I have extended the xml.etree.ElementTree.Element class and pass the text attribute in the arguments. This creates much more compact code:

import xml.etree.ElementTree as xml
        
        
class Element(xml.Element):
    def __init__(self,tag,attrib={},**attrs):
        super(xml.Element,self).__init__()
        self.tag = tag
        self.attrib = attrib
        self.attrib.update(attrs)
        self.text = self.attrib.pop('text',None)
        self.tail = self.attrib.pop('tail',None)
        self._children = []

if __name__ == '__main__':
    from sys import stdout

    test = Element('Hello',)
    test2 = Element('World',{'humour':'excelent'},text = 'How do you do', tail="Fine")
    test.append(test2)    
    xml.ElementTree(test).write(stdout,encoding="utf-8",xml_declaration="yes",method="xml")

I agree the Element syntax is sometimes awkward.

But how would you represent text or tail attributes within this enhanced element?
<animal name="cat" tail="yes"> comes to mind ...

Touché :-)
I was just frustrated because my XMLs never have tail or text as
attributes and I wanted to have more compact code...

On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 12:14 PM, patrick vrijlandt
<report@bugs.python.org> wrote:
>
> patrick vrijlandt <patrick.vrijlandt@gmail.com> added the comment:
>
> I agree the Element syntax is sometimes awkward.
>
> But how would you represent text or tail attributes within this enhanced element?
> <animal name="cat" tail="yes"> comes to mind ...
>
> ----------
> nosy: +patrick.vrijlandt
>
> _______________________________________
> Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
> <http://bugs.python.org/issue13796>
> _______________________________________

Hi,

Did you look at lxml (http://lxml.de)?

from lxml.builder import E
from lxml import etree

tree = etree.ElementTree(
    E.Hello(
        "Good morning!",
        E.World("How do you do", humour = "excellent"),
        "Fine",
        E.Goodbye(),
        ),
    )

print(etree.tostring(tree, pretty_print=True).decode())

# output, even more prettified

<Hello>
    Good morning!
    <World humour="excellent">
          How do you do
    </World>
          Fine
    <Goodbye/>
</Hello>

By the way, your Element enhancement is buggy, because all newly create
elements will share the same attrib dictionary (if attrib is not given).
Notice that Donald Duck will be sad; by the time we print even Hello is sad.

import xml.etree.ElementTree as etree

class Element(etree.Element):
    def __init__(self, tag, attrib={}, **extra):
        super().__init__(tag)
        self.tag = tag
        self.attrib = attrib
        self.attrib.update(extra)
        self.text = self.attrib.pop('text', None)
        self.tail = self.attrib.pop('tail', None)
        self._children = []

if __name__ == '__main__':

    test = Element('Hello',)
    test2 = Element('World',{'humour':'excelent'},text = 'How do you do',
tail="Fine")
    test3 = Element('Goodbye', humour='sad')
    test4 = Element('Donaldduck')
    test.append(test2)
    test.append(test3)
    test.append(test4)
    tree = etree.ElementTree(test)
    print(etree.tostring(test, encoding="utf-8", method="xml"))

<Hello humour="sad">
    <World humour="excelent">How do you do</World>Fine
    <Goodbye humour="sad" />
    <Donaldduck humour="sad" />
</Hello>'

The correct idiom would be:

    def __init__(self, tag, attrib=None, **extra):
        if attrib is None:
            attrib = {}
        super().__init__(tag)

Cheers,

Patrick

2012/1/16 Pedro Andres Aranda Gutierrez <report@bugs.python.org>

>
> Pedro Andres Aranda Gutierrez <paaguti@gmail.com> added the comment:
>
> Touché :-)
> I was just frustrated because my XMLs never have tail or text as
> attributes and I wanted to have more compact code...
>
> On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 12:14 PM, patrick vrijlandt
> <report@bugs.python.org> wrote:
> >
> > patrick vrijlandt <patrick.vrijlandt@gmail.com> added the comment:
> >
> > I agree the Element syntax is sometimes awkward.
> >
> > But how would you represent text or tail attributes within this enhanced
> element?
> > <animal name="cat" tail="yes"> comes to mind ...
> >
> > ----------
> > nosy: +patrick.vrijlandt
> >
> > _______________________________________
> > Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
> > <http://bugs.python.org/issue13796>
> > _______________________________________
>
> ----------
>
> _______________________________________
> Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
> <http://bugs.python.org/issue13796>
> _______________________________________
>

