How to make a data set from this???

Question

Hi all,
I have to read an XML file and then display each item on my
page.
Now, I have no problems doing this with simple, one level XML
files like an RSS file for example. But the XML I have to read is a
little different to what I am used to:
quote:
<SearchResult CartNumber="A418 " CartType="M"
StartTime="2008-06-11T14:44:29.323"
EndTime="2008-06-11T14:47:46.15" CartComplete="true" StaticText=""
NextPlayTime="0001-01-01T00:00:00"
GUID="e76df096-139e-4270-a5dc-4a2cf0cddf16">
<CustomProperties>
<CustomProperty PropertyName="iTunesLink"
PropertyValue="" />
<CustomProperty PropertyName="SongHookLink"
PropertyValue="" />
<CustomProperty PropertyName="RingToneLink"
PropertyValue="" />
<CustomProperty PropertyName="AlbumArtLink"
PropertyValue="Stranger In Town Album - Bob Seger.jpg" />
<CustomProperty PropertyName="TicketLink"
PropertyValue="" />
<CustomProperty PropertyName="SongLyricPhrases"
PropertyValue="" />
</CustomProperties>
<MusicData CartNumber="A418" Title="STILL THE SAME"
Artist="BOB SEGER" Length="3:11.0" LengthSeconds="191"
CategoryName="Exile" CategoryCode="X" Note1="." Note2="." />
</SearchResult>
You can see it has multiple levels for each search result.
Can someone help me work out how I would display the results
on a page, repeating. (There will be 5 of these 'SearchResult'
items.
Again, I am fine with single level XML.. but as you can see..
this one has Custom properties which is a level deep, then all the
MusicData in one bit..
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards
Scott

Answer 1

Hi Scott,
I'm beggining to understand a bit better what it is you want
to display, and I realize you're still a bit confused as to what
Spry actually does to the XML.
If you call {data::@iTunesLink} on the HTML, according to the
definition of the "data" dataset, Spry will lookup an attribute
name iTunesLink on the following XPath:
"SearchResults/SearchResult/CustomProperties/CustomProperty". The
problem is, that attribute does not exist on your XML.
Valid calls would include {data::@PropertyName} and
{data::@PropertyValue} and would yield, respectively, "iTunesLink"
and "
http://bigpondmusic.com/Album/Snow-Patrol/Eyes-Open.aspx?search=2304296&h=30081101"
as an example first result (considering there is no "repeat" set).
Does that make sense to you?
If I've interpreted your XML correctly, I think you are
making an assumption that Spry understands that PropertyName and
PropertyValue are related. It does not make that assumption, and it
shouldn't - they are completely different things in your XML, they
just happen to be attributes for the same tag ("CustomProperty").
Why don't you try to trim down your XML to something more
straightforward like this:
<CustomProperties>
<iTunesLink value="
http://bigpondmusic.com/Album/Snow-Patrol/Eyes-Open.aspx?search=2304296&h=30081101"
/>
<SongHookLink value="" />
<RingToneLink value="" />
<AlbumArtLink value="Eyes Open Album - Snow Patrol.jpg"
/>
<TicketLink value="" />
<SongLyricPhrases value="" />
</CustomProperties>
Then use subpaths instead of NestedXML (better for your kind
of XML), and call the attributes like this (placeholder >>
yield):
{iTunesLink/@value} >>
http://bigpondmusic.com/Album/Snow-Patrol/Eyes-Open.aspx?search=2304296&h=30081101
{SongHookLink/@value} >> yields blank
{RingToneLink/@value} >> yields blank
{AlbumArtLink/@value} >> Eyes Open Album - Snow
Patrol.jpg
You get the picture...
Unless there is a reason to use that particular structure on
the XML, I recommend you streamline it...
Give it a shot and then come back again when you hit the next
obstacle.
Regards,
Tomas