Need help - How to Validate XML

Question

I have just started playing around with XML in Flex2 and
can't figure out a few things. I have the following XML
var myData:XML =
<SPECIAL>
<ROW>
<ITEM_001 ITEM_NAME="TOLERANCE">10</ITEM_001>
<ITEM_002 ITEM_NAME="DIA A">.25</ITEM_002>
<ITEM_003 ITEM_NAME="DIA B">.5</ITEM_003>
</ROW>
<ROW>
<ITEM_001 ITEM_NAME="TOLERANCE">150</ITEM_001>
<ITEM_002 ITEM_NAME="DIA A">.25</ITEM_002>
<ITEM_003 ITEM_NAME="DIA B">.73</ITEM_003>
</ROW>
</_SPECIAL>
I want the extract the element name ITEM_00x from with the
row to use as a string in another portion of the app. For example,
I can get to the ITEM_NAME attribute (TOLERANCE) and to the value
(like 10). I can't figure out how to extract ITEM_001 short of
creating an XMLString and parsing it out. I'm sure there must be a
function or some other simple way to get it but I don't know what
it is.
Another thing I'd like to do is validate the xml somehow so I
can insure that I have a good format. Not sure how to do this in
Flex2. I'm uploading XML via HTTPService (e4X format) from users.
The only caveat is that the number of elements in each row can vary
depending on whom I get the xml from. I may have ITEM_001 thru
ITEM_010 in each row the first time and ITEM_001 thru ITEM_005 the
next.
Any help would be appreciated!
Warren Koch

Answer 1

That didn't do it -- it just extracted "TOLERANCE", not
"ITEM_001". What I'm trying to do is create an array of objects
based on the XML. Here is the code:
public function CreateSpecialDataArray():Array {
var Data_Name:String;
var theData:Array = new Array();
var DataObject:Object;
for each (var propRow:XML in myData.SPECIAL.ROW) {
DataObject = new Object();
for each (var propItem:XML in propRow.*) {
Data_Name = propItem.@ITEM_NAME;
DataObject[Data_Name]=propItem.toString();
theData.push(DataObject);
It's making the DataObject with properties of TOLERANCE, etc.
I want to make the DataObject with properties of ITEM_001,
ITEM_002, etc. I can't use the @ITEM_NAME to do this.