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getAttributeNS method

Browser support:

9

Returns the value of the attribute with the specified namespace and name from the current element.

Note: Internet Explorer supports the getAttributeNS method from version 9, but only for HTML documents, not for XML documents.

To specify an attribute with namespace, use the setAttributeNS, setAttributeNodeNS or setNamedItemNS method.

Syntax:

object.getAttributeNS (namespaceURI, attributeName);

You can find the related objects in the Supported by objects section below.

Parameters:

namespaceURI

Required. String that specifies the namespace URI of the attribute to retrieve. The namespace URI is case-sensitive.

attributeName

Required. String that specifies the name of the attribute to retrieve. The name is case-sensitive.

Return value:

If no attribute exists with the specified namespace and name, it returns an empty string in Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari and null in Opera, else it returns the value of the matching attribute node. To detect whether an attribute is specified, use the hasAttributeNS method.

Methods for attributes with namespaces:

createAttributeNS

9

Creates a new attribute node with the specified namespace and name.

getAttributeNS

9

Returns the value of the attribute with the specified namespace and name from the current element.

getAttributeNodeNS

9

Returns the attribute node with the specified namespace and name from the current element.

getNamedItemNS

9

Returns the attribute node with the specified namespace and name from the current attributes collection.

hasAttributeNS

9

Returns whether the current element has an attribute with the specified namespace and name or not.

removeAttributeNS

9

Removes the attribute with the specified namespace and name from the current element.

removeAttributeNode

Removes the specified attribute node from the current element.

removeNamedItemNS

9

Removes the attribute with the specified namespace and name from the current attributes collection and returns the removed attribute node.

setAttributeNS

9

Adds an attribute with the specified namespace, name and value to the current element.

setAttributeNodeNS

9

Adds the specified attribute node to the current element.

setNamedItemNS

9

Adds the specified attribute node to the current attributes collection.

Example HTML code 1:

This example illustrates the use of the getAttributeNS method:

Code

ajax.js

ns.xml

<head>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="ajax.js"></script>
    
    <script type="text/javascript">
        var httpRequest = null;
        
        function SendRequest () {
            if (!httpRequest) {
                httpRequest = CreateHTTPRequestObject ();   // defined in ajax.js
            }
            if (httpRequest) {          
                    // The requested file must be in the same domain that the page is served from.
                var url = "ns.xml";
                httpRequest.open ("GET", url, true);    // async
                httpRequest.onreadystatechange = OnStateChange;
                httpRequest.send (null);
            }
        }

        function OnStateChange () {
            if (httpRequest.readyState == 0 || httpRequest.readyState == 4) {
                if (IsRequestSuccessful (httpRequest)) {    // defined in ajax.js
                    Test_GetAttributeNS ();
                }
                else {
                    alert ("Operation failed.");
                }
            }
        }

        function Test_GetAttributeNS () {
            var xmlDoc = ParseHTTPResponse (httpRequest);   // defined in ajax.js
            if (!xmlDoc)
                return;

            var itemTags = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName ("item");
            var firstItem = itemTags[0];
            if (firstItem.getAttributeNS) {
                var attrNS = firstItem.getAttributeNS ("http://help.dottoro.com/NS", "color");
                alert ("The color of the first item: " + attrNS);
            }
            else {
                alert ("Your browser doesn't support the getAttributeNS method.");
            }
        }
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <button onclick="SendRequest ()">Test the getAttributeNS method</button>
</body>


function CreateHTTPRequestObject () {
        // although IE supports the XMLHttpRequest object, but it does not work on local files.
    var forceActiveX = (window.ActiveXObject && location.protocol === "file:");
    if (window.XMLHttpRequest && !forceActiveX) {
        return new XMLHttpRequest();
    }
    else {
        try {
            return new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
        } catch(e) {}
    }
    alert ("Your browser doesn't support XML handling!");
    return null;
}

function CreateMSXMLDocumentObject () {
    if (typeof (ActiveXObject) != "undefined") {
        var progIDs = [
                        "Msxml2.DOMDocument.6.0", 
                        "Msxml2.DOMDocument.5.0", 
                        "Msxml2.DOMDocument.4.0", 
                        "Msxml2.DOMDocument.3.0", 
                        "MSXML2.DOMDocument", 
                        "MSXML.DOMDocument"
                      ];
        for (var i = 0; i < progIDs.length; i++) {
            try { 
                return new ActiveXObject(progIDs[i]); 
            } catch(e) {};
        }
    }
    return null;
}

function CreateXMLDocumentObject (rootName) {
    if (!rootName) {
        rootName = "";
    }
    var xmlDoc = CreateMSXMLDocumentObject ();
    if (xmlDoc) {
        if (rootName) {
            var rootNode = xmlDoc.createElement (rootName);
            xmlDoc.appendChild (rootNode);
        }
    }
    else {
        if (document.implementation.createDocument) {
            xmlDoc = document.implementation.createDocument ("", rootName, null);
        }
    }
    
    return xmlDoc;
}

function ParseHTTPResponse (httpRequest) {
    var xmlDoc = httpRequest.responseXML;

            // if responseXML is not valid, try to create the XML document from the responseText property
    if (!xmlDoc || !xmlDoc.documentElement) {
        if (window.DOMParser) {
            var parser = new DOMParser();
            try {
                xmlDoc = parser.parseFromString (httpRequest.responseText, "text/xml");
            } catch (e) {
                alert ("XML parsing error");
                return null;
            };
        }
        else {
            xmlDoc = CreateMSXMLDocumentObject ();
            if (!xmlDoc) {
                return null;
            }
            xmlDoc.loadXML (httpRequest.responseText);

        }
    }

            // if there was an error while parsing the XML document
    var errorMsg = null;
    if (xmlDoc.parseError && xmlDoc.parseError.errorCode != 0) {
        errorMsg = "XML Parsing Error: " + xmlDoc.parseError.reason
                  + " at line " + xmlDoc.parseError.line
                  + " at position " + xmlDoc.parseError.linepos;
    }
    else {
        if (xmlDoc.documentElement) {
            if (xmlDoc.documentElement.nodeName == "parsererror") {
                errorMsg = xmlDoc.documentElement.childNodes[0].nodeValue;
            }
        }
    }
    if (errorMsg) {
        alert (errorMsg);
        return null;
    }

        // ok, the XML document is valid
    return xmlDoc;
}

    // returns whether the HTTP request was successful
function IsRequestSuccessful (httpRequest) {
        // IE: sometimes 1223 instead of 204
    var success = (httpRequest.status == 0 || 
        (httpRequest.status >= 200 && httpRequest.status < 300) || 
        httpRequest.status == 304 || httpRequest.status == 1223);
    
    return success;
}

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ns xmlns="http://help.dottoro.com/defaultNS" xmlns:dotto="http://help.dottoro.com/NS">
    <item dotto:color="red">
        <dotto:title>Namespace example</dotto:title>
        <dotto:description>Describes how to use namespaces with tags and attributes.</dotto:description>
        <dotto:pubDate>Wed, 17 Aug 2009 13:58:41 +0200</dotto:pubDate>
        <dotto:link>http://help.dottoro.com</dotto:link>
    </item>
    <order>
        <dotto:param name="sortBy" value="title" />
        <dotto:param name="sortDir" value="ascending" />
    </order>
</ns>