Answer to https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/enlive-clj/Da0l_Vpu05U

path-with-enlive-example.clj

(ns path-with-enlive-example
  (:require [net.cgrand.xml :as xml]
            [clojure.zip :as z]))
          
;; This is meant to be answer to the question 
;; "Enlive as a hammer" posted in the enlive mailing list:
;; https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/enlive-clj/Da0l_Vpu05U

;; div
;;  | :content
;; [ ]
;;  |---|---| 
;; :p  :p  :p


(def simple-structure
  (xml/xml-zip
   {:tag :div :attrs {:id "the-table"} :content
    [{:tag :p :attrs {:id "first-row"} :content ["alfa"]}
     {:tag :p :attrs {:id "second-row"} :content ["bravo"]}
     {:tag :p :attrs {:id "third-row"} :content ["charlie"]}]}))


;;the hidden zipper navigation functions:
(meta simple-structure)
{:zip/branch? #object[net.cgrand.xml$xml_zip$fn__10500 0x3a4ed857 "net.cgrand.xml$xml_zip$fn__10500@3a4ed857"]
 :zip/children #object[clojure.core$comp$fn__4723 0x5014be2d "clojure.core$comp$fn__4723@5014be2d"]
 :zip/make-node #object[net.cgrand.xml$xml_zip$fn__10503 0x61ef3ceb "net.cgrand.xml$xml_zip$fn__10503@61ef3ceb"]}

(-> simple-structure
    z/down)

{:tag :p, :attrs {:id "first-row"}, :content ["alfa"]}
 {:l [],
  :pnodes
  [{:tag :div,
    :attrs {:id "the-table"},
    :content
    [{:tag :p, :attrs {:id "first-row"}, :content ["alfa"]}
     {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "second-row"}, :content ["bravo"]}
     {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "third-row"}, :content ["charlie"]}]}],
  :ppath nil,
  :r
  ({:tag :p, :attrs {:id "second-row"}, :content ["bravo"]}
   {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "third-row"}, :content ["charlie"]})}]


(-> simple-structure
    z/down
    z/right)

:tag :p, :attrs {:id "second-row"}, :content ["bravo"]}
 {:l [{:tag :p, :attrs {:id "first-row"}, :content ["alfa"]}],
  :pnodes
  [{:tag :div,
    :attrs {:id "the-table"},
    :content
    [{:tag :p, :attrs {:id "first-row"}, :content ["alfa"]}
     {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "second-row"}, :content ["bravo"]}
     {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "third-row"}, :content ["charlie"]}]}],
  :ppath nil,
  :r ({:tag :p, :attrs {:id "third-row"}, :content ["charlie"]})}]

(-> simple-structure
    z/down
    z/right
    z/down)

["bravo" ;;this can of course be any nested node content
 {:l [],
  :pnodes
  [{:tag :div,
    :attrs {:id "the-table"},
    :content
    [{:tag :p, :attrs {:id "first-row"}, :content ["alfa"]}
     {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "second-row"}, :content ["bravo"]}
     {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "third-row"}, :content ["charlie"]}]}
   {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "second-row"}, :content ["bravo"]}],
  :ppath
  {:l [{:tag :p, :attrs {:id "first-row"}, :content ["alfa"]}],
   :pnodes
   [{:tag :div,
     :attrs {:id "the-table"},
     :content
     [{:tag :p, :attrs {:id "first-row"}, :content ["alfa"]}
      {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "second-row"}, :content ["bravo"]}
      {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "third-row"}, :content ["charlie"]}]}],
   :ppath nil,
   :r ({:tag :p, :attrs {:id "third-row"}, :content ["charlie"]})},
  :r nil}]


(-> simple-structure
    z/down
    z/right
    z/down
    z/path)

;; the path is bisarre at first, but it really gives pointers:

[;;the pointer to the top of the tree
 {:tag :div,
  :attrs {:id "the-table"},
  :content
  [{:tag :p, :attrs {:id "first-row"}, :content ["alfa"]}
   {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "second-row"}, :content ["bravo"]}
   {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "third-row"}, :content ["charlie"]}]}
 ;;the pointer to the second row
 {:tag :p, :attrs {:id "second-row"}, :content ["bravo"]}]

(map (fn find-navigation [{tag :tag {id :id} :attrs}] [tag id])
     (-> simple-structure
         z/down
         z/right
         z/down
         z/path))

([:div "the-table"] [:p "second-row"])

(def custom-path (flatten [[:div "the-table"] [:p "second-row"]]))
;; (:div "the-table" :p "second-row")

(def node-content
  (-> simple-structure
    z/down
    z/right
    z/down
    z/node)) ;;=> "bravo"

(assoc-in {} custom-path node-content)

;; reduce

(reduce
 (fn [coll [path val]]
   (assoc-in coll path val))
 {}
 [[[:div "the-table" :p "second-row"] "bravo"]
  [[:div "the-table" :p "third-row"] "charlie"]])

{:div {"the-table" {:p {"second-row" "bravo",
                        "third-row" "charlie"}}}}