I'm using XML::Simple to try and check the elements of an xhtml file. I eventually want a script to find elements that need an id, but don't have an id.

here's the perl, edited for brevity

use XML::Simple;

use strict;
my $config = XMLin('some.xhtml');

processhash($config,'$config');


sub processhash()
{
    my ($href, $path, @junk) = @_;
    my %configr = %$href;
    
    foreach my $k (keys %configr) {
        print qq|$path :: $k = $configr{$k}\n|;
        
        if ($configr{$k} =~ m/HASH/i) //if it is another hash, iterate
+ through that hash also
        {
            processhash($configr{$k},qq|$path -> {'$k'}|);
        }
    }
    
}
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This works pretty good, it produces an output like this

$config -> {'hx:scriptCollector'} -> {'f:loadBundle'} -> {'bundle_id'}
+ :: basename = somebasename
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for this xml element

<f:loadBundle id="bundle_id" basename="somebasename" var="lbls" />
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if the element has children the script tells me it's a hash

$config -> {'hx:scriptCollector'} -> {'h:form'} :: h:panelGrid = HASH(
+0x1e54150)
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then process that hash, here's the next few lines of output

$config -> {'hx:scriptCollector'} -> {'h:form'} -> {'h:panelGrid'} -> 
+{'hruleDots1_panel_id'} :: width = 100%
$config -> {'hx:scriptCollector'} -> {'h:form'} -> {'h:panelGrid'} -> 
+{'hruleDots1_panel_id'} :: columnClasses = hruleDots
$config -> {'hx:scriptCollector'} -> {'h:form'} -> {'h:panelGrid'} -> 
+{'hruleDots1_panel_id'} :: cellspacing = 0
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All in all, pretty cool. BUT...the whole point is that I'm going try and find elements that are supposed to have ids but do not.

I will add to the script to check and see if it needs an id property, but even when I do it will fail. It's the strangest thing, sometimes the value of the ID is a child of the element.

For example this element

<h:outputText styleClass="required"    value="*" id="AdjustCCDetails_R
+easonCode_table_required_id">
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produces this from the script

{'h:outputText'} :: AdjustCCDetails_ReasonCode_table_required_id = HAS
+H(0x1e5400c)
{'h:outputText'} -> {'AdjustCCDetails_ReasonCode_table_required_id'} :
+: value = *
{'h:outputText'} -> {'AdjustCCDetails_ReasonCode_table_required_id'} :
+: styleClass = required
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the id propery of the element is a child hash of the element that holds the other properties of the element.

here's an example of what I expected XML

<h:outputText id="AdjustCCDetails_Comment_table_id" styleClass="label"
+ value="#{somevalue}">
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script output

{'h:panelGrid'} :: h:outputText = HASH(0x1e16050)
{'h:panelGrid'} -> {'h:outputText'} :: value = #{somevalue}
{'h:panelGrid'} -> {'h:outputText'} :: id = AdjustCCDetails_Comment_ta
+ble_id
{'h:panelGrid'} -> {'h:outputText'} :: styleClass = label
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That output has an id that I can test for, the previous output does not...even though it has a valid id.

So my questions are, Do I not understand how all this works? If this is the expected behaviour, how can I test for id properties? and Is there a better way to find all the missing ids from an xhtml file?