Add .tostring() method to xml.etree.ElementTree.Element

[stevoisiak]

BPO	33561
Nosy	@scoder, @serhiy-storchaka, @Stevoisiak, @iritkatriel

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2020-09-18.07:08:25.783>
created_at = <Date 2018-05-17.17:13:45.180>
labels = ['expert-XML', 'type-feature']
title = 'Add .tostring() method to xml.etree.ElementTree.Element'
updated_at = <Date 2020-09-18.07:08:25.782>
user = 'https://github.com/stevoisiak'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2020-09-18.07:08:25.782>
actor = 'serhiy.storchaka'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2020-09-18.07:08:25.783>
closer = 'serhiy.storchaka'
components = ['XML']
creation = <Date 2018-05-17.17:13:45.180>
creator = 'stevoisiak'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 33561
keywords = []
message_count = 4.0
messages = ['316966', '316969', '316975', '377073']
nosy_count = 4.0
nosy_names = ['scoder', 'serhiy.storchaka', 'stevoisiak', 'iritkatriel']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'rejected'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue33561'
versions = ['Python 3.6']

[stevoisiak]

In Python 3.6, converting an xml xml.etree.ElementTree.Element to a string is done using xml.etree.ElementTree.tostring().

from xml.etree import ElementTree

xml = ElementTree.Element('Person', Name='John')
print(ElementTree.tostring(xml, encoding='unicode', method='xml')
# Output: <Person Name="John" />

I would like to propose adding a tostring() function to the Element class, so that ElementTree.tostring(xml) could be replaced with the more intuitive xml.tostring().

from xml.etree import ElementTree

xml = ElementTree.Element('Person', Name='John')
print(xml.tostring(encoding='unicode', method='xml'))
# Output: <Person Name="John" />

Benefits:

• Doesn't require importing xml.etree.ElementTree
• Allows writing more concise code
• Makes tostring part of the Element class
• Maintains backwards compatibility

[stevoisiak]

Alternatively, the most intuitive solution would be to give Element an explicit __str__ method.

The current behavior of str(Element) is to return the object's location in memory.

from xml.etree import ElementTree

xml = ElementTree.Element('Person', Name='John')
print(str(xml))
# Output: <Element 'Person' at 0x028575D0>

Unfortunately, changing this behavior could cause issues with backwards compatibility.

[scoder]

Sorry, but you are proposing an API extension here that provides no benefits but duplicates existing functionality in a less versatile place. This is not going to happen.

The second proposal (str(xml)) is actually not very helpful as it does not allow any kind of configuration, so it breaks backwards compatibility without benefit. Also not going to happen.

[iritkatriel]

Should this issue be closed as 'rejected', or is there anything left to do?