JavaScript Forum

**LayneMitch** · 04-06-2009, 10:09 PM

Hello everyone...

I'm having issues with loading an XML file that's on my desktop into the request object. 1. The XML file is validated 2. The relative path name is correct.

The issue is when I use Firebug to walk through the code, immediately after request.send(null) and if (request.readyState==4), I get the alert error mentioned at the bottom of the code. I'm afraid I've reached a dead end here unless any one of you have any suggestions.

Code:

function beginSearch(the_word,x){

var request=null;
var xml_response=null;

if (window.XMLHttpRequest){
    request=new XMLHttpRequest();
    }else if (window.ActiveXObject){
     request=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
}

if (request){
    request.open("GET","rb_artist2.xml");
    request.onreadystatechange = 
    function(){
        if (request.readyState==4)
        {
            if(window.ActiveXObject){
            xml_response=new ActiveXObject ("Microsoft.XMLDom");
            xml_response.loadXML(request.responseText);
            }
              else
            { 
            xml_response=request.responseXML;
            }
          compareUserEntry(xml_response,the_word,x);
        }
        else
        {
               alert("Sorry, there was a problem while getting access"+" to the file");
                return;
            }
         }
         request.send(null);
 }else{
  
  alert ("sorry, you must update your browser before seeing" + "Ajax in action");
 }
}

This is all you really need to see...the rest of the code I can walk through and debug myself. I just need the file to upload.

**tripy** · 04-07-2009, 02:51 AM

I seem to remember having a problem like this, a couple of years ago.
And the answer was simply to serve the file via a web server. At least it was the solution at this time.
The file:// protocol seems to behave differently from the http:// protocol.
something related to the content-type of the file, I think.

Did you tried to pass through a web server ?

**LayneMitch** · 04-08-2009, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tripy

I seem to remember having a problem like this, a couple of years ago.
And the answer was simply to serve the file via a web server. At least it was the solution at this time.
The file:// protocol seems to behave differently from the http:// protocol.
something related to the content-type of the file, I think.

Did you tried to pass through a web server ?

No, I'm trying to do it without server side PHP code. I haven't learned that yet (although I would know how to create it to call an xml file on the server). Just in case I need to go that route, I had my sites hosting company switch to a Linux server that host PHP code.

In the meantime, I'll continue to work with the http://protocol...let me know if you have any suggestions..Thanks

**tripy** · 04-08-2009, 06:01 AM

Quote:

No, I'm trying to do it without server side PHP code.

That's not what I was talking about...

If you open your html page from your hard disk, you are using (implicitely) the file:// protocol of the browser.
The browser react differently than when you use the http:// protocol.

What you need to do, is to install a simple web server (just apache, or iis, or the personal web server from windows, whichever. No need for PHP or anything else) and access your html page via http://127.0.0.1/mypage.html
Until so, I remember that you cannot use an ajax request.

**JeremyMiller** · 04-13-2009, 06:45 AM

This proved to be a bit interesting.

I used

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<artists>
  <artist>
    <name>Artist 1</name>
  </artist>
  <artist>
    <name>Artist 2</name>
  </artist>
</artists>

as the XML. After quite a few tutorials and head banging to go along with some for..in's, I was able to get

HTML Code:

<html>
<head>
<script>
var xmlDoc;
var textNode = "textContent";

function importXML(file) {
 //var xmlDoc;
 var moz_xml = (typeof document.implementation != 'undefined') && (typeof document.implementation.createDocument != 'undefined');
 var ie_xml = (typeof window.ActiveXObject != 'undefined');

 if (moz_xml) {
   xmlDoc = document.implementation.createDocument("", "", null)
 } else if (ie_xml) {
   textNode = "text";
   xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");   
 }
 xmlDoc.async = false;
 xmlDoc.load(file);
}

function beginSearch(the_word, x){
  var xmlArtists = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("artists");
  for (var i=0;i<xmlArtists[0].childNodes.length;i++) {
    if (xmlArtists[0].childNodes[i].nodeType != 1) continue;
    var name_field = xmlArtists[0].childNodes[i].getElementsByTagName('name')[0];
    document.getElementById('results').innerHTML += name_field[textNode] + "<br />";
  }
}

importXML("rb_artist2.xml");
</script>
</head>
<body>
<input type="button" onClick="beginSearch('abc',2); return false" value="Click"/>
<div id="results"></div>
</body>
</html>

to work in both the latest versions of FF and IE.