Actionscript Cookbook

19.2. Creating an XML Object

Problem

You want to create an XML object complete with a tree structure and data.

Solution

A populated XML object contains data, just as a populated city contains people.

Use one of the following to create a populated XML object:

• Populate the XML object tree by passing an XML string to the constructor.

• Create a blank object and use the parseXML( ) method to populate the XML tree with an XML string.

• Create a blank object and use the XML class’s properties and methods to populate the XML tree one node at a time.

• Create a blank object and load the XML data from an external source.

Discussion

There are many possibilities for creating a populated XML object in Flash. Each technique offers its own advantages, and you should base your decision on the needs of your project.

The simplest way to create a populated XML object is to pass an XML string to the constructor:

my_xml = new XML("<abc><a>eh</a><b>bee</b><c>see</c>");

This first technique is appropriate when you already know the complete XML string before you want to create the object. For example, if you want to create a simple XML object to send a user’s name and score to the server, you could easily construct the XML string using known data and then construct the XML object, as follows:

xmlStr = "<gamescore><username>" + username + 
         "</username><score>" + score + "</score></gamescore>";
score_xml = new XML(xmlStr);

You can also use the parseXML( ) method to populate an XML object using an XML string. This is useful ...