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feat(xmlgen): built-in helper library and caller resolvers (2/4) - #201

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@sthanikan2000 sthanikan2000 commented Sep 15, 2026

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Problem

The engine in #199 renders and escapes, but a template still has to turn form data into the shapes a receiving system expects: a reference the document spreads across four elements, a date in another layout, an enum encoded as a number. With no vocabulary for that, every caller has to supply its own before rendering anything.

Changes

Nine built-in helpers — pure, deterministic, no configuration — plus an extension point for what the data cannot supply at all.

Helper Example Result
part {{ part .ref "/" 0 }} on "OFF1/A/42/2026" OFF1 — past the end gives "", not an error
split {{ range split .codes "," }} iterate the fields
join {{ join .tags "-" }} a-b-c
date {{ date .day "2006-01-02" "1/2/06" }} 3/4/26 — a non-matching layout is an error, never a guess
decimal {{ decimal .fob 2 }} on 1400 1400.00 — exact, not via float64
lookup {{ lookup .flag "yes" "1" "no" "0" }} 1 — unmapped values pass through
zero {{ if zero .gain }} true for nil, "", false, numeric zero
coalesce {{ coalesce .a .b "n/a" }} first value present
trim {{ trim .name }} surrounding whitespace removed
type ResolveFunc func(ctx context.Context, args ...any) (any, error)
type Resolvers map[string]ResolveFunc

func WithResolvers(r Resolvers) Option
func Validate(tmpl []byte, resolverNames ...string) error
  • Shipping the helpers in the box is what keeps Generate(ctx, tmpl, data) sufficient for most templates.
  • Resolvers are for values needing I/O — a code-list description from a database. Each registers under its own name, so a template calling one that was not supplied fails when the template is parsed, not at execution if a branch happens to reach it.
  • Names are validated first because text/template's Funcs panics on a name that is not a Go identifier: a resolver called "code-list" would otherwise take down the process rather than fail the request.
  • zero exists because UseNumber carries numbers as json.Number, a string underneath — so {{ if .quantity }} is true even when the quantity is 0, and a template rendering an empty-value marker for a zero would quietly render the zero instead.
  • An absent value stays absent. A missing key, a JSON null and an empty string render as nothing rather than as 0.00 — writing a figure the data never carried would silently change the document. A value that really is 0 still formats. The same rule now holds for join, where an empty string previously errored.
  • decimal holds its value as an exact rational (math/big, stdlib) rather than a float64. Rounding through a float would undo at the last step the exactness UseNumber preserves from the JSON text: 9007199254740993 would shift to …992, and 2.355 would round down because as a float it is really 2.35499…. A half now rounds away from zero, and a magnitude past ~1200 digits is refused rather than expanded.
  • Validate checks a template without data, so a broken one fails when it is stored rather than when someone submits.

Testing

cd xmlgen
go test -race ./...
golangci-lint run -c ../.golangci.yml --timeout=5m ./...

166 subtests cumulative (66 added), race-clean, 0 lint issues. Covers each helper's edge case, resolvers receiving the caller's real Go types, ctx round-tripping, a resolver error matching both ErrResolver and the caller's own sentinel, a panicking resolver being recovered, invalid resolver names erroring rather than panicking, and call-counting across untaken branches and variable binding.

Related

Implements #189. Stacked chain — 2 of 4:

#199 engine (merged) → #201 (this)#202 golden fixtures → #200 failure paths

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The change adds nine built-in template helpers, caller-supplied context-aware resolvers, resolver-specific errors and name validation, concurrent resolver execution support, and an exported Validate function for parse-only template checks. Documentation and tests cover these APIs.

Changes

Template functions

Layer / File(s) Summary
Built-in helper library
xmlgen/funcs.go, xmlgen/helpers.go, xmlgen/helpers_test.go, xmlgen/README.md
The template function map now includes helpers for splitting, joining, date and decimal formatting, lookup, coalescing, zero checks, and trimming. Tests cover normal results and helper errors.

