Variable expansion from/within (XML) source file in Ruby

Question

I want some slightly 'dynamic' XML source files. I want some of the element values to be dynamic, or 'expandable'.

I'm providing a value for this variable, from some other source.

@Name = 'freezingkiwis'

What I want to provide is something like this in an XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Contact>
    <Name>#{@Name}</Name>
    <Addresses />
    <Phones />
</Contact>

When opening/reading the file (presumably File.new or File.read) I want to then 'expand' the @Name variable, set previously.

Is there something that will do this immediately for me, or am I going to have to parse this XML (possibly now as a REXML::Document) and do this manually myself?

(i.e. possibly replace the element value with this...)

J

Answer 1

Consider using ERB, a Ruby templating engine used for example in Rails. Then you can write any Ruby code, including variable substitution, between the <% %> tags. On the other hand don't use this solution if the XML template itself is editable by users - this will lead to a severe security hole.