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localName property (attribute, Element)

Browser support:

9

Returns the local part of the qualified name of the current node.

To set or return the namespace URI and prefix of a node, use the namespaceURI and prefix properties. In Internet Explorer, the baseName property provides the same functionality as the localName property in XML documents.
In HTML documents, the localName property retrieves the tag name of an element in uppercase in Opera and Firefox before version 3.6, and in lowercase in Firefox from version 3.6, Safari, Google Chrome and Internet Explorer from version 9. If you want to get the tag name of an HTML element, use the cross-browser nodeName and tagName properties instead.

Syntax:

object.localName;

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

This property is read-only.

Possible values:

String that represents the local name.

Default: this property has no default value.

Example HTML code 1:

This example illustrates the use of the localName and baseName properties:

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
                    GetTagInfo ();
                }
                else {
                    alert ("Operation failed.");
                }
            }
        }

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

            if (xmlDoc.getElementsByTagNameNS) {    // Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and Safari
                var titleTags = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagNameNS ("http://help.dottoro.com/NS", "title");
                if (titleTags.length > 0) {
                    var message = "The localName of the first title tag: " + titleTags[0].localName + "\n" +
                                   "The namespaceURI of the first title tag: " + titleTags[0].namespaceURI + "\n" +
                                   "The prefix of the first title tag: " + titleTags[0].prefix;
                    alert (message);
                }
                else {
                    alert ("There is no title tag!");
                }
            }
            else {      // Internet Explorer
                var titleTags = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName ("dotto:title");
                if (titleTags.length > 0) {
                    var message = "The localName of the first title tag: " + titleTags[0].baseName + "\n" +
                                   "The namespaceURI of the first title tag: " + titleTags[0].namespaceURI + "\n" +
                                   "The prefix of the first title tag: " + titleTags[0].prefix;
                    alert (message);
                }
                else {
                    alert ("There is no title tag!");
                }
            }
        }

    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <button onclick="SendRequest ()">Get localName, namespaceURI and prefix</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>