Set the resultFormat on the WebService or operation to "e4x". Unless you do this Flex convert you xml to a stucture of nested dynamic objects. You almost never want this.
Then in your handler, inspect your data: retData = event.result as XML; trace(retData.toXMLString()); //so yo can know exactly how to build the expressin in the next line retList = retData.data; trace(retList.toXMLString()); //is this what you expect? Tracy ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of duanstravels Sent: Thursday, November 06, 2008 1:53 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [flexcoders] Using XML Object passed from ASP.NET web service in a Flex Datagrid Hey Guys I have literally been banging my head on this for the last three days. I have used flex in a previous project, and had enormous success with the great charts and presentation layer. I am now taking on a fairly ambitious new project and wanted to do things a different way, as it needs to be scalable. My previous project used HTTPServices to connect to a .aspx page, which in turn returned a XML page. This works, but is very messy. I would now like to use webservices, as I think it would simplify things a great deal. I have written the following service in ASP.NET, which works as it returns the XML document when I test the method by running the report.asmx file from the following link: http://localhost:1464/MyProject/report.asmx/All_Entities <http://localhost:1464/MyProject/report.asmx/All_Entities> *********************************************************** WebMethods and function in ASP.NET Web service: <WebMethod()> _ Public Function HelloWorld() As String Return "This works" End Function <WebMethod()> _ Public Function All_Entities() As XmlDocument Return ReturnXMLData("sp_AllEntities", 0, "NA") End Function Public Function ReturnXMLData(ByVal spName As String, _ ByVal numParams As Integer, _ ByVal ParamArray spParam() As String) As XmlDocument Dim cnString As String = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings("cnDBConnect").ConnectionString Dim myConnection As New SqlConnection myConnection.ConnectionString = cnString Dim myCommand As New SqlCommand With myCommand .Connection = myConnection .CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure .CommandText = spName End With myConnection.Open() 'Return the XML data from SQL and read into a string value Dim xmlr As System.Xml.XmlReader xmlr = myCommand.ExecuteXmlReader() xmlr.Read() Dim retXMLString As New StringBuilder retXMLString.Append("<data>") Do While xmlr.ReadState <> ReadState.EndOfFile retXMLString.Append(xmlr.ReadOuterXml()) Loop retXMLString.Append("</data>") myConnection.Close() Dim xmlDoc As New XmlDocument() xmlDoc.LoadXml(retXMLString.ToString()) Return xmlDoc End Function *********************************************************** The XML output returned from the .NET web service is below. I copied this straight from the page returned inside Firefox after calling the webmethod: <data> <root EntityName="US" EntityId="1"/> <root EntityName="EMEA" EntityId="2"/> <root EntityName="Benelux" EntityId="3"/> <root EntityName="Africa" EntityId="4"/> <root EntityName="Asia" EntityId="5"/> </data> *********************************************************** I now need to catch the output (which I assume is a XML object) and then bind it to a datagrid or chart. I have the following MXML component set up. It connects to the webservice, catches the result, and then converts it into XML. I then try to bind it to a datagrid. I also have a text box which binds to a method "HelloWorld()" which returns a string value and then correctly displays the text, so I know the connection works: *********************************************************** <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <mx:Box xmlns:mx="http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml <http://www.adobe.com/2006/mxml> " width="100%" height="100%" > <mx:Script> <![CDATA[ import mx.rpc.events.ResultEvent; [Bindable] private var retData:XML; private var retList:XMLList; private var lstAM:ArrayCollection; private function handleResult(event:ResultEvent):void{ retData = event.result as XML; retList = retData.data; this.dgDataReturned.dataProvider = retList; } ]]> </mx:Script> <mx:Button label="Get String" click="{WS.HelloWorld();}"/> <mx:TextArea width="252" height="116" id="txtHello" text="{WS.HelloWorld.lastResult}"/> <mx:Button label="Get Data" click="{WS.All_Entities();}"/> <mx:DataGrid id="dgDataReturned"> <mx:columns> <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="label" dataField="@EntityName"/> <mx:DataGridColumn headerText="data" dataField="@EntityId"/> </mx:columns> </mx:DataGrid> <mx:WebService id="WS" wsdl="http://metrix3/asp/metrixwebservice.asmx?wsdl <http://metrix3/asp/metrixwebservice.asmx?wsdl> " result="handleResult(event);"> </mx:WebService> </mx:Box> *********************************************************** I have tried just about anything to get this working, but as I have learned flex as I needed I don't really have the background knowledge to even ask the right questions when searching for answers. I am not sure if there are other people struggling with this as well, but I think it must be a common problem. I just haven't been able to find any help online. Any ideas would be appreciated. Cheers Duan
