Reading XML Data

**so1i** · 09-19-2009, 12:11 PM

Hi there,

This is probably going to turn out to be a very newbie question, however over the last couple of days I have decided to begin to learn how to read and manipulate XML data, for web development.

I was trying a couple of the tutorials over at w3schools.com, and I believe I have understood it and know what's going on, but.. I just can't get this simple tester I have set up to work... so if someone could spot the reason and let me know I'd be most grateful (it's bound to be something really stupid that I've missed, but do bare with me!

).

Basically I set up an XML file (found here), and then have tried to just show the data in a <div> on an html page (found here).

JScript embedded in my HTML:

Code:

<html> 
<head> 
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> 
<title>XML Test</title> 
<script type="text/javascript"> 
var xmlDoc;
if (windows.XMLHttpRequest)
	{
	xmlDoc=new window.XMLHttpRequest();
	xmlDoc.open("GET","details.xml",false);
	xmlDoc.send("");
	xmlDoc=xmlDoc.responseXML;
	}
// IE 5 and 6
else if (ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
	{
	xmlDoc=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
	xmlDoc.async=false;
	xmlDoc.load("details.xml");
	}
var x=xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("person");
i=0;
 
function display()
{
firstname=x[i].getElementsByTagName("first_name")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue);
lastname=x[i].getElementsByTagName("last_name")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue);
txt="First Name: " + firstname +"<br/><br/>Last Name: " + lastname;
document.getElementById("show").innerHTML=txt;
}
</script> 
</head> 
 
<body onLoad="display()"> 
<div id='show'></div> 
</body> 
</html>

Thanks in advance guys!

-Chris

Jordan · 09-19-2009, 05:35 PM

You are missing a ) on line 175):

Code:

else if (ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");

You have a ; instead of the needed ).

**so1i** · 09-19-2009, 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by Jordan

You are missing a ) on line 175):

Code:

else if (ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");

You have a ; instead of the needed ).

Ah! Knew it would be something ridiculous! Thanks man.

EDIT: Just actually tried that, and it still isn't displaying any of the data, even with the change. Notice any other errors? :S

**so1i** · 09-20-2009, 05:04 AM

Fixed! Just were some more silly typos which I eventually found! ....I apparently shouldn't try to learn new things when tired!

Thanks for the help.

Jordan · 09-20-2009, 08:01 AM

What was the last error?
Also, how are you debugging it? There are some tools you can use which will help you find errors. I find that IE is decent at reporting JavaScript errors when double-clicking the error icon in the bottom left.

**so1i** · 09-20-2009, 08:06 AM

Originally Posted by Jordan

What was the last error?

Bit of an embarrassing error. I had "windows.XMLHttpRequest", rather than "window.XMLHttpRequest"

Originally Posted by Jordan

Also, how are you debugging it? There are some tools you can use which will help you find errors. I find that IE is decent at reporting JavaScript errors when double-clicking the error icon in the bottom left.

To be honest I was just debugging it manually, trying to compare it to others to find discrepencies. However I just tried the IE method, and that works great! Thanks!

Jordan · 09-20-2009, 08:14 AM

No problem. There is also FireBug for FireFox which works well: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843
Chrome/Safari/Webkit browsers have the inspector which is awesome as well.

**so1i** · 09-20-2009, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by Jordan

No problem. There is also FireBug for FireFox which works well: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843
Chrome/Safari/Webkit browsers have the inspector which is awesome as well.

Cheers.

I have actually been using chrome for a while now, I really like the browser tbh, and I think the inspector is a really good feature. Will definitely try it out for debugging this kind of thing in the future, thanks.

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