How to parse node value by parent element attribute?

**mastubbs** · 02-15-2009, 08:05 AM

Hi there

i'm trying to display on an HTML page the value of one record in an XML file on another server. Does anyone know how?

Code:

<STOREITEMS>
    <PRODUCT ITEM="0001" NAME="product 1">
        <STOCK>In Stock.</STOCK>
    </PRODUCT>
    <PRODUCT ITEM="0002" NAME="product 2">
        <STOCK>out of stock. </STOCK>
    </PRODUCT>
</STOREITEMS>

Does anyone know how to call the data based on an element attribute. ie, i want to call whether ONE product is in stock, based on its 'NAME'.

Ie; HTML would display "In Stock." on an HTML page that calls the 'STOCK' value for the 'PRODUCT' element with 'NAME' attribute 'product 1' but a different HTML page would display "out of stock." as it would call 'STOCK' value from 'PRODUCT' element with 'NAME' attribute 'product 2'.

I've been trying to figure this out forever if anyone can help id be really greatful, i guess its probably quite easy?

Thanks

**rpgfan3233** · 02-15-2009, 10:11 AM

XPath expression to select the PRODUCT with @NAME matching the value of $name and the child STOCK element containing the word "In":

Code:

/STOREITEMS/PRODUCT[@NAME=$name]/STOCK[contains(., "In")]/..

I'm not sure if that would work, but a quick test suggests it would... Out of curiosity, why not store how many are in stock instead? That way, you could determine if you were out of stock based upon whether the number stockpiled is 0. Then you could store it as an attribute, and the structure wouldn't be so weird.

**mastubbs** · 02-15-2009, 12:50 PM

Hi there, thanks for your help.

Unfortunately its not my xml feed, its from my supplier and its hosted on their servers. I tried what you said but no joy

perhaps its because the xml is not hosted on my server, i know browsers have some access rules for security... is there a workaround?

I have been trying:

Code:

<html>
<body>
<script type="text/javascript">
function loadXMLDoc(fname)
{
var xmlDoc;
// code for IE
if (window.ActiveXObject)
  {
  xmlDoc=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
  }
// code for Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, etc.
else if (document.implementation && document.implementation.createDocument)
  {
  xmlDoc=document.implementation.createDocument("","",null);
  }
else
  {
  alert('Your browser cannot handle this script');
  }
xmlDoc.async=false;
xmlDoc.load(fname);
return(xmlDoc);
}

xml=loadXMLDoc("http://www.supplier.com/catalog/xml-feed/stock.xml");
path="/STOREITEMS/PRODUCT[@NAME=$product 1]/STOCK[contains(., "In")]/.."
// code for IE
if (window.ActiveXObject)
{
var nodes=xml.selectNodes(path);

for (i=0;i<nodes.length;i++)
  {
  document.write(nodes[i].childNodes[0].nodeValue);
  document.write("<br />");
  }
}
// code for Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, etc.
else if (document.implementation && document.implementation.createDocument)
{
var nodes=xml.evaluate(path, xml, null, XPathResult.ANY_TYPE, null);
var result=nodes.iterateNext();

while (result)
  {
  document.write(result.childNodes[0].nodeValue);
  document.write("<br />");
  result=nodes.iterateNext();
  }
}
</script>

</body>
</html>

Does that look right?

**Charles** · 02-15-2009, 01:54 PM

JavaScript's too iffy anyway. Better to find a nice server side solution. What server side scripting do you have available?

**mastubbs** · 02-17-2009, 11:49 AM

Hi Charles,

I have coldfusion, perl, python, ruby, php etc...

php would be best by far for me as i have (some) knowledge of how to use it and the page that i want to use it on is php.

do you have any ideas for how to do it?

thanks

Matt

**Charles** · 02-17-2009, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by mastubbs

do you have any ideas for how to do it?

Several, but the good folks on the PHP forum will be better able to help you. But they will need to know what version of PHP you have and what modules are installed. (There is a big difference between PHP 4 & 5 in the XML department.)