Flash / Flex / ActionScript/XML/attributes

Access an element"s attributes using E4X attributes wildcard (@*)

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var novel:XML = <BOOK ISBN="0000000000">
           <TITLE>ActionScript</TITLE>                    
           <AUTHOR>J, J</AUTHOR>
           <PUBLISHER>Books Ltd</PUBLISHER>  
         </BOOK>;
       
       trace(novel.@*);
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

Accesses first attribute by using E4X"s attributes wildcard syntax

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var novel:XML = <BOOK ISBN="0000000000">
           <TITLE>ActionScript</TITLE>                    
           <AUTHOR>J, J</AUTHOR>
           <PUBLISHER>Books Ltd</PUBLISHER>  
         </BOOK>;
       
       trace(novel.@*[0]);
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

Accessing Attributes and Elements Whose Names Contain Reserved Characters: attribute( ), child( ), or [] operator.

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var saleEndsDate:XML = <DATE TIME-ZONE="PST">1, 2006</DATE>
       //trace(saleEndsDate.@TIME-ZONE);              
       trace(saleEndsDate.attribute("TIME-ZONE"));  
       trace(saleEndsDate.@["TIME-ZONE"]);          
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

Adding New Attributes and Elements

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var novel:XML = <BOOK/>;
       
       novel.@ISBN = "0000000000";
       novel.TITLE = "ActionScript";
       novel.AUTHOR = "J, J";
       novel.PUBLISHER = "Books Ltd";
       novel.SETTING.CITY = "Dublin";
       novel.SETTING.COUNTRY = "Ireland";
       
       trace(novel);
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

Assign the desired attributes the desired values

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var novel:XML = <BOOK/>;
       
       novel.@ISBN = "0000000000";
       novel.TITLE = "ActionScript";
       novel.AUTHOR = "J, J";
       novel.PUBLISHER = "Books Ltd";
       novel.SETTING.CITY = "Dublin";
       novel.SETTING.COUNTRY = "Ireland";
       
       novel.SETTING.@CITY = "Dublin";
       novel.SETTING.@COUNTRY = "Ireland";
       
       trace(novel);
       
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

Attributes in an XMLList can be accessed using the array-access operator ([]).

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var novel:XML = <BOOK ISBN="0000000000">
           <TITLE>ActionScript</TITLE>                    
           <AUTHOR>J, J</AUTHOR>
           <PUBLISHER>Books Ltd</PUBLISHER>  
         </BOOK>;
       
       trace(novel.attributes()[0]);
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

Changing an Attribute Value

   <source lang="java">

To change an XML attribute value, simply assign the attribute any new value in an assignment statement. package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var novel:XML = <BOOK ISBN="0000000000">
           <TITLE>ActionScript</TITLE>                    
           <AUTHOR>J, J</AUTHOR>
           <PUBLISHER>Books Ltd</PUBLISHER>  
         </BOOK>;
         
       novel.@ISBN = "0684800713";
       
       trace(novel);
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

Returns an XMLList that contains one XML instance

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var novel:XML = <BOOK ISBN="0000000000">
           <TITLE>ActionScript</TITLE>                    
           <AUTHOR>J, J</AUTHOR>
           <PUBLISHER>Books Ltd</PUBLISHER>  
         </BOOK>;
       
       trace(novel.attribute("ISBN"));
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

Returns an XMLList that contains one XML instance, representing the attribute, with variable-access syntax.

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var novel:XML = <BOOK ISBN="0000000000">
           <TITLE>ActionScript</TITLE>                    
           <AUTHOR>J, J</AUTHOR>
           <PUBLISHER>Books Ltd</PUBLISHER>  
         </BOOK>;
       
       trace(novel.@ISBN);
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

To access an element"s attributes: attributes()

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var novel:XML = <BOOK ISBN="0000000000">
           <TITLE>ActionScript</TITLE>                    
           <AUTHOR>J, J</AUTHOR>
           <PUBLISHER>Books Ltd</PUBLISHER>  
         </BOOK>;
       
       trace(novel.attributes());
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

To access the XML instance contained by the XMLList returned by novel.@ISBN

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var novel:XML = <BOOK ISBN="0000000000">
           <TITLE>ActionScript</TITLE>                    
           <AUTHOR>J, J</AUTHOR>
           <PUBLISHER>Books Ltd</PUBLISHER>  
         </BOOK>;
       
       trace(novel.@ISBN[0]);
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

To loop over all of the attributes of an element, use a for each loop.

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var fruit:XML = <fruit name="Apple" color="red" />;
       
       for each ( var attribute:XML in fruit.attributes(  ) ) {
         trace( attribute.name(  ) + " = " + attribute.toString(  ) );
       }
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

Unusual behavior can be used to collect a group of attributes into a single attribute

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var books:XML = <BOOKS>
           <BOOK ISBN="0000000000"/>
           <BOOK ISBN="1111111111"/>
           <BOOK ISBN="2222222222"/>
         </BOOKS>;
       
       var order:XML = <ORDER ITEMS=""/>;
       order.@ITEMS = books.*.@ISBN;
       
       trace(order);
   }
 }

}

       </source>
   
  

Use the name( ) method on the attribute reference to retrieve its name

   <source lang="java">

package{

 import flash.display.Sprite;
 
 public class Main extends Sprite{
   public function Main(){
       var fruit:XML = <fruit name="Apple" color="red" />;
       
       trace( fruit.attributes(  )[1].name(  ) );

   }
 }

}

       </source>