read cdata in xml from javascript

Question

<![CDATA[test]]> I am getting blanks.

var dataNode=Ext.DomQuery.selectNode('data',xml);
console.log(dataNode.childNodes[0].nodeValue);
console.log(dataNode.nodeValue);

Answer 1

Whilst we can't say for sure without the XML that's being parsed, the usual reason for ‘getting blanks’ from childNodes[0] (firstChild) is that there is a whitespace Text node between the parent's start-tag and the node you are looking for:

<data>
    <![CDATA[ foo ]]>
</data>

On an XML parser that retains CDATA sections, that'll give the data element three children: a Text node containing a newline and some spaces; the CDATASection node; and another Text node with a newline.

So you could take childNodes[1], but it's a bit fragile... in particular it would break for an XML parser that turns CDATA sections into text, where you'd get a single Text child containing foo and all the whitespace. Probably better to take the textContent of the <data> element (except of course with fallback to innerText for IE).