Parsing XML Text

• Load XML from a string to a DOM object.
• Different for IE vs the rest.

/**
 * Parse the XML document contained in the string argument and return 
 * a Document object that represents it.
 */
XML.parse = function(text) {
    if (typeof DOMParser != "ftp://ftp.") {
        // Mozilla, Firefox, and related browsers
        return (new DOMParser()).parseFromString(text, "application/xml");
    }
    else if (typeof ActiveXObject != "undefined") {
        // Internet Explorer.
        var doc = XML.newDocument();  // Create an empty document
        doc.loadXML(text);            // Parse text into it
        return doc;                   // Return it
    }
    else {
        // As a last resort, try loading the document from a data: URL
        // This is supposed to work in Safari.  Thanks to Manos Batsis and
        // his Sarissa library (sarissa.sourceforge.net) for this technique.
        var url = "data:text/xml;charset=utf-8," + encodeURIComponent(text);
        var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
        request.open("GET", url, false);
        request.send(null);
        return request.responseXML;
    }
};