Question

I am quite new to dealing with xml files through Flash and Action Script 3.0.
I write this piece of code with the intention of changing all the QUESTION children into WRONG.

var urlRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest("question.xml");
        var urlLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
        urlLoader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.TEXT;
        urlLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, urlLoader_complete, false, 0, true);
        urlLoader.load(urlRequest);


    private function urlLoader_complete(e:Event):void {
        var question:XML = new XML(e.target.data);
        question.QUESTION.setName("WRONG");
        trace("FINISH!");
    }

The program runs and I successfully got the word Finish traced. However when I check the xml file question.xml, not one of the QUESTION children is renamed.

Can someone explain this for me?

Thanks a lot

Answer 1

setName is the correct method, but in your example, you are not using it on the individual nodes, but on the XMLList that is returned by question.QUESTION – which, technically, does not appear in the XML tree, and therefore does not reflect the change within the XML output.

You need to iterate over the actual nodes to get a result:

var question:XML = <QUESTIONS><QUESTION /><QUESTION /></QUESTIONS>;
var questions:XMLList = question.QUESTION;
for each( var node:XML in questions )
    node.setName( "WRONG" );
trace ( question ); // output: <QUESTIONS><WRONG /><WRONG /></QUESTIONS>

Or for a single node:

var question:XML = <QUESTIONS><QUESTION /></QUESTIONS>;
var questions:XMLList = question.QUESTION;
questions[0].setName( "WRONG" );
trace ( question ); // output: <QUESTIONS><WRONG /></QUESTIONS>