Issue while converting actionscript object into XML - actionscript-3

Question

I'm new to flex. I'm trying to convert a complex object into an XML.
I'm facing a problem when i'm trying to traverse through the object. here i'm adding the code snippet.
Creating Employee Object
var result:String = new String();
employeeDept = new EmployeeDept();
employee = new Employee();
employee.employeeId = "56789";
employee.employeeName = "XYZ";
//tempString = tempString + "--- Step n ---";
/*employee.employeeDept.deptId = "2";
employee.employeeDept.deptName = "APPLE";*/
employeeDept=new EmployeeDept();
employeeDept.deptId = "3";
employeeDept.deptName = "MS";
employee.employeeDept.addItem(employeeDept);
employeeDept=new EmployeeDept();
employeeDept.deptId = "2";
employeeDept.deptName = "APPLE";
employee.employeeDept.addItem(employeeDept);
empCollection.addItem(employee);
Calling converter method on employee object
recursive(employee, "ShopServiceLifeCycleArtifacts");
Converter method
public function recursive(obj:Object, str:String):String
{
try
{
var xml:XML=new XML('<' + str + '></' + str + '>' );
if(obj is Array && obj.length!=0)
{ //tempString = tempString + "--- Recursive IF Loop---" + obj.length;
var ac:ArrayCollection=new ArrayCollection(obj as Array);
var xml2:XML=new XML(<dept></dept>);
for (var i:Number=0; i<ac.length; i++)
{
var myObj:Object=ac.getItemAt(i);
for (var prop:String in myObj)
{
xml2.appendChild(new XML("<" + prop + ">" + myObj[prop] + "</" + prop + ">"));
}
}
xml.appendChild(xml2);
} else {
if (obj==null)
tempString = tempString + "--- Obj is null ---";
else
{
tempString = tempString + "--- Obj is not null ---";
}
for (var property:String in obj)
{
tempString = tempString + property;
if(obj[property] is Array)
{
tempString = tempString + "--- obj[property] is Array---";
xml.appendChild(recursive(obj[property] as Array, property));
} else {
tempString = tempString + "--- obj[property] is not Array---";
xml.appendChild(XML("<" + property + ">" + obj[property].toString() + "</" + property + ">"));
}
}
}
}catch(e:Error)
{
return tempString+"----------"+e.message;
}
tempString = tempString +xml.toString();
return xml.toString();
}
}
But the issue now is, my employee object is not an array so it will go to else block. I'm check whether the object is null. Object is not null.
I'm going to next step i.e. for loop
for (var property:String in obj){
here comes the issue. Its not going into this for loop & returning null. :(
instead of creating employee object in an action script file & geting a instance of that employee in here if i declare & define an employeeName object here only then the logic is working. i will show that code also.
else {
//tempString = tempString + "--- Recursive Else Loop---";
var employeeNew:Object = {employeeId:"123", employeeName:"San Francisco",
empDept :[{empDeptId:"12345", empDeptName:"XYZ"},{empDeptId:"54568", empDeptName:"ABC"}]};
for (var prop:String in employeeNew) {
//trace("myObject."+prop+" = "+employeeNew[prop]);
if(employeeNew[prop] is Array)
{
xml.appendChild(recursive(employeeNew[prop] as Array, prop));
} else {
tempString = tempString + "--- obj[property] is not Array---";
xml.appendChild(XML("<" + prop + ">" + employeeNew[prop].toString() + "</" + prop + ">"));
}
}
If i use this object its able to convert it into XML. Plz do let me know what is the mistake i'm doing here because of which i'm not able to traverse through the object.
Thanks in Advance.

Answer 1

The for ... in loop only works on dynamic properties of objects. A dynamic property is one that can be added to the object/class at run time.
Your second approach works because you are iterating over an actual Object to which you have added properties to.
The first example does not work because you are iterating over an Employee object. The employee class is not marked as dynamic, and therefore it you cannot add additional properties to it. Even if you made it dynamic (which has a performance impact), it would only iterate over the additional properties that you added at run time, not the properties you define in the class.
One solution to this type of problem is to use describeType():
looping through object property names in actionscript
http://www.actionscript.org/forums/showthread.php3?t=183820