What is the recommended way to parse an XML feed with multiple namespaces using ActionScript 3.0?

Question

I saw the following methods that will be used in several online examples, but did not find any documentation on the recommended method for parsing the XML feed.

Method 1:

protected function xmlResponseHandler(event:ResultEvent):void { var atom:Namespace = new Namespace("http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"); var microsoftData:Namespace = new Namespace("http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices"); var microsoftMetadata:Namespace = new Namespace("http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/metadata"); var ac:ArrayCollection = new ArrayCollection(); var keyValuePairs:KeyValuePair; var propertyList:XMLList = (event.result as XML)..atom::entry.atom::content.microsoftMetadata::properties; for each (var properties:XML in propertyList) { keyValuePairs = new KeyValuePair(properties.microsoftData::FieldLocation, properties.microsoftData::Locationid); ac.addItem(keyValuePairs); } cb.dataProvider = ac; } 

Method 2:

 protected function xmlResponseHandler(event:ResultEvent):void { namespace atom = "http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"; namespace d = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices"; namespace m = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/metadata"; use namespace d; use namespace m; use namespace atom; var ac:ArrayCollection = new ArrayCollection(); var keyValuePairs:KeyValuePair; var propertyList:XMLList = (event.result as XML)..entry.content.properties; for each (var properties:XML in propertyList) { keyValuePairs = new KeyValuePair(properties.FieldLocation, properties.Locationid); ac.addItem(keyValuePairs); } cb.dataProvider = ac; } 

Method 3:

 protected function xmlResponseHandler(event:ResultEvent):void { var ac:ArrayCollection = new ArrayCollection(); var keyValuePairs:KeyValuePair; var propertyList:XMLList = (event.result as XML)..*::entry.*::content.*::properties; for each (var properties:XML in propertyList) { keyValuePairs = new KeyValuePair(properties.*::FieldLocation, properties.*::Locationid); ac.addItem(keyValuePairs); } cb.dataProvider = ac; } 

XML feed example:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" standalone="yes"?> <feed xml:base="http://www.test.com/Test/my.svc/" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/metadata" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"> <title type="text">Test_Locations</title> <id>http://www.test.com/test/my.svc/Test_Locations</id> <updated>2010-04-27T20:41:23Z</updated> <link rel="self" title="Test_Locations" href="Test_Locations" /> <entry> <id>1</id> <title type="text"></title> <updated>2010-04-27T20:41:23Z</updated> <author> <name /> </author> <link rel="edit" title="Test_Locations" href="http://www.test.com/id=1" /> <category term="MySQLModel.Test_Locations" scheme="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/scheme" /> <content type="application/xml"> <m:properties> <d:FieldLocation>Test Location</d:FieldLocation> <d:Locationid>test0129</d:Locationid> </m:properties> </content> </entry> <entry> <id>2</id> <title type="text"></title> <updated>2010-04-27T20:41:23Z</updated> <author> <name /> </author> <link rel="edit" title="Test_Locations" href="http://www.test.com/id=2" /> <category term="MySQLModel.Test_Locations" scheme="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ado/2007/08/dataservices/scheme" /> <content type="application/xml"> <m:properties> <d:FieldLocation>Yet Another Test Location</d:FieldLocation> <d:Locationid>test25</d:Locationid> </m:properties> </content> </entry> </feed> 

Answer 1

The third completely defeats the goal of having namespaces, ignoring them. Then no.

Of the first two methods, although this can lead to a few extra keystrokes, I would prefer the first, as it clearly indicates which namespace each identifier belongs to.

I must also add that the second method is new to me - have not yet met this.