I am trying to load an XML file using Javascript and I have yet to find a good function that works in IE, Firefox, and Safari. The load function I am currently using is basically the one straight out of the w3schools tutorials:

.asp?filename=tryxml_dom_createelement

The exact code looks like:

if (window.ActiveXObject)
{
xmlDoc=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
}
// code for Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, etc.
else if (document.implementation.createDocument)
{
xmlDoc=document.implementation.createDocument("","",null);
}
else
{
alert('Your browser cannot handle this script');
}
xmlDoc.async=false;
xmlDoc.load(dname);

Where dname = the url of the xml file. This code gets a "TypeError: Value undefined (result of expression xmlDoc.load) is not object." in Safari.

I have also tried the code on this site:

.html

However, it yields a null XML file. Can anyone help?

I am trying to load an XML file using Javascript and I have yet to find a good function that works in IE, Firefox, and Safari. The load function I am currently using is basically the one straight out of the w3schools tutorials:

http://www.w3schools./XML/tryit.asp?filename=tryxml_dom_createelement

The exact code looks like:

if (window.ActiveXObject)
{
xmlDoc=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
}
// code for Mozilla, Firefox, Opera, etc.
else if (document.implementation.createDocument)
{
xmlDoc=document.implementation.createDocument("","",null);
}
else
{
alert('Your browser cannot handle this script');
}
xmlDoc.async=false;
xmlDoc.load(dname);

Where dname = the url of the xml file. This code gets a "TypeError: Value undefined (result of expression xmlDoc.load) is not object." in Safari.

I have also tried the code on this site:

http://developer.apple./internet/webcontent/xmlhttpreq.html

However, it yields a null XML file. Can anyone help?

• javascript
• xml
• ajax

2 Answers 2

Sounds like the problem is that Safari does not support document.implementation.createDocument as a method to fetch and load XML sources. You must use an XMLHttpRequest to fetch and parse the XML AFAIK.

I've tried a modified version of the code from the Apple tutorial you linked and it seemed to work for me. This code is not the best in the world, and it's missing a lot of error handling, but it's the only proof of concept I had on hand.

Note: I highly remend using a library. There are browser inconsistencies abound with XMLHttpRequests and XML parsing. It's worth the investment!

For a non library version I used a modified version of the safari code to get the XMLHttpRequest:

function getXHR(url,callback) {
    var req = false;
    // branch for native XMLHttpRequest object
    if(window.XMLHttpRequest && !(window.ActiveXObject)) {
        try {
            req = new XMLHttpRequest();
        } catch(e) {
            req = false;
        }
    // branch for IE/Windows ActiveX version
    } else if(window.ActiveXObject) {
        try {
            req = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
        } catch(e) {
            try {
                req = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
            } catch(e) {
                req = false;
            }
        }
    }

    if(req) {
        req.onreadystatechange = function() { callback( req ) };
        req.open("GET", url, true);
        req.send("");
    }
}

Grabbing the XML from the result is not without its own quirks as well:

function getXML( response ) {
    if( response.readyState==4 ) {
        //Get the xml document element for IE or firefox
        var xml;
        if ( response.responseXML ) {
                xml = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
                xml.async = false;
                xml.loadXML(response.responseText);
        } else {
                xml = response.responseXML;
        }

        return xml;
    }

    return null;
}

Finally use what you get:

function callback( response ) {
    var xmlDoc = getXML( response );
    if( xmlDoc ) {
        //do your work here
        ...
    }       
}

If you still find yourself having trouble there are a few things you can check that will likely solve your problem.

1. Did you set your content type to text/xml?
2. Is your request actually making it to the server and back?
3. When you alert/examine the responseText, do you see anything that does not belong?
4. Is your XML properly formatted? Run it through a validator.

Best of luck! Cheers.

You might want to look at XML for <Script>. I've seen some posts that indicate that they've solved the problem on Safari with it.