render AST into string - possible enhancement?

[vwegert]

For an upcoming project, I need to parse a set of existing XPath expressions, make some changes to individual parts (like renaming variable or function references), render the expression as a string again and replace the original.
From my experiments, I believe that XPath2.Net will handle the parsing step just fine. I'd probably need some additional methods to make the changes and render the expression.

1. Does this functionality already exist - did I miss something?
2. If not - would you be interested in a PR with the additions once I'm done?

[StefH]

Hello @vwegert ,

1. I don't know, I'll have to search the code.
2. If this is just an addition, and will not break any functionality or decrease the test coverage, I will surely accept a PR.

[vwegert]

A quick update: I have examined the code further and have not found any provisions to render the AST back to string form. I've made some progress in that regard and am already able to render most of the AST elements. I'm currently struggling with the path elements - and I believe I have encountered an issue already covered in issue #7: parsing "/foo/bar" and "foo/bar" yields the exact same AST...

[MarkMpn]

I also have a need for this while trying to make dynamic changes to the parsed AST. @vwegert do you have a solution available to reuse to generate this?

[vwegert]

Unfortunately I don't - I've had to abandon this approach (don't remember the exact reason, sorry) and, due to other circumstances, the entire project that was the reason for looking into this.