XML DOM and Javascript

lilu · September 24th, 2003, 12:39 PM

Hi everyone,

I've been struggling enough with this thing, so I decided to finally ask for help.

My web application consists of a series of htm pages that need be accessed as "steps" in a process.

I am using mainly XML DOM and java script in order to get the information typed by the users in the forms.

After filling the form in the first step, I need to "save" that information somehow and send it to the next page.

I am simulating serialization of an object, collecting all the input from the form and holding it as a string using a java script function:

function GetXML(fm)

{
      var strXML = new String();
      strXML = "<?xml version='1.0'?>\n";
      strXML = strXML + "<root>\n";
      strXML = strXML + "<name>\n";
      strXML = strXML + "\t<first>" + fm.First.value + "</first>\n";
      strXML = strXML + "\t<last>" + fm.Last.value + "</last>\n";
      strXML = strXML + "</name>\n";
      strXML = strXML + "<phones>\n";
      strXML = strXML + "\t<phoneno typeID='" + fm.PhoneType.value + "' type='" + fm.PhoneType.options[fm.PhoneType.selectedIndex].text + "'>" + fm.PhoneNo.value + "</phoneno>\n";
      strXML = strXML + "</phones>\n";
      strXML = strXML + "<email>" + fm.Email.value + "</email>\n";
      strXML = strXML + "<address street='" + fm.Street.value + "' city='" + fm.City.value + "' state='" + fm.State.value + "' zip='" + fm.Zip.value + "'></address>\n";
      strXML = strXML + "</root>";

     return (strXML); //this value will be returned and sent to the "next step"

}

My problem:
How do I access this xml document (returned by the function) in the next "step" of my application? Can I save it at the client, adding nodes to it, until I am ready to submit it to an .asp page for further processing???

I would appreciate any help I could get. This thing is pulling my brains out... :) Thanks...

lilu

armmarti · September 25th, 2003, 01:57 AM

Hi Lilu,

here is the snippet which will help you I hope:

Code:

// Instantiate a DOM object.
var doc = new ActiveXObject("msxml2.DOMDocument.4.0");
doc.async = false;
doc.resolveExternals = false;
doc.validateOnParse = false;

// Load an XML doc into the DOM instance.
var xmlDocAsString = GetXML(form1);
doc.loadXML(xmlDocAsString);

// Save the dom to a file.
doc.save("saved.xml");

But this all needs MSXML4.0.

Regards,
Armen

joefawcett · September 25th, 2003, 03:56 AM

You can't save it to the client easily, it would be a security breach, unless you are sure that it's IE and you can use persistance behavior.
You can use frames and save the DomDocument object in a staic frame while the main frame changes as your wizard moves from step to step.

--

Joe

lilu · September 25th, 2003, 07:55 AM

Thank you so much for your replies. I am new to xmldom and wished I could do all this in asp, but unfortunately my app is using software that can only display the flash demos in htm pages.

Saving at the client would not be a big security issue in my case, as this app will run on our intranet only.

I think I will save the doc to the local drive on each client, then retrieve it in the next step and keep adding nodes to it. In the end I will post everything to an asp page that will save the data in xml format into a staging database (armmarti, I will let you know how this goes!).

Interesting solution with saving in a frame, joefawcett. I would like to know more about that. It would probably be the best thing to do if the saving to the drive does not work!

Thanks again,

lilu