How to get/process the Data from XMLSocket?

Question

Hello All,
I'm using Adobe Professional CS6, and Actionscript 3.0.
To start with I have a C# program that basically just feeds data out from a Server in the form of XML data. I then have a Flash program that should receive the data and then I'll do some stuff with it. We had this working in Actionscript 1.0 but we need to upgrade the code to Actionscript 3.0, but instead of just trying to convert stuff over to the new  Actionscript version, I'm going to re-write the program.
So far I've basically just defined some EventListeners most of which I found examples of online for using XMLSockets. As of now the Flash program will connect an XMLSocket to the Server that is feeding out the data, and the server feeding the data resends new data every 5-10 seconds or so.
So when a grouping of XML Data comes in on the port I defined, the following Function gets executed for handling the incoming data. For my EventListener's Function for "socket.addEventListener(DataEvent.DATA, dataHandler);"  ("socket" is defined as --> var socket = new XMLSocket(); ). So when the new data comes in it executes the above function.
The trouble I'm having is declaring a new variable of type "XML" and then using that variable to pull out individual "nodes/children" from the incoming XML Data. I found an example online that was very close to what I want to do except instead of using an XMLSocket to get data constantly streaming in they use the "URLLoader" function to get the XML data. I know I'm receiving the XML data onto the server because if I set the (e: DataEvent) variable defined in the function "head" to a string and then run a trace on that I can see ALL of the XML data in the "Output Window".
But I can't seem to be able to set (e: DataEvent) to a XML variable so I can access individual elements of the XML data. The example I found (which uses the URLLoader instead) uses this line (myXML = new XML(e.target.data);)  to set the XML Variable, which won't work for mine, and if I try to do the same thing in my code it simply prints this for as many lines as there is XML data --> "[object XMLSocket]"
MY CODE:
*I left out the other Functions that are in my code for the EventListeners you'll see defined below, except for the one in question:
                         ---> "function dataHandler(e: DataEvent):void"
import flash.events.IOErrorEvent;
import flash.events.ProgressEvent;
import flash.events.SecurityErrorEvent;
import flash.events.DataEvent;
var socket = new XMLSocket();
socket.addEventListener(Event.CONNECT, connectHandler);
socket.addEventListener(Event.CLOSE, closeHandler);
socket.addEventListener(DataEvent.DATA, dataHandler);
socket.addEventListener(IOErrorEvent.IO_ERROR, ioErrorHandler);
socket.addEventListener(ProgressEvent.PROGRESS, progressHandler);
socket.addEventListener(SecurityErrorEvent.SECURITY_ERROR, securityErrorHandler);
var success = socket.connect('server.domain.name.local',3004);
The code in this function was used from an example I found online as described above in the post: 
          LINK --> http://www.republicofcode.com/tutorials/flash/as3xml/
// The Commented out code (*in blue) will show ALL the xml data inside the "Output Window":
function dataHandler(e: DataEvent):void {
          // var myStr:String = e.data;
          var xml:XML;
          xml = new XML(e.target.data);  //<--- THIS DOESN"T WORK (I DONT THINK 'target' IS CORRECT HERE)??
          if (socket.connected)
                    // trace(myStr)
                    trace(xml);
The Output from the line "trace(xml)" will show this data below in the "Output Window" (*FYI There should be 6 lines of XML Data on each 'update'):
[object XMLSocket]
[object XMLSocket]
[object XMLSocket]
[object XMLSocket]
[object XMLSocket]
[object XMLSocket]
Could someone show or point me in the right direction on this. I want to be able to access specific parts of the incoming XML Data.
Here's some sample XML Data:
<MESSAGE VAR="screen2Display" TEXT="CSQ_1" />
<MESSAGE VAR="F1_agentsReady" TEXT="111" />
<MESSAGE VAR="F1_unavailableAgents" TEXT="222" />
<MESSAGE VAR="F1_talkingAgents" TEXT="333" />
<MESSAGE VAR="F1_callsHandled" TEXT="444" />
<MESSAGE VAR="F1_ABDRate" TEXT="555" />
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated..!
FYI:
I'm VERY new to Actionscript/Flash Developing (*about a week now), so go easy on me haha...
Thanks in Advance,
Matt

Answer 1

Hey Guys, thanks ALOT for the replies!!
Andrei1 and Sinious,
The code I show above is actually just what I found in an example online, and its what i was trying to show you what "they" used
in the URLLoader example. I wasn't trying to use URLLoader, but it was the closest example I found online to  what I was trying to
do in terms of processing the XML Data, and not how I read it in. So XMLSocket IS definetly what I'm trying to use because the Server
I'm receiving the XML Data from "pushes" it out every 10 seconds or so. So yea I definatly want to use XMLSocket and not URLLoader...
Sorry for the confusion...
The example you show:
     var xml:XML = new XML(e.data)
Is actually what I had in my original code but I couldn't get it to show anything in the "Output Window" using the trace() method on
it, so I assumed I wasn't doing it correctly...
What my original code was in the "dataHandler()" Function was this:
function dataHandler(e: DataEvent): void
    var xml: XML = XML(e.data);
    if (socket.connected)
        trace(xml);
        msgArea.htmlText += "*socket.connected = TRUE\n"
    } else {
        msgArea.htmlText += "*socket.connected = FALSE\n"
OUTPUT:
And what I get when I run a Debug on it is, in the "msgArea", which is just a simple Text Box w/ Dynamic Text on the main frame it prints:
    "socket.connected = TRUE
     socket.connected = TRUE
     socket.connected = TRUE
     socket.connected = TRUE
     socket.connected = TRUE
     socket.connected = TRUE"
It prints that message 6 times in the msgArea for each XML Message that comes in (*which I think 6 times because there
are 6 "sections/nodes" in the XML Data). But then NOTHING prints in the "Output Window" for the "trace(xml)" command.
Not sure why nothing is showing in the "Output Window", maybe the XML is not complete? But I could see data in the "Output
Window" when I set "e.data" to a string variable, so I know the Data is reaching the program. Since I could see the XML Data in
a string variable, does that mean I can rule out that the XML Data coming in is considered a "complete" XML Document?
Because I wasn't sure if to be considered a complete XML Document it would need to have this included in the message..?
                    "<?xml version="1.0"?>"
For the tests I'm running, one single XML message which is being pushed out from the server looks like this:
<MESSAGE VAR="screen2Display" TEXT="Call_Queue_1" />
<MESSAGE VAR="F1_agentsReady" TEXT="111" />
<MESSAGE VAR="F1_unavailableAgents" TEXT="222" />
<MESSAGE VAR="F1_talkingAgents" TEXT="333" />
<MESSAGE VAR="F1_callsHandled" TEXT="444" />
<MESSAGE VAR="F1_ABDRate" TEXT="555" />
Would I need to include that "Header" in the XML message above?
               i.e. "<?xml version="1.0"?>"
Or do I need to be more specific in the trace command instead of just using "trace(xml)"?
Also yes, I already have a Flash Policy file setup and working correctly.
Anyway, thanks again guys for the replies, very much appreciated!!
Thanks Again,
Matt