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XMLFormat ( xmlText )

Formats and beautifies XML to make it human-readable

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Brian Panhuyzen - Show more from this author Neutrino Data Systems https://neutrinodata.com

  Function definition: (Copy & paste into FileMaker's Edit Custom Function window)

/* * XMLFormat ( xmlText ) * Formats XML with proper indentation for readability * * Parameters: * xmlText - The XML string to format * * Returns: Formatted XML with indents and line breaks * * generated by claude.ai in 41 iterations with prompts by Brian Panhuyzen of Neutrino Data Systems */ Let ( [ // First, clean the XML by removing whitespace between tags ~cleanedXml = While ( [ ~step1 = Substitute ( xmlText ; [ ">" & ¶ ; ">" ] ; [ ¶ & "<" ; "<" ] ); ~step2 = Substitute ( ~step1 ; [ ¶ ; "" ] ); ~cleaned = ~step2; ~passes = 0 ]; ~passes < 10 and ( PatternCount ( ~cleaned ; "> " ) > 0 or PatternCount ( ~cleaned ; " <" ) > 0 ); [ ~cleaned = Substitute ( ~cleaned ; [ "> " ; ">" ] ; [ " <" ; "<" ] ); ~passes = ~passes + 1 ]; ~cleaned ); ~xml = Substitute ( ~cleanedXml ; [ "> <" ; "><" ] ) ]; While ( [ ~result = ""; ~indent = 0; ~pos = 1; ~len = Length ( ~xml ); ~inTag = False; ~tagStart = 0; ~skipNextLineBreak = False; ~inlineTagsList = "|p|i|b|strong|em|span|a|u|br|img|sub|sup|code|small|mark|del|ins|"; ~inlineDepth = 0; ~justClosedInline = False; ~char = "" ]; ~pos ≤ ~len; [ ~char = Middle ( ~xml ; ~pos ; 1 ); // Look ahead to determine if this is a closing tag (when we're at '<') ~nextChar = Middle ( ~xml ; ~pos + 1 ; 1 ); ~isUpcomingClosing = ~char = "<" and ~nextChar = "/"; // Look ahead to get the upcoming tag name ~upcomingTagEnd = Position ( ~xml ; ">" ; ~pos ; 1 ); ~upcomingTag = If ( ~char = "<" and ~upcomingTagEnd > 0 ; Middle ( ~xml ; ~pos ; ~upcomingTagEnd - ~pos + 1 ) ; "" ); ~upcomingTagName = If ( ~upcomingTag ≠ "" ; Let ( [ ~withoutBrackets = Substitute ( ~upcomingTag ; [ "<" ; "" ] ; [ ">" ; "" ] ; [ "/" ; "" ] ); ~spacePos = Position ( ~withoutBrackets ; " " ; 1 ; 1 ); ~name = If ( ~spacePos > 0 ; Left ( ~withoutBrackets ; ~spacePos - 1 ) ; ~withoutBrackets ) ]; Lower ( ~name ) ); "" ); ~isUpcomingInline = PatternCount ( ~inlineTagsList ; "|" & ~upcomingTagName & "|" ) > 0; // Check for tag start ~newInTag = If ( ~char = "<" ; True ; ~inTag ); ~newTagStart = If ( ~char = "<" ; ~pos ; ~tagStart ); // Extract tag when we reach the end ~tag = If ( ~char = ">" and ~inTag ; Middle ( ~xml ; ~tagStart ; ~pos - ~tagStart + 1 ) ; "" ); // Determine tag type (must come before using ~isClosing) ~isClosing = Left ( Substitute ( ~tag ; " " ; "" ) ; 2 ) = "</"; ~isSelfClosing = Right ( Substitute ( ~tag ; " " ; "" ) ; 2 ) = "/>" or PatternCount ( ~tag ; "?>" ) > 0; ~isComment = Left ( ~tag ; 4 ) = "<!--"; // Extract tag name for inline check ~tagName = If ( ~tag ≠ "" ; Let ( [ ~withoutBrackets = Substitute ( ~tag ; [ "<" ; "" ] ; [ ">" ; "" ] ; [ "/" ; "" ] ); ~spacePos = Position ( ~withoutBrackets ; " " ; 1 ; 1 ); ~name = If ( ~spacePos > 0 ; Left ( ~withoutBrackets ; ~spacePos - 1 ) ; ~withoutBrackets ) ]; Lower ( ~name ) ); "" ); // Check if this tag is in the inline list ~isInlineTag = PatternCount ( ~inlineTagsList ; "|" & ~tagName & "|" ) > 0; // Update inline depth immediately when a tag completes ~updatedInlineDepth = Case ( ~tag ≠ "" and ~isInlineTag and not ~isClosing ; ~inlineDepth + 1 ; ~tag ≠ "" and ~isInlineTag and ~isClosing ; Max ( ~inlineDepth - 1 ; 0 ) ; ~inlineDepth ); // When we close an opening tag, look ahead to see if it contains simple text ~tagClosed = ~char = ">" and ~inTag and ~tag ≠ ""; ~isOpeningTag = ~tagClosed and Left ( Substitute ( ~tag ; " " ; "" ) ; 1 ) ≠ "/" and Right ( Substitute ( ~tag ; " " ; "" ) ; 2 ) ≠ "/>"; // Look for simple content pattern: >text</ ~remainingXml = Middle ( ~xml ; ~pos + 1 ; 200 ); ~nextTagPos = Position ( ~remainingXml ; "<" ; 1 ; 1 ); ~contentBeforeNextTag = Left ( ~remainingXml ; ~nextTagPos - 1 ); ~hasSimpleContent = ~isOpeningTag and ~nextTagPos > 1 and ~nextTagPos < 100 and Length ( Trim ( ~contentBeforeNextTag ) ) > 0 and PatternCount ( ~contentBeforeNextTag ; ¶ ) = 0; // Determine indent level for this tag based on look-ahead ~currentIndent = If ( ~isUpcomingClosing ; Max ( ~indent - 1 ; 0 ) ; ~indent ); // Use the updated inline depth (which accounts for tags that just closed) ~checkDepth = If ( ~char = ">" and ~tag ≠ "" ; ~updatedInlineDepth ; ~inlineDepth ); // Check if we just closed an inline tag (to keep the next closing tag inline) ~justClosedInlineTag = ~char = ">" and ~isInlineTag and ~isClosing and ~updatedInlineDepth = 0; // For line break decision: if currently in inline section OR about to enter one OR just closed inline, skip line break ~willBeInline = ~checkDepth > 0 or ( ~isUpcomingInline and not ~isUpcomingClosing ) or ~justClosedInline; // Add formatting when tag starts (unless we're skipping the line break or in/entering inline section) ~addIndent = If ( ~char = "<" and ~pos > 1 and not ~skipNextLineBreak and not ~willBeInline ; ¶ & Left ( " " ; ~currentIndent * 2 ) ; "" ); // Build result ~newResult = ~result & ~addIndent & ~char; // Adjust indent after tag for opening tags ~finalIndent = Case ( ~char ≠ ">" ; ~indent ; ~isClosing ; Max ( ~indent - 1 ; 0 ) ; ~isSelfClosing ; ~indent ; ~isComment ; ~indent ; ~indent + 1 ); // Set flag to skip line break for the closing tag if this has simple content ~newSkipFlag = If ( ~hasSimpleContent ; True ; If ( ~char = "<" ; False ; ~skipNextLineBreak ) ); // Use the updated inline depth for the next iteration ~newInlineDepth = ~updatedInlineDepth; // Track if we just closed an inline tag (for the next iteration) ~newJustClosedInline = ~justClosedInlineTag; // Update variables for next iteration ~pos = ~pos + 1; ~result = ~newResult; ~indent = ~finalIndent; ~inTag = If ( ~char = ">" ; False ; ~newInTag ); ~tagStart = ~newTagStart; ~skipNextLineBreak = ~newSkipFlag; ~inlineDepth = ~newInlineDepth; ~justClosedInline = ~newJustClosedInline; ~len = ~len ]; // Return formatted XML ~result ) ) Click to copy

(Sample Input and Sample Output are wrong; this site is parsing the XML when it should be displaying it as typed – not sure how to get around that...)

Sample Output:


5
B01
Kilgour Trout
Trout, Kilgour
Kilgour
Trout

04
US
US-NY
Ilium



)

Takes a block of formatted or unformatted XML and renders it human-readable by indenting opening and closing tags.

It will keep inline tags in the same line as the XML tag; these are defined in the ~inlineTagsList variable; add others there, if necessary.

This was generated in collaboration with claude.ai, through 41 prompts*. While this is hardly my own work, and anyone could engage AI to build it, I am posting it here so others won't have to go through the iterations it required to reach completion, saving time, energy, and water that would be needed to repeat the process.

 

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