Resolver registration and execution

Layer / File(s) Summary
Resolver contracts and validation
xmlgen/errors.go, xmlgen/resolvers.go, xmlgen/resolvers_test.go
The package adds ResolveFunc, Resolvers, resolver-specific sentinel errors, Go identifier validation, reserved-name checks, context binding, error wrapping, panic recovery, and call-count tests.
Generate integration
xmlgen/xmlgen.go, xmlgen/rewrite_internal_test.go, xmlgen/xmlgen_test.go
WithResolvers stores caller resolvers in options. Compilation and generation pass context to resolver bindings. Resolver errors are reported as ErrResolver. Concurrent generation is tested.
Resolver documentation
xmlgen/README.md
The README documents resolver registration, arguments, escaping, parse-time failures, side-effect constraints, and repeated invocation behavior.

Template validation API

Layer / File(s) Summary
Parse-only validation
xmlgen/xmlgen.go, xmlgen/xmlgen_test.go, xmlgen/README.md
Validate parses templates without rendering them. Tests cover built-in helpers, syntax errors, allowed resolver names, and missing input data.

Priority: ➖ Normal

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~25 minutes

Change: Feature

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant Caller
  participant Generate
  participant Resolver
  participant TemplateOutput
  Caller->>Generate: provide template, context, and WithResolvers
  Generate->>Resolver: invoke registered resolver with template arguments
  Resolver-->>Generate: return value or wrapped error
  Generate->>TemplateOutput: XML-escape and render result
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Merge Risk: 🟡 Moderate · up to 484d5

Templates formatting large JSON amounts can emit a different value in generated XML. Preserve exact numeric text before merging.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name Status Explanation Resolution
Docstring Coverage ⚠️ Warning Docstring coverage is 69.23% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 39 functions across 9 files. (1 skipped: … Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
Check name Status Explanation
Linked Issues check ✅ Passed Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check ✅ Passed Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Title check ✅ Passed The title clearly identifies the two main changes: the built-in helper library and caller resolvers. The “2/4” suffix reflects the stacked PR context without obscuring the change.
Description check ✅ Passed The description provides a detailed problem statement, lists the helper and resolver changes, documents Validate, explains design decisions, and records testing results and related work. It does not u…
Full details: Docstring Coverage

Explanation

Docstring coverage is 69.23% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 39 functions across 9 files. (1 skipped: 1 unsupported.)

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  • Commit unit tests in branch feature/xmlgen-helpers

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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Inline comments:
In `@xmlgen/helpers.go`:
- Line 30: Update the number conversion used by fnDecimal instead of parsing
through strconv.ParseFloat, preserving the raw JSON number exactly with a
decimal or rational representation while retaining fixed-place formatting. Add a
raw-JSON regression test verifying that an integer beyond float64 precision,
such as 9007199254740993, remains exact when rendered with decimal.

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Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 36df0dd and 484d504.

📒 Files selected for processing (10)
  • xmlgen/README.md
  • xmlgen/errors.go
  • xmlgen/funcs.go
  • xmlgen/helpers.go
  • xmlgen/helpers_test.go
  • xmlgen/resolvers.go
  • xmlgen/resolvers_test.go
  • xmlgen/rewrite_internal_test.go
  • xmlgen/xmlgen.go
  • xmlgen/xmlgen_test.go

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Comment thread xmlgen/helpers.go Outdated

@ginaxu1 ginaxu1 left a comment

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Check these issues:
decimal treats a missing key, JSON null, and an empty string as numeric zero, so {{ decimal .fob 2 }} writes 0.00 into the document. I rendered all three cases; each produced 0.00. date does the opposite on empty input (it emits nothing), and the package already documents that an absent key renders as the empty string. On a declaration, a missing amount becoming 0.00 is a silent data change of the kind this module exists to prevent.

rational is where that happens: whitespace is trimmed, then s == "" returns new(big.Rat) instead of stopping.

Fix fnDecimal the same way fnDate already does. After converting the value to text, if the trimmed string is empty, return "" and do not format. Keep the exact big.Rat path for real numbers. Please add tests for a missing key, null, and "", next to the existing decimal cases, asserting the element body is empty rather than 0.00.

