Flex: XML appending

How to append a new node into a XML object in Flex/as3? Here's a simple example that teaches you how to append a XML node. Here's a guide on how to do it. But do take note that you have to use either _ or a letter for the first character of the name of the new node that you are trying to insert. However if you want to use numbers for the first character, there's a way to do it too. :P Besides for the ways that I have listed in this post, you can use dot notation (.) to append a new node too. :)

Source Code for the main application - 'SimpleXMLManipulation.mxml'

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009" 
      xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark" 
      xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx" 
      creationComplete="creationCompleteEvt(event)" 
      xmlns:local="*">
 <fx:Declarations>
  <local:SimpleXMLConverter id="converter"/>
 </fx:Declarations>
 <fx:Script>
  <![CDATA[
   import mx.events.FlexEvent;
   
   protected function creationCompleteEvt(e:FlexEvent):void
   {
    converter.init();
   }
  ]]>
 </fx:Script>
 <s:VGroup width="100%" 
     height="100%" 
     verticalAlign="middle" 
     horizontalAlign="center">
  <s:Label text="Original XML"/>
  <s:TextArea text="@{converter.simpleXML}"/>
  <s:Spacer height="10"/>
  <s:HGroup>
   <s:VGroup horizontalAlign="center">
    <s:Label text="Modified XML using appendChild()"/>
    <s:TextArea text="{converter.simpleXML1}" 
       editable="false"
        width="30%" 
       minWidth="300"/>  
   </s:VGroup>
   <s:VGroup horizontalAlign="center">
    <s:Label text="Modified XML using []"/>
    <s:TextArea text="{converter.simpleXML2}"
       editable="false"
       width="30%" 
       minWidth="300"/>   
   </s:VGroup>
  </s:HGroup>
 </s:VGroup>
</s:Application>

Source code for the XML manipulating class

package
{
 import flash.events.Event;
 import flash.events.EventDispatcher;
 
 [Bindable]
 public class SimpleXMLConverter extends EventDispatcher
 {
  //XML String
  private var simpleXMLString:String = "" +
   "";
  
  //XML that contains the above simpleXMLString
  private var _simpleXML:XML;
  
  [Bindable(event="simpleXMLChanged")]
  public function get simpleXML():String
  {
   return _simpleXML;
  }

  public function set simpleXML(value:String):void
  {
   //If the input value isn't a valid XML,
   //we will set it to empty.
   try
   {
    _simpleXML = XML(value);
   }catch(e:Error)
   {
    _simpleXML = new XML();
   }
   
   //Modified XML using appendChild()
   simpleXML1 = XML(_simpleXML.toXMLString());
   if(simpleXML1)
   {
    var dummyXMLNode:XML;
    var dummyXMLNodeStr:String;
    dummyXMLNodeStr = "<" + name1Str + name2Str + ">";
    dummyXMLNodeStr += valueStr;
    dummyXMLNodeStr += "";
    dummyXMLNode = new XML(dummyXMLNodeStr);
    simpleXML1.appendChild(dummyXMLNode);
    if(simpleXML1.level1.length() > 0)
    {
     for(var i:int = 0; i < simpleXML1.level1.length(); i ++)
     {
      simpleXML1.level1[i].appendChild(dummyXMLNode);
     }
    }
   }
   
   //Modified XML using []
   simpleXML2 = XML(_simpleXML.toXMLString());
   if(simpleXML2)
   {
    simpleXML2[name1Str + name2Str] = 
     valueStr;
    if(simpleXML2.level1.length() > 0)
    {
     for(i = 0; i < simpleXML2.level1.length(); i ++)
     {
      simpleXML2.level1[i][name1Str + name2Str] = 
       valueStr;
     }
    }
   }
   
   //dispatching the 8 event to update the
   //respective text area
   dispatchEvent(new Event("simpleXML1Changed", 
    true, true));
   dispatchEvent(new Event("simpleXML2Changed", 
    true, true));
  }
  
  //XML that contains the modified XML based
  //on the above simpleXMLString and appendChild()
  private var _simpleXML1:XML;

  public function get simpleXML1():XML
  {
   return _simpleXML1;
  }

  [Bindable(event="simpleXML1Changed")]
  public function set simpleXML1(value:XML):void
  {
   _simpleXML1 = value;
  }
  
  //XML that contains the modified XML based
  //on the above simpleXMLString and []
  private var _simpleXML2:XML;

  public function get simpleXML2():XML
  {
   return _simpleXML2;
  }
  
  [Bindable(event="simpleXML2Changed")]
  public function set simpleXML2(value:XML):void
  {
   _simpleXML2 = value;
  }
  
  //The name of the empty node - part1
  private var name1Str:String = "empty";
  //The name of the empty node - part2
  private var name2Str:String = "node";
  
  //The value of the empty node
  private var valueStr:String = "dummyValue";
  
  public function init():void
  {
   simpleXML = new XML(simpleXMLString);
   
   //dispatching the event to update the main
   //respective text area
   dispatchEvent(new Event("simpleXMLChanged", 
    true, true));
  }
 }
}

* Click here for the demo shown in this post.
^ Click here for the source files for the demo.