Question

Say I have two variables (value1 and value2) and either could be nil, how can I create an element using XmlMarkup and only add the attributes that are not nil?

If I do this

xm = Builder::XmlMarkup.new
xm.item(:attribute1=>value1, :attribute2=>value2)

and both value1 and value2 are nil, I still get

<item attribute1="", attribute2=""/>

I have also tried to add the attributes after creating the element but had no success and I cannot figure out if this is even supported.

If it is not already apparent, I am a complete ruby beginner so any input would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I think something like this could work:

xm = Builder::XmlMarkup.new
attributes = {}
attributes[:attribute1] = value1 if value1
attributes[:attribute2] = value2 if value2
xm.item(attributes)

If you have more than a couple of attributes I can show you a way to minimize duplication with a similar method too.