@sthanikan2000

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Valid — reproduced all three cases before changing anything, and you're right that it's the one silent data change left in the helper set:

{}                 → <Fob>0.00</Fob>      <When></When>
{"fob":null}       → <Fob>0.00</Fob>      <When></When>
{"fob":""}         → <Fob>0.00</Fob>      <When></When>

date got it right and decimal didn't, from the same input. Fixed in 195de80.

The fix is where you pointed. rational now takes already-extracted text and is only reached for a real number; fnDecimal converts to text first, and an empty trimmed string returns "" without formatting — the same shape fnDate already had. The exact big.Rat path is untouched for real values.

The distinction that matters and is now pinned by its own test: absent is not zero, but zero is still zero. {"fob":0} still renders 0.00.

Tests added next to the existing decimal cases, as asked: missing key, null, "", and whitespace-only, each asserting an empty element body; plus the explicit-zero guard.


Your comment prompted me to audit the other eight helpers for the same defect. decimal was the only one writing a value into an absent field — but join had the mirror-image inconsistency:

{}            → <Tags></Tags>
{"tags":""}   → error: join needs a slice, got string

An absent list joined to nothing, but an empty string — which is how an absent list often arrives from a form — errored. join now treats an empty string as absent too. A non-empty scalar ("abc") is still a genuine type mistake and still reported.

On scope: helpers.go is entirely new in this PR — 229 lines added, nothing on main — so fnDecimal, rational and fnJoin exist only here. Both fixes are behaviour this PR introduces rather than anything reaching into merged code or the PRs below. Happy to drop the join change into a follow-up if you'd rather keep this PR strictly to the decimal report; it's four lines and one test.

README now states the rule once, for the whole helper set: an absent value stays absent; a value that really is zero still formats.

166 subtests, race-clean, 0 lint issues. #202 and #200 rebased on top.

The engine renders and escapes, but a template still has to turn form data
into the shapes a receiving system expects. This adds the vocabulary it does
that with.

Nine built-in helpers, pure and deterministic, needing no configuration:
part and split for a value the document spreads across several elements,
date for moving between layouts, decimal for a fixed-decimal amount, lookup
for an enum encoded as something else, zero, coalesce, join and trim. Having
these in the box is what keeps Generate(ctx, tmpl, data) sufficient for most
templates rather than something every caller has to furnish first.

decimal holds its value as an exact rational rather than a float64. Data is
decoded with UseNumber precisely so a number keeps the text it was written
with, and rounding that text through a float would throw the exactness away
again at the last step: an integer past 2^53 would shift, and a fraction
would be rounded from its nearest binary approximation rather than from what
was written. A half now rounds away from zero -- commercial rounding -- and
a magnitude past roughly 1200 digits is refused rather than expanded, since
nine characters of exponent would otherwise produce a megabyte of digits.

zero earns its place: data decoded with UseNumber carries numbers as
json.Number, a string underneath, so {{ if .quantity }} is true even when the
quantity is 0. Without it a template that renders an empty-value marker for
a zero quietly renders the zero instead.

Resolvers are the escape hatch for what the data cannot supply at all -- a
code-list description from a database, a rate from another service. Each is
registered under its own name, so a template calling one that was not
supplied fails when the template is parsed rather than at execution on
whichever branch happens to reach it. Names are validated first because
text/template's Funcs panics on a name that is not a Go identifier: a
resolver called "code-list" would otherwise take down the process rather
than fail the request. break and continue are reserved too -- they are
keywords only while no function of that name exists, so registering one
would silently change what every existing {{ break }} does. A resolver's own
error stays reachable through text/template's wrapping, so errors.Is matches
both ErrResolver and the caller's sentinel.

Also adds Validate, which checks a template without rendering it, so a
broken one fails when it is stored rather than when someone submits.

Refs #189

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <[email protected]>

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Lgtm

@sthanikan2000
sthanikan2000 merged commit d3606ff into main Sep 17, 2026
22 checks passed
@sthanikan2000
sthanikan2000 deleted the feature/xmlgen-helpers branch September 17, 2026 16:08
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