Are there any TypeScript decorators available to build XML better with a typescript?

[ThePlenkov]

Hi!

I'm just thinking loud - it's just the open question for the discussion about the format chosen to attract attributes.

So Currently we have a following format:

<foo:bar ns1:a='1' ns2:b='2' >some_text</foo:bar>

translates into

{
    "foo:bar": {
        "#text": "some_text",
        "@_ns1:a": "1",
        "@_ns2:b": "2"
    }
}

It's totally fine if we want to parse XML and work with it, however it represents certain problems with using such objects in typescript.

I have been thinking of some possible ways may be to avoid using @ and : symbols in a property names and use some helper functions/decorators to work with just regular types and interfaces?

I've been experiementing but didn't find yet a good way to construct XML without creating types specially dedicated to this format..

[amitguptagwl]

Library supports modifying prefix for attributes and their group and other kind of tags.

[ThePlenkov]

So far I created this kind of approach:

import { test } from 'node:test'
import * as assert from 'node:assert'

function namespace<T extends Record<string, any>>(object: T, ns: string): Record<string, any> {
    const result: Record<string, any> = {}
    
    for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(object)) {
        const namespacedKey = `${ns}:${key}`
        result[namespacedKey] = value
    }
    
    return result
}

function attr<T extends Record<string, any>>(object: T): Record<string, any> {
    const result: Record<string, any> = {}
    
    for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(object)) {
        const attrKey = `@_${key}`
        result[attrKey] = value
    }
    
    return result
}

const ns1 = <T extends Record<string, any>>(object: T) => namespace(object, 'ns1')
const ns2 = <T extends Record<string, any>>(object: T) => namespace(object, 'ns2')

test('namespaced attributes', async (t) => {
    await t.test('handles namespaced attributes through composition', () => {
        const input = {
            root: {
                ...ns1({ 
                    item: {
                        ...attr({ id: '1' }),
                        ...attr(ns1({ type: 'test' })),
                        ...attr(ns2({ lang: 'en' })),
                        '#text': 'content'
                    }
                })
            }
        }
        const expected = {
            root: {
                'ns1:item': {
                    '@_id': '1',
                    '@_ns1:type': 'test',
                    '@_ns2:lang': 'en',
                    '#text': 'content'
                }
            }
        }
        const result = input
        assert.deepStrictEqual(result, expected)
    })
})

[ThePlenkov]

So I decided to publish my helpers as a package: https://www.npmjs.com/package/fxmlp to be able to use it in another project

[amitguptagwl]

Honestly, speaking I couldn't understand your concern and purpose of creating a wrapper just to make a few properties to default. However, its your choice. This library is made to provide core functionality so people can use it in their projects. Good luck