Unmarshal Array Elements in XML: Retrieve All Elements, Not Just the First

When unmarshaling an XML array in Golang using xml.Unmarshal([]byte(p.Val.Inner), &t), you may encounter a situation where only the first element is being retrieved. To resolve this issue, utilize xml.Decoder and repeatedly invoke its Decode method.

Steps to Unmarshal All XML Array Elements:

1. Create a new xml.Decoder using xml.NewDecoder(bytes.NewBufferString(VV)), where VV is the XML string containing the array elements.
2. Enter a loop to process each XML element:
3. Declare a variable t of the target slice type (e.g., HostSystemIdentificationInfo).
4. Call d.Decode(&t) to unmarshal the next XML element into the t variable.
5. Repeat steps 2-4 until the d.Decode(&t) call returns io.EOF.

Modified Golang Code:

package main

import (
    "bytes"
    "encoding/xml"
    "fmt"
    "io"
    "log"
)

type HostSystemIdentificationInfo []struct {
    IdentiferValue string `xml:"identifierValue"`
    IdentiferType  struct {
        Label   string `xml:"label"`
        Summary string `xml:"summary"`
        Key     string `xml:"key"`
    } `xml:"identifierType"`
}

func main() {
    d := xml.NewDecoder(bytes.NewBufferString(VV))
    for {
        var t HostSystemIdentificationInfo
        err := d.Decode(&t)
        if err == io.EOF {
            break
        }
        if err != nil {
            log.Fatal(err)
        }
        fmt.Println(t)
    }
}

const VV = `<HostSystemIdentificationInfo xsi:type="HostSystemIdentificationInfo">
  <identifierValue> unknown</identifierValue>
  <identifierType>
    <label>Asset Tag</label>
    <summary>Asset tag of the system</summary>
    <key>AssetTag</key>
  </identifierType>
</HostSystemIdentificationInfo>
<HostSystemIdentificationInfo xsi:type="HostSystemIdentificationInfo">
  <identifierValue>Dell System</identifierValue>
  <identifierType>
    <label>OEM specific string</label>
    <summary>OEM specific string</summary>
    <key>OemSpecificString</key>
  </identifierType>
</HostSystemIdentificationInfo>
<HostSystemIdentificationInfo xsi:type="HostSystemIdentificationInfo">
  <identifierValue>5[0000]</identifierValue>
  <identifierType>
    <label>OEM specific string</label>
    <summary>OEM specific string</summary>
    <key>OemSpecificString</key>
  </identifierType>
</HostSystemIdentificationInfo>
<HostSystemIdentificationInfo xsi:type="HostSystemIdentificationInfo">
  <identifierValue>REDACTED</identifierValue>
  <identifierType>
    <label>Service tag</label>
    <summary>Service tag of the system</summary>
    <key>ServiceTag</key>
  </identifierType>
</HostSystemIdentificationInfo>`

Sample Output:

[{ unknown {Asset Tag Asset tag of the system AssetTag}}]
[{Dell System {OEM specific string OEM specific string OemSpecificString}}]
[{5[0000] {OEM specific string OEM specific string OemSpecificString}}]
[{REDACTED {Service tag Service tag of the system ServiceTag}}]

By using xml.Decoder and repeatedly invoking Decode, you can successfully retrieve all elements within the XML array, resolving the issue of only obtaining the first element.