Cross-Browser Javascript Parser for XML with Namespace

Question

This subject has been touched on before, but there's been some time since the last question regarding namespace handling.

Is there a cross-browser solution to get the elements by name in Javascript?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<NS:response success="1" xmlns:NS="http://someURI/ns">
   <NS:user firstname="foo" lastname="bar"></NS:user>
   <NS:cookie value="2c0ea35bcac2e05d439609367a236b28" name="session"></NS:cookie>
</NS:response>

So far what I've got:

var oXML = (new DOMParser()).parseFromString(xmlstring, "text/xml");
var root = oXML.documentElement;
var user = typeof(user=root.getElementsByTagName(root.prefix + ':user')[0]) === "undefined"
              ?root.getElementsByTagName('user')[0]
              :user;

Hasn't been tested in IE, but if anyone has any cross-browser solution, I'd be willing to hear.

Other Considerations:

getElementsByTagNameNS() - am trying to avoid having to specify the namespace/uri
using regex to strip the namespace before creating the XML document
not using a namespace - I have that option, but would not like to go that route

DOMParser() certainly won't work in IE, you'll have to go the ActiveX/MSXML route. — Andy E
– Andy E, Commented Sep 6, 2010 at 14:03
+1. I remember that, but that's not a problem, it's easy to code around that; if object.documentElement is not cross-browser, that would be a bigger deal :) — vol7ron
– vol7ron, Commented Sep 6, 2010 at 14:10

Mic · Accepted Answer · 2010-09-06 14:28:37Z

1

You could try another approach, by converting the XML to JSON server side, using a generic XSLT like http://code.google.com/p/xml2json-xslt/, and deliver to the browser only JSON.

It will add up a small overhead on the server response, but nothing compared to the amount of code and time spent on the browser to render XML.

With the exception of IE, with its impressive msxml, I think reading XML in common browsers is a real pain compared to JSON.

answered Sep 6, 2010 at 14:28

Mic

25.2k9 gold badges61 silver badges71 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

vol7ron Over a year ago

I actually am creating the XML server-side, so I would guess that I'd start out with JSON instead of needing to convert it. I'm using the XML as part of some web-authentication. Since I have control over the input, I could easily just return delimited ASCII w/o any markup, but I really haven't had the need to use the XML Dom in some time, so this is a new project :)

Mic Over a year ago

I did XML/XSLT based web apps for 10+ years. When I moved to JSON it was a liberation and I wouldn't come back for nothing. ASCII messaging is not ideal, as it generally breaks your code when you change the message, while XML and JSON, as long as you add stuff, the old code continue to work as expected.

BoDiE2003 · Accepted Answer · 2010-09-06 14:07:40Z

0

Using a JS framework like jQuery or Prototype for this kind of ajax scripts would help. You can also do (example) $("user[name=foo]") that will select all your user tags with with name=foo. It's a solution that many users managed to do to handle elements selection by name. And $("tag[name=foo]") is crossbrowser.

answered Sep 6, 2010 at 14:07

BoDiE2003

1,3596 gold badges29 silver badges41 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Cross-Browser Javascript Parser for XML with Namespace

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related