User Guide

XML objects 315
XML objects
An XML object may represent an XML element, attribute, comment, processing instruction,
or text element.
An XML object is classified as having either simple content or complex content. An XML object
that has child nodes is classified as having complex content. An XML object is said to have
simple content if it is any one of the following: an attribute, a comment, a processing
instruction, or a text node.
For example, the following XML object contains complex content, including a comment and
a processing instruction:
XML.ignoreComments = false;
XML.ignoreProcessingInstructions = false;
var x1:XML =
<order>
<!--This is a comment. -->
<?PROC_INSTR sample ?>
<item id='1'>
<menuName>burger</menuName>
<price>3.95</price>
</item>
<item id='2'>
<menuName>fries</menuName>
<price>1.45</price>
</item>
</order>
As the following example shows, you can now use the comments() and
processingInstructions() methods to create new XML objects, a comment and a
processing instruction:
var x2:XML = x1.comments()[0];
var x3:XML = x1.processingInstructions()[0];
XML properties
The XML class has five static properties:
■ The ignoreComments and ignoreProcessingInstructions properties determine
whether comments or processing instructions are ignored when the XML object is parsed.
■ The ignoreWhitespace property determines whether white space characters are ignored
in element tags and embedded expressions that are separated only by white space
characters.
■ The prettyIndent and prettyPrinting properties are used to format the text that is
returned by the
toString() and toXMLString() methods of the XML class.