Cast attribute value to string?

[jbrooksuk]

When passing an attribute that is a non-string value, writeAttribute throws an exception:

TypeError: XMLWriter::writeAttribute() expects parameter 2 to be string, integer given

Would it not be ideal to simply cast the value as a string and avoid the exception? This makes the API way more developer friendly IMHO.

[staabm]

its the job of the serializer functions to convert whatever type you have to a string.

even if it can be achieved via a simple string cast, it would IMO be better to have this kind of code explicitly written in a serializer instead of doing it implicitly in the framework/lib.

[jbrooksuk]

What if you're only passing an array of data through to the write method though? There's no chance of serializing at that point.

[staabm]

casting such a array to a string would also not produce the xml you expect, so this wouldn't help either?

could you show a use case in which your initial assumption makes sense to you?

[evert]

Personally I think we should accept all scalars here... it makes kinda sense to me.

[staabm]

I agree with supporting scalars but not complex types

[jbrooksuk]

String is a scalar. Does that mean you're willing to do this?

[staabm]

To be honest I did not read the initially posted value carefully and assumed the error is about writing a array/object. Writing a scalar like int,string,float makes sende though.