Thanks a lot again :-)
We have a saying here: you'll never go to sleep without having learnt
something new :-)

On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 4:11 PM, patrick vrijlandt
<report@bugs.python.org> wrote:
>
> patrick vrijlandt <patrick.vrijlandt@gmail.com> added the comment:
>
> Hi,
>
> Did you look at lxml (http://lxml.de)?
>
> from lxml.builder import E
> from lxml import etree
>
> tree = etree.ElementTree(
>    E.Hello(
>        "Good morning!",
>        E.World("How do you do", humour = "excellent"),
>        "Fine",
>        E.Goodbye(),
>        ),
>    )
>
> print(etree.tostring(tree, pretty_print=True).decode())
>
> # output, even more prettified
>
> <Hello>
>    Good morning!
>    <World humour="excellent">
>          How do you do
>    </World>
>          Fine
>    <Goodbye/>
> </Hello>
>
> By the way, your Element enhancement is buggy, because all newly create
> elements will share the same attrib dictionary (if attrib is not given).
> Notice that Donald Duck will be sad; by the time we print even Hello is sad.
>
> import xml.etree.ElementTree as etree
>
> class Element(etree.Element):
>    def __init__(self, tag, attrib={}, **extra):
>        super().__init__(tag)
>        self.tag = tag
>        self.attrib = attrib
>        self.attrib.update(extra)
>        self.text = self.attrib.pop('text', None)
>        self.tail = self.attrib.pop('tail', None)
>        self._children = []
>
> if __name__ == '__main__':
>
>    test = Element('Hello',)
>    test2 = Element('World',{'humour':'excelent'},text = 'How do you do',
> tail="Fine")
>    test3 = Element('Goodbye', humour='sad')
>    test4 = Element('Donaldduck')
>    test.append(test2)
>    test.append(test3)
>    test.append(test4)
>    tree = etree.ElementTree(test)
>    print(etree.tostring(test, encoding="utf-8", method="xml"))
>
> <Hello humour="sad">
>    <World humour="excelent">How do you do</World>Fine
>    <Goodbye humour="sad" />
>    <Donaldduck humour="sad" />
> </Hello>'
>
> The correct idiom would be:
>
>    def __init__(self, tag, attrib=None, **extra):
>        if attrib is None:
>            attrib = {}
>        super().__init__(tag)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Patrick
>
> 2012/1/16 Pedro Andres Aranda Gutierrez <report@bugs.python.org>
>
>>
>> Pedro Andres Aranda Gutierrez <paaguti@gmail.com> added the comment:
>>
>> Touché :-)
>> I was just frustrated because my XMLs never have tail or text as
>> attributes and I wanted to have more compact code...
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 12:14 PM, patrick vrijlandt
>> <report@bugs.python.org> wrote:
>> >
>> > patrick vrijlandt <patrick.vrijlandt@gmail.com> added the comment:
>> >
>> > I agree the Element syntax is sometimes awkward.
>> >
>> > But how would you represent text or tail attributes within this enhanced
>> element?
>> > <animal name="cat" tail="yes"> comes to mind ...
>> >
>> > ----------
>> > nosy: +patrick.vrijlandt
>> >
>> > _______________________________________
>> > Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
>> > <http://bugs.python.org/issue13796>
>> > _______________________________________
>>
>> ----------
>>
>> _______________________________________
>> Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
>> <http://bugs.python.org/issue13796>
>> _______________________________________
>>
>
> ----------
>
> _______________________________________
> Python tracker <report@bugs.python.org>
> <http://bugs.python.org/issue13796>
> _______________________________________

Pedro and Patrick: if you are going to respond by email rather than by typing in the browser box, PLEASE delete the quoted text. Or on occasion, quote a line or two if really necessary, as when responding to a previous message other than the last one. Each message is assumed to be a response to the one immediately preceding, and that message is visible just above yours. This is not like a mail list where previous messages may have come and gone.

In any case, etree.ElementTree is documented as being a stable version F. Lundh's package and I am pretty sure that we are not going to change that by adding things on our own. So continue using your customized subclass.

"See http://effbot.org/zone/element-index.htm for tutorials and links to other docs. Fredrik Lundh’s page is also the location of the development version of the xml.etree.ElementTree.

Changed in version 3.2: The ElementTree API is updated to 1.3. For more information, see Introducing ElementTree 1.3."