Skip to main content
Version: v0.1.6

Serialize a document

You parsed a document, and now need spec-clean XML back out (for storage, forwarding, or a diff) with a guarantee that nothing was silently lost.

serializeCcda(doc) (or doc.toString()) re-emits the parsed document faithfully: every attribute, namespace, templateId, and unmodeled element survives, and the result is a fixed point.

import { parseCcda, serializeCcda } from "@cosyte/ccda";

const xml = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ClinicalDocument xmlns="urn:hl7-org:v3" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <realmCode code="US"/>
  <templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.10.20.22.1.1" extension="2015-08-01"/>
  <templateId root="2.16.840.1.113883.10.20.22.1.2" extension="2015-08-01"/>
  <id root="2.16.840.1.113883.19.5.99999.1" extension="DOC-0011"/>
  <code code="34133-9" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.6.1"/>
  <title>Synthetic CCD</title>
  <effectiveTime value="20240101"/>
  <recordTarget><patientRole>
    <id root="2.16.840.1.113883.19.5" extension="MRN-00042" assigningAuthorityName="Sample Hospital"/>
    <patient><name><given>Jane</given><family>Doe</family></name>
    <administrativeGenderCode code="F" codeSystem="2.16.840.1.113883.5.1"/></patient>
  </patientRole></recordTarget>
</ClinicalDocument>`;

const doc = parseCcda(xml);
const out = serializeCcda(doc);

out === doc.toString(); // => true
// Re-parsing and re-serializing yields the identical bytes (a fixed point).
serializeCcda(parseCcda(out)) === out; // => true

serializeCcda re-emits a parsed document. To construct one from scratch, use buildCcda (Build a document); to change a section of a document you already parsed, use editCcda (Edit a document). For exactly which document types and sections each one covers, see Known limitations.

What the output keeps​

  • Faithful, no silent loss. The output is taken from the parsed XML at parse time, not rebuilt from the read-model, so every attribute, namespace declaration (xmlns / xmlns:xsi / xmlns:sdtc), templateId, and unmodeled element survives. Serialization is a fixed point: parseCcda(serializeCcda(doc)) re-serializes to the identical string.
  • Immutable copy-with. Models are immutable; the sanctioned mutation is doc.withWarnings(extra), which returns a new document with extra warnings appended, sharing every parsed field by reference and leaving the original untouched.

A hand-constructed CcdaDocument (not produced by parseCcda or buildCcda) retains no source XML, so toString() throws. To construct a document from scratch, use buildCcda.

Reference​