I have a problem with array folding that I could only solve by subclassing XML::Simple and hardcoding a return in the array_to_hash method.

sub array_to_hash {
.
.
.

  # Or assume keyattr => [ .... ]

 else {
  ELEMENT: for($i = 0; $i < @$arrayref; $i++)  {
   return ($arrayref) if $arrayref->[$i]{name} eq 'e_im_dev_io_entry';
+   #this line was added to jump out
   return($arrayref) unless(UNIVERSAL::isa($arrayref->[$i], 'HASH'));
.
.
.
}
[download]

If an attribute called "name" has the same value in multiple nested elements, then only one attribute will remain after the array folding. This example is only a part of a larger xml file. I don't want to use KeyAttr=>[] which does prevent the folding, since in other parts of the file, the array folding is desirable. I only want to prevent array folding if the attribute value is equal to "something". I have tried many options with no success. Am I missing something, or is subclassing the only way?

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?>
<Report address="Address" name="IM Report" productID="INTRFC-MGR01">
   <Entry detail="4" name="e_im_dev_io_entry">
     <Text>Device Handle: 2</Text>
   </Entry>
   <Entry detail="4" name="e_im_dev_io_entry">
     <Text>Device Handle: 5</Text>
   </Entry>
</Report>
_______________________________________________
Options used were: none No good, I lost one element

$VAR1 = {
          'Entry' => {
                     'e_im_dev_io_entry' => {
                                            'detail' => '4',
                                            'Text' => 'Device Handle: 
+5'
                                          }
                   },
          'name' => 'IM Report',
          'address' => 'Address',
          'productID' => 'INTRFC-MGR01'
        };
_______________________________________________
Options used were: KeyAttr=>[]  This is what I want.

$VAR1 = {
          'Entry' => [
                     {
                       'detail' => '4',
                       'name' => 'e_im_dev_io_entry',
                       'Text' => 'Device Handle: 2'
                     },
                     {
                       'detail' => '4',
                       'name' => 'e_im_dev_io_entry',
                       'Text' => 'Device Handle: 5'
                     }
                   ],
          'name' => 'IM Report',
          'address' => 'Address',
          'productID' => 'INTRFC-MGR01'
        };
[download]

I would like the output to be identical to the last example. I don't want to lose any elements. Again, this is just a small piece of a much larger xml document. There are lots of Entry elements so I can't use KeyAttr {...}