Question

XML responses from my webapp have both HTML to add to the page AND some have a script to run.

I’m trying to send back XML from my webapp like:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<doc>
  <html-to-insert>
    <![CDATA[<p>add me to the page</p>]]>
  </html-to-insert>
  <script>
    <![CDATA[ alert('execute me'); ]]>
  </script>
</doc>

What I’m doing now is snapping out the <html-to-insert> and <script> CDATA, inserting the html into the page and eval’ing <script>.

I’m looking for criticism on my approach. Any suggestions from anyone?

Answer 1

You’d rather send JSON, it’s way easier to interpret. Example:

// Suppose your response is a string:
// { html: "<p>add me to the page</p>, script:"alert('execute me');" }
var obj = eval( "(" + response + ")" ) ;
eval( obj.script ) ;