Unable to create CDATA section in XML using "xmlbuilder" node.js module

Question

I am using "xmlbuilder" node.js module to create xml file. I need to create a CDATA section as follows:

<notestext><![CDATA[{Notes Text}]]></notestext>

I referred the github link, but didn't found any useful stuff.

How to create such CDATA section in an xml file using "xmlbuilder" node.js module?

let builder = require('xmlbuilder', { encoding: 'utf-8' });
let xml = builder.create('Slides');
xml.ele("notestext","<![CDATA[" + element.notes_text + "]]>");
xml.end({ pretty: true });

console.log(xml.toString());

Answer 1

From Doc you posted

CDATA Nodes CDATA nodes are created with the cdata function (can also be abbreviated to dat or d). The value should not include CDATA delimiters

ele.dat('this will be surrounded by CDATA delimiters');

var builder = require('xmlbuilder', { encoding: 'utf-8' });

var xml = builder.create('slides');
xml.ele('notestext').dat('{Notes Text}');

xml.end({ 
  pretty: true,
  indent: '  '
});

console.log(xml.toString());

Answer 2

Solution 1:

Utilize the .cdata (.dat, or .d) method and chain each method to generate the XML fragment. For instance:

Javascript:

var builder = require('xmlbuilder');

var element = {
  notes_text: '<p>Hello <em>World</em></p>'
};

var xml = builder
    .create('slides', { version: '1.0', encoding: 'UTF-8', standalone: true })
    .ele('notestext')
    .cdata(element.notes_text)
    .end({ 
      pretty: true
    });

console.log(xml);

---

Output:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<slides>
  <notestext>
    <![CDATA[<p>Hello <em>World</em></p>]]>
  </notestext>
</slides>

---

Solution 2:

Another way to write it, which is more similar to your example, is as follows:

var builder = require('xmlbuilder', { encoding: 'utf-8' });

var element = {
  notes_text: '<p>Hello <em>World</em></p>'
};

var xml = builder.create('slides');
xml.ele('notestext').cdata(element.notes_text);

xml.end({ 
  pretty: true
});

console.log(xml.toString());

Note: This example uses less method chaining than the previous example, however it does chain the cdata method to the ele method.

This prints the following:

<slides>
  <notestext>
    <![CDATA[<p>Hello <em>World</em></p>]]>
  </notestext>
</slides>

Solution 3:

Alternatively, if you don't want to chain any methods you can do something like following:

var builder = require('xmlbuilder');

var element = {
  notes_text: '<p>Hello <em>World</em></p>'
};

var rootElement = builder.create('slides');

var childElement = rootElement.ele('notestext')
childElement.cdata(element.notes_text);

rootElement.end({ 
  pretty: true
});

console.log(rootElement.toString());

This also prints the same output as Solution 2.

---

Additional information:

The docs describe the .cdata method as follows:

CDATA Nodes

CDATA nodes are created with the cdata function (can also be abbreviated to dat or d). The value should not include CDATA delimiters

ele.dat('this will be surrounded by CDATA delimiters');

---