Empty Array from JSON generates Element

[kaipaysen]

Whats wrong?

Building a xml from a json object with an empty array creates an unexpected element in the xml.
(Version 10.1.1)

Code

        let jsonData = { 
            root: {
                item: []
            } 
        };
        console.log(xmlbuilder
            .create(jsonData, { encoding: 'utf-8' })
            .end({ pretty: true })
        );

Output

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<root>
  <item/>
</root>

expected Output

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<root />

[oozcitak]

This is not a bug. { item: [] } is interpreted as a node (item) without any child nodes ([]). Accordingly a single node without children are created (<item/>).

[kaipaysen]

Ok, well, just to get it right:

item: []
equals
item: {}
equals
item: [{}]

This does feel a bit wobbly. I'd totally agree about the 2nd and 3rd case producing one empty "item" element. An empty array producing an empty element seems to be just wrong. How can an element be created from nothing? Whats the rational behind that decision?

[oozcitak]

I gave this some more thought. You are right about arrays:

• item: [] should produce no nodes.
• item: [] should produce one item node without child nodes, if separateArrayItems is true.
• item: {} should produce one item node without child nodes.

[Simran-B]

Hm, what about item: null or item: undefined (not in JSON, only JS)?

[kaipaysen]

Good point @Simran-B. In both cases I'd expect no element.

Case	Expected Output
item: null
item: undefined
item: []
item: {}	<item />
item: [{}]	<item />

[oozcitak]

Fixed by 66f8165, be07739 and 782540c.