XML DOM replaceChild() Method
Definition and Usage
The replaceChild() method replaces a child node with another node.
If successful, this method returns the replaced node, or null if it fails.
Syntax:
elementNode.replaceChild(new_node,old_node)
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| new_node | Required. Specifies the new node. |
| old_node | Required. Specifies the child node to be replaced. |
Example
In all examples, we will use the XML file books.xml, and the JavaScript function loadXMLDoc().
The following code snippet replaces the first <title> element of the first <book> element in "books.xml":
//check if first child node is an element node
function get_firstchild(n)
{
x=n.firstChild;
while (x.nodeType!=1)
{
x=x.nextSibling;
}
return x;
}
xmlDoc=loadXMLDoc("books.xml");
x=xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("book")[0];
//create a title element and a text node
newNode=xmlDoc.createElement("title");
newText=xmlDoc.createTextNode("Giada's Family Dinners");
//add the text node to the title node,
newNode.appendChild(newText);
//replace the last node with the new node
x.replaceChild(newNode,get_firstchild(x));
y=xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("title");
for (i=0;i<y.length;i++)
{
document.write(y[i].childNodes[0].nodeValue);
document.write("<br />");
}
Output:
Giada's Family Dinners Harry Potter XQuery Kick Start Learning XML
Note:Internet Explorer will ignore the blank text nodes generated between nodes (such as newline symbols), while Mozilla will not do so. Therefore, in the above example, we created a function to create the correct child elements.
Tip:For more information about the differences between IE and Mozilla browsers, please visit the XML DOM tutorial on CodeW3C.com DOM browser This section.
