ " one more and it would be illegal " }
>>> }
>>> }
>>
>>
>> Out of curiousity, how does this compare with markaby?
>
> Or the XML Builder in Nitro, which has a similar syntax?
hmm. i think the implimentation is better ;-)
seriously - i have a big problem with blanket method_missing like those used
in the nitro and rails xml builders - they make debugging an absolute
nightmare that reminds me of perl. by using a simple rule : tag methods end
in underscore, i can delegate to the default method missing in cases where a
mere typo was made. eg. in nitro
foo
will output
<foo></foo>
but not in xx. you have to be explicit that you need to generate a tag using
foo_{ 42 }
which will generate
<foo>42</foo>
also, the return value of blocks do not appear to be used very well in nitro
(i could be wrong here). my reading of the docs seems to suggest that
foo{ 42 }
would output simply
<foo></foo>
in xx this outputs
<foo>42</foo>
as you would expect.
again, alot of this revolves around handling method_missing in a catch-all
fashion. because the handling is so generic in nitro's xml builder it is
un-suitable to mixin to your own classes, let alone built-in ones. with 'xx'
this is not so - the library is quite carefully designed to pollute the
includee (is that a word?) namespace minimally and certainly will not hide
errors or, worse, simply output xml/xhtml when a typo is made. this is all
possible due to the requirement that tag methods end in underscore.
xx handles both xml, xhtml, and xhtml. for all of them you will be hard
pressed to generate invalid documents - generating end tags is not supported
because it is always done for you in a sensible way.
lastly - 'xx' generates xhtml in a way that should be friendly to IE -
something which is harder than it ought to be. i can thank sean (rexml) for
that!
cheers.
James Britt
>>> Out of curiousity, how does this compare with markaby?
>>
>>
>> Or the XML Builder in Nitro, which has a similar syntax?
>
>
> hmm. i think the implimentation is better ;-)
>
> seriously - i have a big problem with blanket method_missing like those
> used
> in the nitro and rails xml builders - they make debugging an absolute
> nightmare that reminds me of perl. by using a simple rule : tag methods
> end
> in underscore, i can delegate to the default method missing in cases
> where a
> mere typo was made. eg. in nitro
>
> foo
>
> will output
>
> <foo></foo>
Thanks for the details. This looks really quite slick.
James