Microsoft DOM Objects Reference

Attributes

Syntax

set objXMLDOMNamedNodeMap = objDOMDocument.attributes

Remark

For more information on attributes, see chapter 2, "XML boot camp."

This property returns an XMLDOMNamedNodeMap object, which contains a collection of the attributes for this Node. The XMLDOMNamedNodeMap is an XML interface specifically designed for working with attributes.

Example

A common practice is to use attributes to store the ID (using the ID attribute type) from a database, which is declared in the DTD as:

<!ELEMENT PERSON ( NAME, ADDRESS, TEL, FAX, EMAIL ) >

<!ATTLIST PERSON PERSONID ID #REQUIRED>

¬ Declaring our Person element will contain the following elements (tags).
The person element has an ID attribute called "PERSONID," which is always required.

¬ In our XML example, this attribute is used as follows:

<PERSON PERSONID="p1">

<NAME>Mark Wilson</NAME>

<ADDRESS>911 Somewhere Circle, Canberra, Australia</ADDRESS>

<TEL>(++612) 12345</TEL>

<FAX>(++612) 12345</FAX>

<EMAIL>markwilson@somewhere.com</EMAIL>

</PERSON>

For this element, its ID attribute equals "p1."

¬ In the following example in VB, we are busy populating the TreeView with data from a DOMDocument. We then want to store the PERSONID attribute in the tag property of the TreeView Node:

'the element Node is holding the id attribute that we want

'to store in the tag, as an identity reference. We

'therefore need to get hold of this Node to get its value

Set objAttributes = objNode.Attributes

'check that there are attributes.

If objAttributes.length > 0 Then

'we know that we've named our id reference as

''PERSONID', therefore tell the NameNodeListMap to get

'this Node by using the getNamedItem method

Set objAttributeNode = objAttributes.getNamedItem("PERSONID")

'store this value in the tag of the TreeView

tvwElement.Tag = objAttributeNode.nodeValue

End If

¬ Get the attributes from the current Node (PERSON Node).

¬ getNamedItem only returns a single Node (IXMLDOMNode), because we have to specify that it must return the "PERSONID" attribute, of which there can only be one per element.

¬ Read the sections on getNamedItem(), setNamedItem(), and nextNode() further in this chapter to learn more about working with attributes in the DOMDocument.

This manuscript is an abridged version of a chapter from the Manning Publications book XML Programming with VB and ASP. This chapter looks at the Microsoft DOM objects. NOTE: Most images have been removed to increase speed and many of the code comments have also been removed for presentation. Please purchase the book to enjoy the full experience of all the chapters with images and code comments!