How can i get IfcOpenShell for python to write with the same unicode as the file it reads?

Question

I'm using IfcOpenshell to read an .ifc file. make some changes, then write it to a new .ifc file. But IfcOpenshell is not writing the unicode the same way as it reads it.

I'm creating a script taht adds a pset with properties to each ifcelement. the value of these properties are copied from existing properties. So basically i'm creating a pset that gathers chosen information to a single place. This has worked great until the existing values contained unicode utf-8. It is read and decoded to show the correct value when printed, but it does not write the unicode the same way as it reads it. I tried changing the unicode used in PyCharm, no luck. I found simular posts elsewhere without finding a fix. From what i've read elsewhere it has something to do with the unicode encoder/decoder IfcOpenshell use, but i cant be sure.

def mk_pset():
    global param_name
    global param_type
    global max_row
    global param_map
    wb = load_workbook(b)
    sheet = wb.active
    max_row = sheet.max_row
    max_column = sheet.max_column
    param_name = []
    param_type = []
    param_map=[]
    global pset_name
    pset_name = sheet.cell(row=2, column=1).value
    for pm in range(2, max_row+1):
        param_name.append((sheet.cell(pm, 2)).value)
        param_type.append((sheet.cell(pm, 3)).value)
        param_map.append((sheet.cell(pm,4)).value)
    print(param_type,' - ',len(param_type))
    print(param_name,' - ',len(param_name))
    create_pset()



def create_pset():

    ifcfile = ifcopenshell.open(ifc_loc)
    create_guid = lambda: ifcopenshell.guid.compress(uuid.uuid1().hex)
    owner_history = ifcfile.by_type("IfcOwnerHistory")[0]
    element = ifcfile.by_type("IfcElement")
    sets = ifcfile.by_type("IfcPropertySet")
    list = []
    for sett in sets:
        list.append(sett.Name)
    myset = set(list)
    global antall_parametere
    global index
    index = 0
    antall_parametere = len(param_name)

    if pset_name not in myset:
        property_values = []
        tot_elem = (len(element))
        cur_elem = 1
        for e in element:
            start_time_e=time.time()
            if not e.is_a() == 'IfcOpeningElement':
                type_element.append(e.is_a())
                for rel_e in e.IsDefinedBy:
                    if rel_e.is_a('IfcRelDefinesByProperties'):
                        if not rel_e[5][4] == None:
                            index = 0
                            while index < antall_parametere:
                                try:
                                    ind1 = 0
                                    antall_ind1 = len(rel_e[5][4])
                                    while ind1 < antall_ind1:
                                        if rel_e[5][4][ind1][0] == param_map[index]:
                                            try:
                                                if not rel_e[5][4][ind1][2]==None:
                                                    p_type = rel_e[5][4][ind1][2].is_a()
                                                    p_verdi =rel_e[5][4][ind1][2][0]
                                                    p_t=param_type[index]
                                                    property_values.append(ifcfile.createIfcPropertySingleValue(param_name[index], param_name[index],ifcfile.create_entity(p_type,p_verdi),None),)
                                                    ind1 += 1
                                                else:
                                                    ind1 +=1
                                            except TypeError:
                                                pass
                                                break
                                        else:
                                            ind1 += 1
                                except AttributeError and IndexError:
                                    pass
                                index += 1
                            index = 0
            property_set = ifcfile.createIfcPropertySet(create_guid(), owner_history, pset_name, pset_name,property_values)
            ifcfile.createIfcRelDefinesByProperties(create_guid(), owner_history, None, None, [e], property_set)
            ifc_loc_edit = str(ifc_loc.replace(".ifc", "_Edited.ifc"))
            property_values = []
            print(cur_elem, ' av ', tot_elem, ' elementer ferdig. ',int(tot_elem-cur_elem),'elementer gjenstår. Det tok ',format(time.time()-start_time_e),' sekunder')
            cur_elem += 1
        ifcfile.write(ifc_loc_edit)
    else:
        ###print("Pset finnes")
        sg.PopupError("Pset er allerede oprettet i modell.")

I expect p_verdi written to be equal to the p_verdi read.

Original read (D\X2\00F8\X0\r):

#2921= IFCBUILDINGELEMENTPROXYTYPE('3QPADpsq71CHeCe7e3GDm5',#32,'D\X2\00F8\X0\r',$,$,$,$,'DA64A373-DB41-C131-1A0C-A07A0340DC05',$,.NOTDEFINED.);

Written (D\X4\000000F8\X0\r):

#2921=IFCBUILDINGELEMENTPROXYTYPE('3QPADpsq71CHeCe7e3GDm5',#32,'D\X4\000000F8\X0\r',$,$,$,$,'DA64A373-DB41-C131-1A0C-A07A0340DC05',$,.NOTDEFINED.);

Decoded to "Dør"

this happens to hard spaceing also:

('2\X2\00A0\X0\090')

prints correctly as:('2 090')

gets written:

('2\X4\000000A0\X0\090')

written form is unreadable by my ifc using software.

Answer 1

Not so much an answere as a workaround.

After more research i found out that most IFC reading software seems to not support X4 coding, so i made a workaround with regex. Basically finding everything and replacing \X4\0000 with \X2. This has worked with all the spec chars i've encountered so far. But as stated, is just a workaround that probably wont work for everyone.

def X4trans_2(target_file,temp_fil):
from re import findall
from os import remove,rename
dec_file = target_file.replace('.ifc', '_dec.ifc')
tempname = target_file
dec_list = []
with open(temp_fil, 'r+') as r,open(dec_file, 'w', encoding='cp1252') as f:
    for line in r:
        findX4 = findall(r'\\X4\\0000+[\w]+\\X0\\', str(line))
        if findX4:
            for fx in findX4:
                X4 = str(fx)
                newX = str(fx).replace('\\X4\\0000', '\X2\\')
                line = line.replace(str(X4), newX)  # print ('Fant X4')
        f.writelines(line)
remove(temp_fil)
try:
    remove(target_file)
except FileNotFoundError:
    pass

rename(dec_file,tempname)

It basically opens the ifc as text, find and replace X4 with X2 and writes it again.