Stepping through a poorly formatted xml file

Question

Hi, this forum worked a charm earlier so I'm hoping it will go 2 for 2.
Through a httpservice I'm reading an XML file into a ArrayCollection. Because the XML is so poorly formatted I'm having to write some very sloppy code just to step through 20 results. I have no control over the XML.
XML Example (can be anywhere from 0 to 20 results):
<results>
    <game>
        <type>game</type>
        <id>321</id>
        <name>gamename</name>
        <image>i34d.png</image>
    </game>
    <character>
        <type>character</type>
        <id>1123</id>
        <name>john</name>
        <image>sds.png/image>
    </character>
    <game>
        <type>game</type>
        <id>432</id>
        <name>examplename</name>
        <image>g2dss.png</image>
    </game>
</results>
Each result can be one of 7 types (I've done only 2, game and character, in my example). The order of them I really want to preserve in my ArrayCollection as it's very relevant.
Here is the (very) sloppy way I'm currently loading each result into my AC:
//container array
var ac2:ArrayCollection = new ArrayCollection;
//I do a block like this for EVERY results type. Meaning 7 in total...
if (service2.lastResult.response.results.character) {
     var characterAC:ArrayCollection = new ArrayCollection;
     if (service2.lastResult.response.results.character is ArrayCollection) {
     //there is more than 1 entry
     characterAC = service2.lastResult.response.results.character as ArrayCollection;
     } else {
          //There is only 1 entry. Need to MAKE it an ArrayColleciton
          characterAC = new ArrayCollection([service2.lastResult.response.results.character]);
        //Add all characters to AC
     ac2.addAll(characterAC);
The two major problems with this code is: 1, it's stupidly bloated and 2, ac2 no longer maintains the order of the XML response. First it puts all <character> into my AC, then it puts all <game> into AC. So on and so forth.
In my head I'm trying to do something like this:
ac2 = service2.lastResult.response.results.* as ArrayCollection;
That would then load all results (regardless of type) into an ArrayCollection. I'm guessing a solution is not that simple...
In an Ideal world, whoever created the XML api would just call each result <result> instead of the stupid type tags it currently uses.
I hope all that makes sense.
Regards,
Zaph.

Answer 1

@Zaph31,
Why not use an XMLListCollection instead of an ArrayCollection?
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mx:Application xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml" initialize="init();">
    <mx:XML id="iWouldntHaveCodedXMLLikeThat" xmlns="">
        <results>
            <game>
                <type>game</type>
                <id>321</id>
                <name>gamename</name>
                <image>i34d.png</image>
            </game>
            <character>
                <type>character</type>
                <id>1123</id>
                <name>john</name>
                <image>sds.png</image>
            </character>
            <game>
                <type>game</type>
                <id>432</id>
                <name>examplename</name>
                <image>g2dss.png</image>
            </game>
        </results>
    </mx:XML>
    <mx:XMLListCollection id="xmlListColl" />
    <mx:Script>
        <![CDATA[
            private function init():void {
                xmlListColl.source = iWouldntHaveCodedXMLLikeThat.children();
        ]]>
    </mx:Script>
    <mx:DataGrid id="dg" dataProvider="{xmlListColl}">
        <mx:columns>
            <mx:DataGridColumn dataField="type" />
            <mx:DataGridColumn dataField="id" />
            <mx:DataGridColumn dataField="name" />
            <mx:DataGridColumn dataField="image" />
        </mx:columns>
    </mx:DataGrid>
</mx:Application>
Peter