Converting XMLDocument object to String in Javascript

Question

I want to convert XMLDocument object that I'm getting as a response from an ajax request, to a string. I tried using

new XMLSerializer()).serializeToString(xmlObject)

and I get the following response:-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><ns2:errorList xmlns:ns2="http://www.example.com/api/delivery/V1"><error code="DOMAIN_VALIDATE" path="delivery.shipper"><message>empty</message></error><error code="DOMAIN_VALIDATE" path="delivery.shipperSite"><message>empty</message></error><error code="DOMAIN_VALIDATE" path="delivery.leg"><message>invalid</message></error></ns2:errorList>

Means the method converted the whole XMLDocument into string, including the very first tag

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

I don't want this part of the response. Is there any method that does that. Note: I don't want to use the workarounds like "substr" etc.

Tim Down · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-16 08:22:31Z

85

You can do this by serializing just the root node:

new XMLSerializer().serializeToString(xmlObject.documentElement);

Demo: http://jsfiddle.net/timdown/LmWkL/

answered Jul 16, 2013 at 8:22

Tim Down

326k76 gold badges461 silver badges546 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

5 Comments

Nathan Over a year ago

There should be a 'save this answer somewhere because you're going to search for it another million times' button in SO...

Patric Over a year ago

@Nathan you can click on "Bookmark this question" and in your profile you will find those under "Bookmarks".

Nathan Over a year ago

@Patric, nearly six years later it turned out that I didn't search for anything XML-related quite as much... But thanks for the tip, I didn't know about that!

AaronJ Over a year ago

Why not just xmlObject.documentElement.outerHTML?

Tim Down Over a year ago

@AaronJ: AFAICT, there's no reason not to use that now, given that it is standardized and works on XML. Historically, outerHTML was non-standard for years while XMLSerializer existed. I'm having a hard time finding out whether it was standardized by 2013, and if so, whether it could be relied upon for XML documents as well as HTML. Personally, I'd probably still use XMLSerializer because the name is more suggestive of its purpose than outerHTML; outerHTML would catch my eye as being potentially wrong in XML-related code and I'd have to look it up, which makes it less readable.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Converting XMLDocument object to String in Javascript

1 Answer 1

5 Comments

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

5 Comments

Linked

Related