Default Namespace and Human Readable Paths

[natbprice]

Related to #52, the result returned by xmldiff is not human readable if there is a default namespace.

However, if we replace getpath() with getelementpath() then we can get a self-contained, human readable path. These paths work with the .find() method.

xmldiff/xmldiff/utils.py

Line 115 in ca0e024

xpath = tree.getpath(element)

My current workaround is to strip the namespace before performing the diff operation, but this adds an extra step outside of the command line tool and may not be feasible in all use cases.

Would it be make sense to add the option for a path in the style of getelementpath()? If so, I would be willing to contribute to the development. Alternatively, would it make sense to add an option to strip namespaces?

from xmldiff import main, formatting, patch

left = """<HPXML xmlns="http://hpxmlonline.com/2023/09" schemaVersion="4.0">
  <XMLTransactionHeaderInformation>
    <XMLType>BPI-2101</XMLType>
    <XMLGeneratedBy>Noel</XMLGeneratedBy>
    <CreatedDateAndTime>2015-12-23T16:46:51.188445</CreatedDateAndTime>
    <Transaction>create</Transaction>
  </XMLTransactionHeaderInformation>
  <SoftwareInfo/>
  <Customer>
    <CustomerDetails>
      <Person>
        <SystemIdentifier id="person1"/>
        <Name>
          <FirstName>John</FirstName>
          <LastName>Doe</LastName>
        </Name>
      </Person>
    </CustomerDetails>
  </Customer>
</HPXML>
"""

right = """<HPXML xmlns="http://hpxmlonline.com/2023/09" schemaVersion="4.0">
  <XMLTransactionHeaderInformation>
    <XMLType>BPI-2101</XMLType>
    <XMLGeneratedBy>Noel</XMLGeneratedBy>
    <CreatedDateAndTime>2015-12-23T16:46:51.188445</CreatedDateAndTime>
    <Transaction>create</Transaction>
  </XMLTransactionHeaderInformation>
  <SoftwareInfo/>
  <Customer>
    <CustomerDetails>
      <Person>
        <SystemIdentifier id="person1"/>
        <Name>
          <FirstName>Jane</FirstName>
          <LastName>Doe</LastName>
        </Name>
      </Person>
    </CustomerDetails>
  </Customer>
</HPXML>
"""
diff = main.diff_texts(left=left, right=right, formatter=formatting.DiffFormatter())

print(f"Edit script: {diff}")

result = main.patch_text(diff, left)

print("\nPatched XML:")
print(result)

# Current Output:
# Edit script: [update-text, /*/*[3]/*/*/*[2]/*[1], "Jane"]

# With updates:
# utils.py line 115: Replace tree.getpath() with tree.getelementpath() 
# patch.py line 54: Replace tree.xpath() with tree.find()
# Edit script: [update-text, {http://hpxmlonline.com/2023/09}Customer/{http://hpxmlonline.com/2023/09}CustomerDetails/{http://hpxmlonline.com/2023/09}Person/{http://hpxmlonline.com/2023/09}Name/{http://hpxmlonline.com/2023/09}FirstName[1], "Jane"]