SoftXMLLib is a cross-browser JavaScript Library.



Any web developer dealing with XML data knows about hard job he must implement

in order to make things working perfectly in all browsers.

At time I wrote this libriary, I thought that IE is only browser with true

XPATH support but when I finished, my attitude to Mozilla browsers changed to

good.As a web developer, mostly client side scripting with advanced OOP JavaScript,

I have been developing Ajax applications for IE.

All was good until clients began to request cross-browser support. As any

programmer, I am lazy, so I decided to write such cross-browser libriary in

order to make my life easier and help other developers who are looking for

ready solutions.

You may ask me, why I did't use ready solutions like Sarrisa?

Pehaps I wanted to make things even easier, making web developer spending less

time on programming and more to have a pleassure outside job.Currently SoftXMLLib libriary API includes 9 methods and

6 properties to operate on XML Document.

Here I will give brief explanation on each:

Firstly include SoftXMLLib libriary into head section of your html file:



Create SoftXMLLib object:

var SoftXMLLib = new SoftXMLLib();

Methods

Example - load

SoftXMLLib.load("yourfile.xml")

if(SoftXMLLib.loadError!=0){

alert("XML file is invalid!");

return;

}

Loads given XML file.Example - loadXML

var xmlString = "
id="5">some text";

SoftXMLLib.loadXML(xmlString)

if(SoftXMLLib.loadXMLError!=0){

alert("XML string is invalid!");

return;

}

Loads given XML string.Example - selectNodes

When there is no default namespace in XML document

var xmlString = "
name="Microsoft">some text";

SoftXMLLib.loadXML(xmlString)

var xpath = "//company[@id='2']/@name";

matchedNodes = SoftXMLLib.selectNodes(xpath)

Selects nodes in loaded XML document that matched XPATH expression

In this example we select company's name where company id = 2

Only one node is returned by query, so we can access it like this:

alert(matchedNodes[0].attributes[0].name);

Will output Microsoft

alert(matchedNodes[0].self.getAttribute("name"));

Will output same as above Microsoft

When accessing attribute you can use one of following options:

attributes[0].attributename;

or

self.getAttribute("attributename")

When there is default namespace in XML document

Important note: Currently Opera does not support default

namespace, so this query won't work

You have to set two properties in order to use xpath in Mozilla browsers

SoftXMLLib.setPrefix("xsl");

SoftXMLLib.setNameSpace("http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform");

var xmlString = "
>
idref="34_6">MicrosoftUSA
id="2"

idref="34_7">OracleUSA";

SoftXMLLib.loadXML(xmlString)

var xpath = "//xsl:company";

matchedNodes = SoftXMLLib.selectNodes(xpath)

In this example we select all company nodes in loaded XML document

for(var i = 0;i < matchedNodes.length;i++){

//output value of id and idref attributes

alert(matchedNodes[i].attributes[0].id + "=" +

matchedNodes[i].attributes[0].idref);

//will output 1 = 34_6 and 2 = 34_7

//output value of id attributes

another approach

alert(matchedNodes[i].self.getAttribute("id"));

//will output 1 and 2

//output number of attributes for each company node

alert(matchedNodes[i].self.attributes.length);

//will output 2 and 2

//output tagName of current element

alert(matchedNodes[i].self.nodeName);

//will output xsl:company and xsl:company

//output data in childnodes of each company node

alert(matchedNodes[i].self.getElementsByTagName("name")[0].childNodes[0].nodeValue);

//will output Microsoft and Oracle

} Now we will change our xpath expression:

var xpath = "//xsl:name";

matchedNodes = SoftXMLLib.selectNodes(xpath)

In this example we select all name nodes in loaded XML document

for(var i = 0;i < matchedNodes.length;i++){

//output text in name nodes

alert(matchedNodes[i].innerText);

//will output Microsoft and Oracle

} Now we will get all attributes in document:

var xpath = "//@*";

matchedNodes = SoftXMLLib.selectNodes(xpath)

for(var i = 0;i < matchedNodes.length;i++){

//output attribute name and attribute value

alert(matchedNodes[i].self.nodeName

+ "=" + matchedNodes[i].self.nodeValue);

//will output id=1 , idref=34_6 , id=2 , idref=34_7

} Example - getDocAttributes

This method returns all attributes found in XML document

matchedNodes = SoftXMLLib.getDocAttributes()

for(var i = 0;i < matchedNodes.length;i++){

//output attribute name and attribute value

alert(matchedNodes[i].nodeName + "=" +

matchedNodes[i].nodeValue);

//will output id=1 , idref=34_6 , id=2 , idref=34_7

} Example - getUniqueAttributes

This method returns only names of unique attributes found in XML document

matchedNodes = SoftXMLLib.getUniqueAttributes()

for(var i = 0;i < matchedNodes.length;i++){

//output attribute name

alert(matchedNodes[i].nodeName);

//will output id, idref

} Example - getDocElements

This method returns names of all elements as they appear in XML document

matchedNodes = SoftXMLLib.getDocElements()

for(var i = 0;i < matchedNodes.length;i++){

//output element name

alert(matchedNodes[i].nodeName);

//will output xsl:company, xsl:name, xsl:location,.....

} Example - getUniqueElements

This method returns names of unique elements in XML document

matchedNodes = SoftXMLLib.getUniqueElements()

for(var i = 0;i < matchedNodes.length;i++){

//output element name

alert(matchedNodes[i].nodeName);

//will output xsl:company, xsl:name, xsl:location

} Example - Encode

This method returns ASC code of string passed to it char by char

Use this method with Ajax when you need to transfer content of xml tags in

other then english language

var xmlString = '
name="Microsoft">' + SoftXMLLib.Encode("not english

text") + '';

SoftXMLLib.loadXML(xmlString)

ajaxObj = SoftXMLLib.createAjaxObject();

ajaxObj.open("POST","http://www.yourserver.com/testAjax.asp",true);

ajaxObj.onreadystatechange=function() {

if (ajaxObj.readyState==4) {

alert(ajaxObj.responseText);

}

}

ajaxObj.send(softXMLLib.DOM);



In order to send XML data with XMLHTTP object you have to use DOM property of

SoftXMLLib objectExample - Decode

This method returns string from ASC code passed to it

Use this method with Ajax when you need to get content of xml tags in other

then english language