rexml create a tag with literal characters

[Onno Faber]

I'm having a problem finding out how to parse literal characters into a
new tag using rexml. I'm creating an excel xml document using rexml:
xml.instruct! :xml, :version=>"1.0", :encoding=>"UTF-8"

In the document, I'm creating a "Data" tag, and parsing the content of
the variable "content_line" in it:
xml.Data content_line, 'ss:Type' => 'String'

The thing is that the data in "content_line" contains simple tags like
<u></u> and <b></b>. I want to preserve this, as excel can read these
tags out and format the document. However, the output is as follows:
&lt;u&gt;

Is there any way I can prevent this encoding from happening? So far I
was not able to find the answer.

Thank you, Onno

 

[Robert Klemme]

I'm having a problem finding out how to parse literal characters into a
new tag using rexml. I'm creating an excel xml document using rexml:
xml.instruct! :xml, :version=>"1.0", :encoding=>"UTF-8"

In the document, I'm creating a "Data" tag, and parsing the content of
the variable "content_line" in it:
xml.Data content_line, 'ss:Type' => 'String'

The thing is that the data in "content_line" contains simple tags like
<u></u> and <b></b>. I want to preserve this, as excel can read these
tags out and format the document. However, the output is as follows:
&lt;u&gt;

Is there any way I can prevent this encoding from happening? So far I
was not able to find the answer.

XML parse the string yourself and add those nodes to the document. Example:

require 'rexml/document'

# create the doc
master = REXML:ocument.new("<root/>")
puts master

# find the node - either way
root = master[1]
root = master.elements['//root']

# parse the sub tree
sub = REXML:ocument.new "<some>test data</some>"

# add the subtree
root.add sub

# see what we got
puts master

Kind regards

robert