XML length

Hi
How can I get the length of <employees> here


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<offices>
<city name="Oslo" offices="7" x="224" y="269" map="test_vektor_by.swf">
<office name="Kjell B1 Oslo1" map="test_vektor_gate2.swf">
<vadress>test 1</vadress>
<vcity>test 1</vcity>
<phone>22 55 88 24</phone>
<email>[email protected]</email>
<employees>
<employee name="Mette Marit1">
<title>Daglig og faglig leder Statsaut. eindomsmegler MNEF1</title>
<phone>37 00 66 55 44</phone>
<mobile>93 65 48 98</mobile>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee name="Mette Marit2">
<title>Daglig og faglig leder Statsaut. eindomsmegler MNEF2</title>
<phone>37 00 66 55 44</phone>
<mobile>93 65 48 98</mobile>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee name="Mette Marit3">
<title>Daglig og faglig leder Statsaut. eindomsmegler MNEF3</title>
<phone>37 00 66 55 44</phone>
<mobile>93 65 48 98</mobile>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
<employee name="Mette Marit4">
<title>Daglig og faglig leder Statsaut. eindomsmegler MNEF4</title>
<phone>37 00 66 55 44</phone>
<mobile>93 65 48 98</mobile>
<email>[email protected]</email>
</employee>
</employees>
</office>
</city>
</offices>


thanks in advance

best regards
T

hi,

code:

---

var x:XML = new XML();

x.ignoreWhite = true;

x.onLoad = function(ok)

{

	if (ok)

	{

		var temp = this.firstChild.firstChild.firstChild.firstChild.n  extSibling.nextSibling.nextSibling.nextSibling.chi  ldNodes;

		trace(temp.length);

	}

};

x.load("example.xml");

---

In these kind of things, it's nice using the debugger.
Control->Debug Movie
It will list the variable that holds the loaded xml, and you'll be able to see a tree with all you need to get to where you want.
There is also the XML forum which may be more appropriate.

Keep in mind that this technique for reading an XML field (firstChild.firstChild... etc) is very brittle. If the file is formatted slightly differently, the tags reordered, deleted or duplicated, then it will cease to work.

But if you're confident that the file is always going to contain those tags and exactly those tags, in that order, then go for it!

There are more robust ways of parsing your XML, typically involving string compares, loops and/or recursive functions.