Poltergeist in my code?

Tracey · Nov 23, 2006

Could someone please please (before i tear my hair out [hairpull2]

) tell me why the first code works but the second code errors with "object required" when there is only one line of code difference (for "start"), but the code is basically the same code that works for "name1"

Working

Code:

function testChoice(user){
		    $('progress').innerHTML = 'Processing request';
			var url = 'data.xml';
			var GroupID = $F('groupid');
			var id = $F('id');
			var pars = 'GroupID=' + GroupID + '&ID=' + id;
		
			var req = new Ajax.Request('test.xml',{method:'get',onComplete:processResult});
		}
		function processResult(response){
			try{
			
			var val = response.responseXML;
			
			//debugger;
			var objName = val.getElementsByTagName('name');
			
			var objDateStarted = val.getElementsByTagName('datestarted');
		
			$('name1').value = objName.item(0).text; 
				
			$('progress').innerHTML = '';
		alert("finished");
			}//try
			catch(e){
				alert(e.message);
			}
		}

Not working

Code:

function testChoice(user){
		    $('progress').innerHTML = 'Processing request';
			var url = 'data.xml';
			var GroupID = $F('groupid');
			var id = $F('id');
			var pars = 'GroupID=' + GroupID + '&ID=' + id;
		
			var req = new Ajax.Request('test.xml',{method:'get',onComplete:processResult});
		}
		function processResult(response){
			try{
			
			var val = response.responseXML;
			
			//debugger;
			var objName = val.getElementsByTagName('name');
			
			var objDateStarted = val.getElementsByTagName('datestarted');
		
			$('name1').value = objName.item(0).text; 
			//this line of code errors!!
			$('start').value = objDateStarted.item(0).text;
		
			$('progress').innerHTML = '';
		alert("finished");
			}//try
			catch(e){
				alert(e.message);
			}
		}

Below are the html of the page, and xml files referenced above

HTML

Code:

<body>
   
    <form name="groupform" id="groupform" method="post" form action="[URL unfurl="true"]http://mydomain/cgi-bin/myapp.exe/savesubscription"[/URL]
        onsubmit="return submitonce()">
        <span id="progress"></span>
        <input type="hidden" name="ID" value="29">
		<input type="hidden" name="groupid" value="55">
        <table bgcolor="#F4BAD8" width="100%">
            
            <tr bgcolor="#F4BAD8">
                <td colspan="2">
                    <h4>
                        Current Subscriptions</h4>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr bgcolor="#F4BAD8">
                <td>
                    Group
                </td>
                <td>
                    <select name="group" id="group" onchange="testChoice(29);">
                        <option value="-1">[SELECT]</option>
                        <option value="58">DFCoGroup</option>
                        <option value="60">FrankBobGroup</option>
                        <option value="68">SithTGroup</option>
                        <option value="70">CatalystGroup</option>
                        <option value="55">MadsoftGroup</option>
                    </select>
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    </form>
    <form action="[URL unfurl="true"]http://aphrodite/cgi-bin/osmos.exe/savesubscription"[/URL] name="addnew"
        method="post" id="addnew">
        <table class="post" bgcolor="#F4BAD8" width="100%">
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <input id="name1" name="name1" value=""><p/>
                    <input id="start" name="start" value=""><p/>
                    <input id="expires" name="expires" value=""><p/>
                    <input id="custom" name="custom" value=""><p/>
                    <input id="iscurrent" name="iscurrent" value=""><p/>
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <input id="address" name="address" value="">
                </td>
            </tr>
        </table>
    </form>
</body>

XML

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
  <data>
    This is some sample data. It is stored in an XML file and retrieved by JavaScript.
  </data>
  <name>
    Free
  </name>
  <datestarted>
25/10/2006 1:26:09 p.m.
  </datestarted>
  <dateexpires>
  </dateexpires>
  <custommonthlyrate>
  </custommonthlyrate>
  <iscurrent>
    1
  </iscurrent>
  <address>
    123 polar fleece lane
  </address>
</root>

cheers

Tracey
Remember... True happiness is not getting what you want...

Its wanting what you have got!

trollacious · Nov 23, 2006

You're obviously either a Perl or PHP programmer. You might try removing the illegal dollar sign from in front of your Javascript variable names and see what happens.

Lee

Tracey · Nov 23, 2006

mmm sorry forgot to mention.. the code uses the $() function of prototype.js

http://www.sergiopereira.com/articles/prototype.js.html#DollarFunction

function $() {
var elements = new Array();

for (var i = 0; i < arguments.length; i++) {
var element = arguments;
if (typeof element == 'string')
element = document.getElementById(element);

if (arguments.length == 1)
return element;

elements.push(element);
}

return elements;
}

Tracey
Remember... True happiness is not getting what you want...

Its wanting what you have got!

Tracey · Nov 23, 2006

If i replace the $ with document.getElementById then i get the same error.

Tracey
Remember... True happiness is not getting what you want...

Its wanting what you have got!

BillyRayPreachersSon · Nov 23, 2006

As I understand it, you're asking for a node with a tagName of "name", and then asking for nodes [!]inside[/!] that node with a tagName of "datestarted"... but yet your XML doesn't have any nodes inside those named "name" - but rather as sibling elements.

Hope this helps,
Dan

Coedit Limited - Delivering standards compliant, accessible web solutions

[tt]Dan's Page [blue]@[/blue] Code Couch

http://www.codecouch.com/dan/

[/tt]

BillyRayPreachersSon · Nov 23, 2006

Ignore that. I mis-read your code!

Dan

Coedit Limited - Delivering standards compliant, accessible web solutions

[tt]Dan's Page [blue]@[/blue] Code Couch

http://www.codecouch.com/dan/

[/tt]

BillyRayPreachersSon · Nov 23, 2006

Try changing all occurrences of:

Code:

.item(0).text

to:

Code:

[0].nodeValue

or possibly even:

Code:

[0].data

(see which works for you).

Hope this helps,
Dan

Coedit Limited - Delivering standards compliant, accessible web solutions

[tt]Dan's Page [blue]@[/blue] Code Couch

http://www.codecouch.com/dan/

[/tt]

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Poltergeist in my code?

Tracey

Programmer

trollacious

Programmer

Tracey

Programmer

Tracey

Programmer

BillyRayPreachersSon

Programmer

BillyRayPreachersSon

Programmer

BillyRayPreachersSon

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