Loading XML from the Net

• Use the nonstandard, but fully supported, load() method.
• Only works for XML.
• But, it does support file:// and ftp://.

/**
 * Synchronously load the XML document at the specified URL and
 * return it as a Document object
 */
XML.load = function(url) {
    // Create a new document the previously defined function
    var xmldoc = XML.newDocument();  
    xmldoc.async = false;  // We want to load synchronously
    xmldoc.load(url);      // Load and parse
    return xmldoc;         // Return the document
};

• It can also be used asynchronously.

/**
 * Asynchronously load and parse an XML document from the specified URL.
 * When the document is ready, pass it to the specified callback function.
 * This function returns immediately with no return value.
 */
XML.loadAsync = function(url, callback) {
    var xmldoc = XML.newDocument();

    // If we created the XML document using createDocument, use
    // onload to determine when it is loaded
    if (document.implementation && document.implementation.createDocument) {
        xmldoc.onload = function() { callback(xmldoc); };
    }
    // Otherwise, use onreadystatechange as with XMLHttpRequest
    else {
        xmldoc.onreadystatechange = function() {
            if (xmldoc.readyState == 4) callback(xmldoc);
        };
    }

    // Now go start the download and parsing
    xmldoc.load(url);
};