{"id":290,"date":"2007-05-21T22:44:47","date_gmt":"2007-05-21T21:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.matthijskamstra.nl\/blog\/index.php\/2007\/05\/21\/xml-reader-flash-panel\/"},"modified":"2007-06-11T19:22:54","modified_gmt":"2007-06-11T18:22:54","slug":"xml-reader-flash-panel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.matthijskamstra.nl\/blog\/2007\/05\/21\/xml-reader-flash-panel\/","title":{"rendered":"XML Reader Flash panel"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you’re working with Flash and dynamic content your no stranger to XML.
\nAnd how to access the data in the XML.<\/p>\n

There are a couple of ways you can access and manipulating XML documents in Flash:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. the nerdy way (XML DOM<\/a>): my_xml.firstChild.childNodes[2].childNodes[1].attributes.x<\/code><\/li>\n
  2. the xPath<\/a> way using xfactorstudio XPath classes<\/a>: xmlDoc.selectNodes(\"\/bookstore\/book[price>35]\/title\")<\/code><\/li>\n
  3. the Flash<\/a> XPathAPI class<\/a>: XPathAPI.selectNodeList(xml.firstChild, \"\/rdf:RDF\/item\/title\")<\/code><\/li>\n
  4. the XML2Array<\/a> methode: Novel[0].Description[0].value<\/code><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Before I discovered option 2 \/3 \/4, I had to work with XML DOM. This was also in the periode I was still programming in the Flash IDE<\/a> and the XML DOM methode cost me a lot of time: I couldn’t find the correct node, or attribute, etc.<\/p>\n

    Until I started programming in SE|PY<\/a>, because it has a XML Reader. The XML Reader could check if my XML was correctly formatted, and I could just point to the node I wanted to use and it gave me the correct node path.
    \nI don’t know when it started (probably for a while, because I started to use different methodes to access XML) but sadly this reader has     some errors<\/a>, which makes it difficult to use.<\/p>\n

    But why do I care? I needed to use the XML DOM because I didn’t want to add to the kb of a dynamic banner I was building. It was programmed it in Flash IDE and the SE|PY XML Reader didn’t work….<\/p>\n

    Download:<\/h3>\n

    Without more blabla: here is the first version of XML Reader.<\/p>\n

    XML Reader Flash panel<\/strong> XML_Reader_v0.1.zip (52kB)<\/a><\/p>\n

    In the zip is also a readme.txt<\/a> with more info about XML Reader.
    \nDoubts? Test drive it     here!<\/a>
    \nLet me know what you think of it, what’s wrong with it, what could improve, bugs, etc<\/p>\n

    Description XML Reader<\/h3>\n

    XML Reader is a Flash window panel where you can load XML files into.
    \nThis is useful in situations when you are writing an XML parser, and need to view the XML your parsing, but don’t feel like toggling back and forth between Flash and another program.
    \nAs a Flash panel, you can simply dock it inside of Flash with your other panels, and have it always available while you code in the Flash IDE.<\/p>\n

    This XML Reader does more: it has color syntax highlighting, indentation and XML DOM(*) to access and manipulate XML Documents WYSIWYG style.<\/p>\n

    I hope this will help to increase my productivity, and perhaps yours?<\/p>\n

    (*) The XML Document Object Model (XML DOM) defines a standard way for accessing and manipulating XML documents.<\/p>\n

    View XML Reader<\/h3>\n

    So I created XML Reader<\/a>, based upon the one in SE|PY<\/p>\n

    Because the open XML button only works in Flash a example XML<\/a> is loaded.
    \n