Python Toolbox keep xml meta data formatted for version control

Question

Is there a way to keep Python Toolboxes metadata formatted nicely for version control?

I use git to maintain my Python Toolboxes and when I make edits to the toolbox the metadata is updated and put all on one line. For example if I make a change to the tool alias I only want git to record the difference on that line.

Currently metadata looks like this

toolbox.tool.pyt.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<metadata xml:lang="en"><Esri><CreaDate>20180824</CreaDate><CreaTime>10320700</CreaTime><ArcGISFormat>1.0</ArcGISFormat><SyncOnce>TRUE</SyncOnce><ModDate>20180828</ModDate><ModTime>111340</ModTime></Esri><toolbox name="partition" alias="partition"><arcToolboxHelpPath>c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.3\Help\gp</arcToolboxHelpPath><toolsets/></toolbox><dataIdInfo><idCitation><resTitle>partition</resTitle></idCitation></dataIdInfo><distInfo><distributor><distorFormat><formatName>ArcToolbox Toolbox</formatName></distorFormat></distributor></distInfo></metadata>

I want this

toolbox.tool.pyt.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<metadata xml:lang="en">
  <Esri>
    <CreaDate>20180824</CreaDate>
    <CreaTime>10320700</CreaTime>
    <ArcGISFormat>1.0</ArcGISFormat>
    <SyncOnce>TRUE</SyncOnce>
    <ModDate>20180828</ModDate>
    <ModTime>111340</ModTime>
  </Esri>
  <toolbox name="partition" alias="partition">
    <arcToolboxHelpPath>c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.3\Help\gp</arcToolboxHelpPath>
    <toolsets/>
  </toolbox>
  <dataIdInfo>
    <idCitation>
      <resTitle>partition</resTitle>
    </idCitation>
  </dataIdInfo>
  <distInfo>
    <distributor>
      <distorFormat>
        <formatName>ArcToolbox Toolbox</formatName>
      </distorFormat>
    </distributor>
  </distInfo>
</metadata>

Answer 1

ArcGIS will always save the XML with the newlines and whitespace stripped.

However, you can use a few things, such as python or powershell, to pretty print your XML.

Here's a simple command-line powershell one liner that you can run from a cmd.exe prompt:

powershell -Command "& {([xml](gc 'yourfile.xml')).Save('yourfile.xml')}"

To do this automatically during a commit, in your git repo, create a file called pre-commit in the .git/hooks folder with the following content:

#!/bin/sh

if git rev-parse --verify HEAD >/dev/null 2>&1
then
    against=HEAD
else
    # Initial commit: diff against an empty tree object
    against=4b825dc642cb6eb9a060e54bf8d69288fbee4904
fi

git diff --cached --name-only --diff-filter=AM $against | grep '\.xml$' | \
xargs -I % powershell -Command "& {([xml](gc '%')).Save('%')}"