Code Cook

HOW TO: Delete an XML node using E4X

While creating a sample application for some class content the other day, I ran into an XML/E4X situation that I'd never encountered before. It is pretty basic - deleting a node from XML. How does one do it? With the delete keyword of course!

For example:

Man, E4X is so simple!

download: Delete Node Example (4.78KB) added: 04/09/2009 clicks: 72 description: Code source (.FLA) for delete XML node using E4X in ActionScript 3 sample

Posted in actionscript, e4x, xml |

E4X XML Namespaces

For XML that looks like the following response from Yahoo's weather service:

When you need to access the nodes with complex node names such as yweather:location think XML namespaces.
In the above example, look for the xmlns declaration in the rss node
- xmlns:yweather='http://xml.weather.yahoo.com/ns/rss/1.0'.
Creating a Namespace object using the declaration will allow us to access the nodes with complex names.
Creating a Namespace object is a pretty simple process:

Now we can access the node with the following code:

With the preceding example we need to know the namespace url ahead of time. E4X gives us the namespaceDeclarations() method that will return an array that contains the namespace declarations associated with the XML document

Using the namespaceDeclarations() method from the XML object:

Now we have an array of namespace declarations that we can use to dynamically declare Namespace objects and access our complex node names:

So we can access the geo and yweather nodes without any problems now.

Posted in actionscript, e4x, flex, xml |

Sending XML in Flash

So you want to send XML in flash? There are some things that you need to watch out for.

ONE: We're working with the XML object.

TWO: If you are are expecting a response, use the sendAndLoad() method. You will need to create an XML object to catch the response from your server. The sendAndLoad() method takes 3 parameters:

url - where to send the XML

target - The XML object that receives the downloaded data (this can also be a LoadVars object depending on the data that is returned from the service)

method - GET or POST HTTP protocol. This parameter is optional.

Now what happens if you don't expect a response from the server? Do you use send()? Not if you don't want the page to redirect.

The send() method can GET or POST your XML data to a page, but your Flash piece page is expected to redirect. So, what do you do. Well, just use sendAndLoad() and create a dummy XML object for the 2nd parameter. You won't receive a response, but the XML will be sent to the server just the same.

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Posted in actionscript, flash |

TranslateXML - AS2 XML to Object Parser

The TranslateXML class translates any XML file into a flash Object.
All nodes are turned into Objects. Any duplicate nodes are turned into an array.

[Download TranslateXML.zip]
J.

Posted in actionscript |