Nokogiri: Should namespaces be passed down to child elements?

[IceDragon200]

I'm having a bit of a problem, I may be overlooking something quite obvious, but here is the gist of my problem https://gist.github.com/IceDragon200/873139e6c7d395dfcd9793949f9b2246

What's happening here, I've created an element with a namespace and then child elements without a namespace, expecting the children to be as such (namespace-less), however nokogiri slaps the label on anyway.

Expected behaviour:

# WHERE xml is the top level builder
xml['namespace'].element do |builder_with_namespace|
  xml.element_without_namespace
  builder_with_namespace.element_with_namespace
end

Though judging from that, it wouldn't exactly be efficient, since you'd create a new builder context per element, unless checking the block's arity to avoid it.

tl;dr

Expected

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:emer="http://dashcs.com/api/v1/emergency">
  <soapenv:Header/>
  <soapenv:Body>
    <emer:validateLocation>
      <location>
        <address1>Some place over the rainbow</address1>
        <community>Community</community>
        <postalcode>PS</postalcode>
        <state>AR</state>
        <type>ADDRESS</type>
      </location>
    </emer:validateLocation>
  </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Actual

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:emer="http://dashcs.com/api/v1/emergency">
  <soapenv:Header/>
  <soapenv:Body>
    <emer:validateLocation>
      <emer:location>
        <emer:address1>Some place over the rainbow</emer:address1>
        <emer:community>Community</emer:community>
        <emer:postalcode>PS</emer:postalcode>
        <emer:state>AR</emer:state>
        <emer:type>ADDRESS</emer:type>
      </emer:location>
    </emer:validateLocation>
  </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Test

require 'nokogiri' # nokogiri (1.6.7.2)

result = Nokogiri::XML::Builder.new(encoding: 'utf-8') do |xml|
  xml['soapenv'].Envelope('xmlns:soapenv' => 'http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/', 'xmlns:emer' => 'http://dashcs.com/api/v1/emergency') do
    xml['soapenv'].Header
    xml['soapenv'].Body do
      xml['emer'].validateLocation do
        # these do not require a namespace
        xml.location do
          xml.address1 'Some place over the rainbow'
          xml.community 'Community'
          xml.postalcode 'PS'
          xml.state 'AR'
          xml.type 'ADDRESS'
        end
      end
    end
  end
end.to_xml

# suddenly WILD NAMESPACES APPEAR!
puts result

[akostadinov]

Is this same as #425 ?

[IceDragon200]

@akostadinov Yes, it appears so, I'm surprised this issue has been brought up before...

[CharlesP]

For a temporary workaround, have you tried explicitly setting the namespace nil?

The following is working for me:

result = Nokogiri::XML::Builder.new(encoding: 'utf-8') do |xml|
  xml['soapenv'].Envelope('xmlns:soapenv' => 'http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/', 'xmlns:emer' => 'http://dashcs.com/api/v1/emergency') do
    xml['soapenv'].Header
    xml['soapenv'].Body do
      xml['emer'].validateLocation do
        xml.parent.namespace = nil # explicitly set namespace to nil
        xml.location do
          xml.address1 'Some place over the rainbow'
          xml.community 'Community'
          xml.postalcode 'PS'
          xml.state 'AR'
          xml.type 'ADDRESS'
        end
      end
    end
  end
end.to_xml

[orhantoy]

I had the same problem but setting the parent namespace to nil did not work for me.

This is what I initially did

Nokogiri::XML::Builder.new { |xml| xml["foo"].Root("xmlns:foo" => "localhost") { xml.Test "hello" } }.to_xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<foo:Root xmlns:foo="localhost">
  <foo:Test>hello</foo:Test>
</foo:Root>

But I only wanted the namespace on Root.

I then found this GH issue and tried the following

Nokogiri::XML::Builder.new { |xml| xml["foo"].Root("xmlns:foo" => "localhost") { xml.parent.namespace = nil; xml.Test "hello" } }.to_xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Root xmlns:foo="localhost">
  <Test>hello</Test>
</Root>

The namespace then got removed from both Root and Test.

Ultimately I got the desired output by introducing a default namespace

Nokogiri::XML::Builder.new { |xml| xml["foo"].Root("xmlns:foo" => "localhost", "xmlns" => "default") { xml.Test "hello" } }.to_xml

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<foo:Root xmlns:foo="localhost" xmlns="default">
  <Test>hello</Test>
</foo:Root>

---

BUT the XML endpoint I was calling didn't want the default namespace, 😞 , soooo...

Nokogiri::XML::Builder
  .new { |xml| xml["foo"].Root("xmlns:foo" => "localhost", "xmlns" => "default") { xml.Test "hello" } }
  .to_xml
  .sub(' xmlns="default"', "")

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<foo:Root xmlns:foo="localhost">
  <Test>hello</Test>
</foo:Root>

[eugenebolshakov]

The following workaround works if you need to keep the parent's namespace (set it to nil temporarily and then restore after you created all child elements that don't need a namespace):

require 'nokogiri'

result = Nokogiri::XML::Builder.new(encoding: 'utf-8') do |xml|
  xml['soapenv'].Envelope('xmlns:soapenv' => 'http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/', 'xmlns:emer' => 'http://dashcs.com/api/v1/emergency') do
    xml['soapenv'].Header
    xml['soapenv'].Body do
      xml['emer'].validateLocation do
        # these do not require a namespace

        parent_namespace = xml.parent.namespace
        xml.parent.namespace = nil

        xml.location do
          xml.address1 'Some place over the rainbow'
          xml.community 'Community'
          xml.postalcode 'PS'
          xml.state 'AR'
          xml.type 'ADDRESS'
        end

        xml.parent.namespace = parent_namespace

      end
    end
  end
end.to_xml

puts result

Produces:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:emer="http://dashcs.com/api/v1/emergency">
  <soapenv:Header/>
  <soapenv:Body>
    <emer:validateLocation>
      <location>
        <address1>Some place over the rainbow</address1>
        <community>Community</community>
        <postalcode>PS</postalcode>
        <state>AR</state>
        <type>ADDRESS</type>
      </location>
    </emer:validateLocation>
  </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>