Get xml dom child element in javascript

Question

I have an XML document like this:

<section>
   <description></description>
   <question>
       <description></description>
   </question>
</section>

I have got the sectionXML stored in a variable called SectionXML. I use:

section.description = SectionXML.getElementsByTagName("description")[0].childNodes[0];

section.description = section.description ? section.description.nodeValue : "";

However, SectionXML.getElementsByTagName("description") returns a list of many descriptions, as if we look many children deeper (great grand children etc) we can see they all have a description, but I just want to get the immediate child of SectionXML with the tag name of "description". How do I do that?

The code you have should do that, getElementsByTagName returns the elements in DOM order, so the "closest" child will be first. — RobG
– RobG, Commented Jan 21, 2015 at 20:25
@RobG The OP meant to be there nested description element... — Bhojendra Rauniyar
– Bhojendra Rauniyar, Commented Jan 21, 2015 at 20:26
@BhojendraNepal—so you mean "I just want to get the immediate child…" should have been "…immediate children…"? — RobG
– RobG, Commented Jan 21, 2015 at 22:59

Bhojendra Rauniyar · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-21 20:35:14Z

1

You may use querySelectorAll():

SectionXML.querySelectorAll("section>description")[0]
// use > to get direct element only

edited Jan 21, 2015 at 20:35

answered Jan 21, 2015 at 20:23

Bhojendra Rauniyar

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1 Comment

btf Over a year ago

Thanks, I got this error: Uncaught SyntaxError: Failed to execute 'querySelectorAll' on 'Element': '>description' is not a valid selector.

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