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Improve documentation of BasicObject inheritance and XmlBase#nil? #27

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a268a9a
Improve documentation of BasicObject inheritance and XmlBase#nil?
eikes Feb 24, 2026
b8e1735
Add tests showing that Object method names can be used as XML elements
eikes Feb 24, 2026
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22 changes: 13 additions & 9 deletions lib/builder/xmlbase.rb
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -6,8 +6,17 @@ module Builder
# Generic error for builder
class IllegalBlockError < RuntimeError; end

# XmlBase is a base class for building XML builders. See
# XmlBase is a base class for building XML builders. See
# Builder::XmlMarkup and Builder::XmlEvents for examples.
#
# Please note, that the XmlBase class inherits from +BasicObject+,
# not from the more common +Object+. The advantage is that there are less
# instance methods which can conflict with xml element names which
# might be used. The disadvantage is that these +Object+ instance
# methods might be expected to be present by testing tools
# or IRB or other consoles for inspection.
# Prominent missing methods are: +class+, +display+, +hash+, +inspect+,
# +methods+, +object_id+, +send+ (you can use +__send__+ though).
class XmlBase < BasicObject

class << self
Expand All @@ -16,8 +25,6 @@ class << self

# Create an XML markup builder.
#
# out :: Object receiving the markup. +out+ must respond to
# <tt><<</tt>.
# indent :: Number of spaces used for indentation (0 implies no
# indentation and no line breaks).
# initial :: Level of initial indentation.
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -117,12 +124,9 @@ def <<(text)
_text(text)
end

# For some reason, nil? is sent to the XmlMarkup object. If nil?
# is not defined and method_missing is invoked, some strange kind
# of recursion happens. Since nil? won't ever be an XML tag, it
# is pretty safe to define it here. (Note: this is an example of
# cargo cult programming,
# cf. http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2004/10/13/cargo_cult_programming).
# +nil?+ is an instance method not implemented on the +BasicObject+,
# but since +nil?+ won't ever be an XML tag, it is pretty safe to
# define it here.
Comment on lines +127 to +129
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@eikes eikes Feb 24, 2026

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To be honest. We don't even need this nil? implementation anymore. method_missing does not require it anymore.

def nil?
false
end
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8 changes: 4 additions & 4 deletions lib/builder/xmlmarkup.rb
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Expand Up @@ -16,9 +16,9 @@

module Builder

# Create XML markup easily. All (well, almost all) methods sent to
# an XmlMarkup object will be translated to the equivalent XML
# markup. Any method with a block will be treated as an XML markup
# Create XML markup easily. All methods (except BasicObject instance methods)
# sent to an XmlMarkup object will be translated to the equivalent XML
# markup. Any method with a block will be treated as an XML markup
# tag with nested markup in the block.
#
# Examples will demonstrate this easier than words. In the
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ module Builder
#
# xm.div { # <div>
# xm.text! "line"; xm.br # line<br/>
# xm.text! "another line"; xmbr # another line<br/>
# xm.text! "another line"; xm.br # another line<br/>
# } # </div>
#
# * The special XML characters <, >, and & are converted to &lt;,
Expand Down
8 changes: 8 additions & 0 deletions test/test_markupbuilder.rb
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Expand Up @@ -122,6 +122,14 @@ def test_complex
assert_equal %{<body bg="#ffffff"><title style="red">T</title></body>}, @xml.target!
end

def test_object_method_names
@xml.class do
@xml.methods('x')
@xml.object_id('1')
end
assert_equal %{<class><methods>x</methods><object_id>1</object_id></class>}, @xml.target!
end

def test_funky_symbol
@xml.tag!("non-ruby-token", :id=>1) { |x| x.ok }
assert_equal %{<non-ruby-token id="1"><ok/></non-ruby-token>}, @xml.target!
Expand Down