XML and Flash Actionscript made Easy | Parse XML to Object | Tutorial

XML and flash is something that always seemed to be more complicated than it needed to be. Then I had an idea to parse the xml nodes into actionscript as objects, that would make working with xml tons easier for me, I could just parse it once and then forget about the xml, I could refer to something with the familiar dot syntax rather than worry about firstChild and nextChild and so forth…

This is for AS2. (AS3 has similar functionality built-in via E4X!)

And then I found someone who’d already done that with XML2Object.as, here it is:

[email protected] Class

Actionscript Class:
[cc lang=”actionscript” tab_size=”2″ lines=”40″]
//////////////////
// – Derived from code written by Alessandro Crugnola – http://www.sephiroth.it/file_detail.php?id=129#
// – Refactored and documented by Phil Powell – http://www.sillydomainname.com
// – 25 July 2006 – Added helper method to sanitize Windows line breaks.
//////////////////
// Convert an XML object to an object with nested properties.
//
// Example usage:
//
// import net.produxion.util.XML2Object;
// var contentObj:Object;
// var xml:XML = new XML();
// var xmlLoaded = function( success:Boolean )
// {
// if( success )
// {
// contentObj = XML2Object.deserialize( this );
// this[‘timeline’].play();
// }
// }
//
// xml.ignoreWhite = true;
// xml[‘timeline’] = this;
// xml.onLoad = xmlLoaded;
// xml.load( ‘some.xml’ );
//
/////////////////
// What do you get back?
//
//
//
// // Here be links!
//http://somewhere.com //http://somewhere-else.com // //
//
// Becomes:
//
// contentObj.content.title.data => “My Title”
// contentObj.content.links.title.data => “Here be links!”
// contentObj.content.links.link => [Array]
// contentObj.content.links.link[0].data => “http://somewhere.com”
// contentObj.content.attributes.created => “22-May-2006”
/////////////////
class XML2Object {private var _result:Object;
private var _xml:XML;
private var _path:Object;
private static var xml2object:XML2Object;public function XML2Object()
{
this._result = new Object();
}

public static function deserialize( xml:XML ):Object
{
xml2object = new XML2Object();
xml2object.xml = xml;
return xml2object.nodesToProperties();
}

public function get xml():XML
{
return _xml;
}

public function set xml( xml:XML ):Void
{
this._xml = xml;
}

private function nodesToProperties( parent:XMLNode, path:Object, name:String, position:Number ):Object
{
var nodes:Array;
var node:XMLNode;

path == undefined ? path = this._result : path = path[name];
if( parent == undefined) parent = XMLNode( this._xml );

if( parent.hasChildNodes() )
{
nodes = parent.childNodes;
if (position != undefined) path = path[position];

while( nodes.length > 0 )
{
node = XMLNode( nodes.shift() );

if ( node.nodeName != undefined )
{
var obj = new Object();
obj.attributes = node.attributes;
obj.data = sanitizeLineBreaks( node.firstChild.nodeValue );

if( path[node.nodeName] != undefined )
{

if( path[node.nodeName].__proto__ == Array.prototype )
{
path[node.nodeName].push( obj );
}
else
{
var copyObj = path[node.nodeName];
delete path[node.nodeName];
path[node.nodeName] = new Array();
path[node.nodeName].push( copyObj );
path[node.nodeName].push( obj );
}
position = path[node.nodeName].length – 1;
}
else
{
path[node.nodeName] = obj;
position = undefined;
}
name = node.nodeName;
}

if( node.hasChildNodes() )
{
this.nodesToProperties( node, path, name, position );
}
}

}
return this._result;
}

private function sanitizeLineBreaks( raw:String )
{
if( raw.indexOf( “\r\n” ) > -1 )
{
return raw.split( “\r\n” ).join( “\n” );
}
return raw;
}
}
[/cc]

Example:

[kml_flashembed fversion=”9.0.0″ movie=”https://circlecube.com/circlecube/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2008/04/xmltoobject.swf” targetclass=”flashmovie” publishmethod=”dynamic” width=”500″ height=”400″]

[/kml_flashembed]

Source:

Here is my example file. But since you cant really see Objects in the code on the stage, I’ve included a recursive trace function to loop through the object and print the data.
[cc lang=”actionscript” tab_size=”2″ lines=”40″]
import XML2Object;

var xmlObject:Object;
var xml:XML = new XML();

var xmlLoaded = function( success:Boolean ){
if( success ) {
xmlObject = XML2Object.deserialize( this );
this[‘timeline’].play();
recurseTrace(xmlObject, ” “);
myTrace(“\n\n”)
myTrace(“xmlObject.catagories.catagory[10].name.data = “+xmlObject.catagories.catagory[10].name.data);
}
}

xml.ignoreWhite = true;
xml.onLoad = xmlLoaded;
xml.load( ‘sampleXML.xml’ );

function recurseTrace(info:Object, indent:String) {
for (var i in info) {
if (info[i] == null){}
else if (typeof info[i] == “object”) {
myTrace(indent + i + ” -“);
recurseTrace(info[i], indent);
}
else {
myTrace(indent + i + ” = ” + info[i] +”, “);
}
}
}

function myTrace(myLine:String){
feedback.text += “|”+myLine;
trace(myLine);
}
[/cc]

And here’s my sample xml file: (it’s the same one I use in my Dynamic Flash Scrolling Link List files)
[cc lang=”xml” tab_size=”2″ lines=”40″]


3D
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/3d/


abstract
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/abstract/


actionscript
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/actionscript/


animation
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/animation/


blog
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/blog/


book
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/book/


CG
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/cg/


charcoal
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/charcoal/


circle cube
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/circle-cube/


collage
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/collage/


color
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/color/


css
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/css/


drawing
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/drawing/


dreamweaver
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/dreamweaver/


experiment
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/experiment/


film
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/film/


final cut
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/final-cut/


flash
https://circlecube.com/circlecube/tag/flash/


[/cc]

Download:

Here’s the XML2Object.as class: XML2Object.as class

Here’s a zip containing everything and the working example: xmlToObject.zip