add function for decoding

dev_tools/utils/nxdl_utils.py

@@ -14,6 +14,13 @@
 from lxml.etree import ParseError as xmlER
 
 
+def decode_or_not(elem):
+    """Decodes a byte array to string if necessary"""
+    if isinstance(elem, bytes):
+        elem = elem.decode("UTF-8")
+    return elem
+
+
 def remove_namespace_from_tag(tag):
     """Helper function to remove the namespace from an XML tag."""
 
@@ -765,28 +772,16 @@ def get_best_child(nxdl_elem, hdf_node, hdf_name, hdf_class_name, nexus_type):
     corresponding to the html documentation name html_name"""
     bestfit = -1
     bestchild = None
-    try:
-        if (
-            "name" in nxdl_elem.attrib.keys()
-            and nxdl_elem.attrib["name"] == "NXdata"
-            and hdf_node is not None
-            and hdf_node.parent is not None
-            and hdf_node.parent.attrs.get("NX_class").decode("UTF-8") == "NXdata"
-        ):
-            (fnd_child, fit) = get_best_nxdata_child(nxdl_elem, hdf_node, hdf_name)
-            if fnd_child is not None:
-                return (fnd_child, fit)
-    except AttributeError:
-        if (
-            "name" in nxdl_elem.attrib.keys()
-            and nxdl_elem.attrib["name"] == "NXdata"
-            and hdf_node is not None
-            and hdf_node.parent is not None
-            and hdf_node.parent.attrs.get("NX_class") == "NXdata"
-        ):
-            (fnd_child, fit) = get_best_nxdata_child(nxdl_elem, hdf_node, hdf_name)
-            if fnd_child is not None:
-                return (fnd_child, fit)
+    if (
+        "name" in nxdl_elem.attrib.keys()
+        and nxdl_elem.attrib["name"] == "NXdata"
+        and hdf_node is not None
+        and hdf_node.parent is not None
+        and decode_or_not(hdf_node.parent.attrs.get("NX_class")) == "NXdata"
+    ):
+        (fnd_child, fit) = get_best_nxdata_child(nxdl_elem, hdf_node, hdf_name)
+        if fnd_child is not None:
+            return (fnd_child, fit)
     for child in nxdl_elem:
         if not isinstance(child.tag, str):
             continue