Applescript can't process XML with comments?

Question

Hi I am trying to use applescript to process an XML file, and I have discovered that when that file includes comments ( the kind delimited by <!-- and --> ), the Applescript parser breaks.  Specifically, each comment inserted causes applescript to skip or drop the next non-comment element in the file.  If there are two comments, two non-comment elements get skipped, etc.
Is this a known bug in Applescript's System Events XML parser?  How does one work around this if the files to be processed will definitely have comments?
The XML parsing is part of a larger tool built in Applescript that is already in use, which is why I do need to use Applescript to do this XML parsing, rather than rewriting the whole tool in some other scripting language.
thanks

Answer 1

Short answer is you're doing it wrong.
Long answer: I haven't figured out precisely what is going wrong with the script as you wrote it, though I suspect either the script is asking the comment elements for a name property (which they do not have) or that the odd way you reference the xml file in the handler is mucking things up. However, refocusing the script solves the problem:
global XMLfile
tell application "System Events"
          set XMLfile to XML file "/example.xml"
          tell XMLfile
                    set showName to value of XML element "current" of XML element "shows"
                    set show to XML element showName of XML element "shows"
          end tell
          set theresult to my getxml(show, "nested")
  display dialog (theresult)
end tell
on getxml(xmldata, e)
          set returnValue to missing value
          tell application "System Events"
                    tell XMLfile
                              set d_name to (get name of xmldata)
                              display dialog d_name
                              repeat with thisElement in XML elements of xmldata
                                        if returnValue is not missing value then exit repeat
                                        set e_name to (get name of thisElement)
                                        if e_name is equal to e then
                                                  set returnValue to value of thisElement
                                                  exit repeat
                                        else
                                                  set returnValue to my getxml(thisElement, e)
                                        end if
                              end repeat
                    end tell
          end tell
          return returnValue
end getxml