XML-RPC web service requests

Flash Player 9 and later, Adobe AIR 1.0 and later

An XML-RPC web service takes its call parameters as an XML document rather than as a set of URL variables. To conduct a transaction with an XML-RPC web service, create a properly formatted XML message and send it to the web service using the HTTP POST method. In addition, you should set the Content-Type header for the request so that the server treats the request data as XML.

The following example uses DOM methods to create an XML-RPC message and an XMLHttpRequest to conduct the web service transaction:

<html> 
<head> 
<title>XML-RPC web service request</title> 
<script type="text/javascript"> 
 
function makeRequest() 
{ 
    var requestDisplay = document.getElementById( "request" ); 
    var resultDisplay  = document.getElementById( "result" ); 
     
    var request = {}; 
    request.URL = "http://services.example.com/xmlrpc/"; 
    request.method = "test.echo"; 
    request.HTTPmethod = "POST"; 
    request.parameters = {}; 
    request.parameters.api_key = "123456ABC"; 
    request.parameters.message = "Able was I ere I saw Elba."; 
    var requestMessage = formatXMLRPC( request ); 
     
    xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest(); 
    xmlhttp.open( request.HTTPmethod, request.URL, true); 
    xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() { 
        if (xmlhttp.readyState == 4) { 
            resultDisplay.innerText = xmlhttp.responseText; 
        } 
    } 
    xmlhttp.send( requestMessage ); 
     
    requestDisplay.innerText = xmlToString( requestMessage.documentElement ); 
} 
 
//Formats a request as XML-RPC document 
function formatXMLRPC( request ) 
{ 
    var xmldoc = document.implementation.createDocument( "", "", null ); 
    var root = xmldoc.createElement( "methodCall" ); 
    xmldoc.appendChild( root ); 
    var methodName = xmldoc.createElement( "methodName" ); 
    var methodString = xmldoc.createTextNode( request.method ); 
    methodName.appendChild( methodString ); 
     
    root.appendChild( methodName ); 
     
        var params = xmldoc.createElement( "params" ); 
        root.appendChild( params ); 
         
        var param = xmldoc.createElement( "param" ); 
        params.appendChild( param ); 
        var value = xmldoc.createElement( "value" ); 
        param.appendChild( value ); 
        var struct = xmldoc.createElement( "struct" ); 
        value.appendChild( struct ); 
         
        for( var property in request.parameters ) 
        { 
            var member = xmldoc.createElement( "member" ); 
            struct.appendChild( member ); 
             
            var name = xmldoc.createElement( "name" ); 
            var paramName = xmldoc.createTextNode( property ); 
            name.appendChild( paramName ) 
            member.appendChild( name ); 
             
            var value = xmldoc.createElement( "value" ); 
            var type = xmldoc.createElement( "string" ); 
            value.appendChild( type ); 
            var paramValue = xmldoc.createTextNode( request.parameters[property] ); 
            type.appendChild( paramValue ) 
            member.appendChild( value ); 
        } 
    return xmldoc; 
} 
 
//Returns a string representation of an XML node 
function xmlToString( rootNode, indent ) 
{ 
    if( indent == null ) indent = ""; 
    var result = indent + "<" + rootNode.tagName + ">\n"; 
    for( var i = 0; i < rootNode.childNodes.length; i++) 
    { 
        if(rootNode.childNodes.item( i ).nodeType == Node.TEXT_NODE ) 
        { 
            result += indent + "    " + rootNode.childNodes.item( i ).textContent + "\n"; 
        } 
    } 
    if( rootNode.childElementCount > 0 ) 
    { 
        result += xmlToString( rootNode.firstElementChild, indent + "    " ); 
    } 
    if( rootNode.nextElementSibling ) 
    { 
        result += indent + "</" + rootNode.tagName + ">\n"; 
        result += xmlToString( rootNode.nextElementSibling, indent ); 
    } 
    else 
    { 
        result += indent +"</" + rootNode.tagName + ">\n"; 
    } 
    return result; 
} 
 
</script> 
</head> 
<body onload="makeRequest()"> 
<h1>Request:</h1> 
<pre id="request"></pre> 
<h1>Result:</h1> 
<pre id="result"></pre> 
</body> 
</html>