xmlobj.firstChild.childNodes[3] vs xmlobj.chapter.page

[>flashl!ght<]

[EDIT] I got it to work. See following posts, as this one contains non-working AS [/EDIT]
I'm trying to make it so taht I can use tag names rather than all that 'firstChild' & 'childNodes' junk. Here's what i have:

code:

---

function tagNotation(xmltarget){	

	tagChildren(xmltarget);

	//recusion function

	function tagChildren(node){

		for(var i=0 ; i<node.childNodes.length ; i++){//loop through current recursion node's children

			node.childNodes[i].addProperty(node.childNodes[i].nodeName, function(){ return node.childNodes[i] }, null);

			if(node.childNodes[i].hasChildNodes){//if current recursion node's child has children

				tagChildren(node.childNodes[i])//recurse

			}

			//trace("_RETURN_");

		}

	}

---

It loops through all tags nicely. However, see where I'm trying to add a property? It doesn't seem to work. Anybody want to help me out with this? The thought was to simply add a property to every node which references it's children by name.

[>flashl!ght<]

For those interested, I have manage a function hack to do it. Seems to work fine, along side any of the original referencing styles (firstChild, childNodes, ect.):

code:

---

//CHILDNODE

XMLnode.prototype.childNode = function(str,returnType){

	//prototype that returns childNodes of current node

	//with the specified tag name

	//return either a single reference to a node if theres only one match

	//or an array of all reference that match the specified tag name

	//PARAMS:

	//str: the name of the tag to find

	//returnType(optional): "array" or "reference", explicitly sets the return value to be one or the other

	ar=[];//reset return array

	delete rtrn;//reset return reference

	str=String(str);//maintain param order

	returnType=returnType.toLowerCase();//remove case sensitivity

	for(i=0 ; i<this.childNodes.length ; i++){//loop through all chilren (no recursion)

		ni = this.childNodes[i];//reference to current child loop

		if(ni.nodeName==str){//if match

			if(rtrn!=undefined || returnType=="array"){//if match already found

				ar.push(ni);//there are multiple matches, so add to return array

			}else{//if no matches found yet

				rtrn = ar[0] = ni;//set single return reference, and 1 array element just in case

			}

		}

	}

	if(ar.length>1 || returnType=="array"){//if more than one match found

		return ar;//return array

	}else{//if only one match found

		return rtrn;//return single reference

	}

}

---

Sample usages:
trace(_root.contentXML.firstChild.childNode("guns" ).childNode("mods").childNode("mod")[0].attributes.class);
trace(_root.contentXML.firstChild.childNode("jets" ).childNode("jet")[3].attributes.name);
engine = _root.contentXML.firstChild.childNode("cars").chil dNode("engines").childNode("engine");
trace(engine);
trace(engine[2]+"\n");
trace(_root.contentXML.firstChild.childNode("guns" ).childNode("mods","array")[0]);

[>flashl!ght<]

just case there *is* someone interested, I have made my first step in solving it(ie it appears to work, but you never know):

code:

---

//the usual XML load

contentXML = new XML();

contentXML.ignoreWhite=true;

contentXML.load("data.xml");

contentXML.onLoad = function(){

	tagNotation(this);

}



//the function that sets everything to tag notation type referencing

//it recurses thru all nodes, assigning either

//a single reference, or an array of references

//to each node of all its children.

function tagNotation(xmltarget){

	tagChildren(xmltarget);



	//recusion function

	function tagChildren(node){

		for(var i=0 ; i<node.childNodes.length ; i++){//loop through current recursion node's children

			child = node.childNodes[i];

			if(node[child.nodeName]==undefined){//if no tag has been found with this name yet

				node[child.nodeName] = child ;//set a simple reference

			}else{//if a tag by this name ahs already been found - it returns an array

				if(node[child.nodeName].length==undefined){//if no array has been generated yet

					temp = node[child.nodeName];//save the one found so far

					node[child.nodeName]=new Array();//reset the reference as an array

					node[child.nodeName][0] = temp;//set the saved first match so far

				}

				node[child.nodeName].push(child);//add this node to the array

			}

			//child.addProperty(child.nodeName, function(){ return child }, null);

			if(child.hasChildNodes){//if current recursion node's child has children

				tagChildren(child)//recurse

			}

		}

	}

}



//see next post for sampl usage

---

[>flashl!ght<]

sample XML

<xml>
    <go>
        <delta>
            <blackhawk>
                <wildfire>
                    <tango>
                        <varient>
                            <over gocode="Irene">Over and Out</over>
                            <over gocode="Bravo">Go!</over>
                            <over gocode="Down">TangoDown</over>
                        </varient>
                    </tango>
                </wildfire>
            </blackhawk>
        </delta>
    </go>
</xml> 

sample referencing with above 'tagNotation' function:

code:

---

_root.contentXML.firstChild.go.delta.blackhawk.wil  dfire.tango.varient.over[0];

output: "<over gocode="Irene">Over and Out</over>"



_root.contentXML.firstChild.go.delta.blackhawk.wil  dfire.tango.varient.over[1].attributes.gocode;

output: "Bravo "



_root.contentXML.firstChild.go.delta.blackhawk.wil  dfire.tango.varient.over;

output:  "<over gocode="Irene">Over and Out</over>,<over gocode="Bravo">Go!</over>,<over gocode="Down">TangoDown</over>"

---