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ECMAScript for XML

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ECMAScript for XML (E4X) was an extension to ECMAScript (which includes ActionScript, JavaScript, and JScript) to add native support for XML.[1] The goal was to provide a simpler alternative to the DOM interface for accessing XML documents. E4X added XML as a primitive data structure to allow for faster access[clarification needed] and better support within the language.

E4X was standardized by Ecma International in the ECMA-357 standard. The first edition was published in June 2004 and the second edition in December 2005. However, the E4X standard was deprecated by the Mozilla Foundation in 2014,[2] and it was withdrawn by ISO/IEC in 2021.[3]

Browser support

E4X is supported by Mozilla's Rhino, as well as by Tamarin, the JavaScript engine used in the Flash virtual machine.[citation needed] However, it is not supported by other common engines like Nitro (Safari), V8 (Google Chrome), Carakan (Opera), and Chakra (Internet Explorer and pre-Chromium Edge).[4]

E4X was supported by SpiderMonkey (used in Firefox and Thunderbird), but was deprecated in Firefox 10[5] and eventually removed in Firefox 21.[6][clarification needed]

E4X was used in the OpenOffice.org software suite.[citation needed]

Example

var sales = <sales vendor="John">
    <item type="peas" price="4" quantity="6"/>
    <item type="carrot" price="3" quantity="10"/>
    <item type="chips" price="5" quantity="3"/>
  </sales>;

alert( sales.item.(@type == "carrot").@quantity );
alert( sales.@vendor );
for each( var price in sales..@price ) {
  alert( price );
}
delete sales.item[0];
sales.item += <item type="oranges" price="4"/>;
sales.item.(@type == "oranges").@quantity = 4;

Implementations

The first implementation of E4X was designed by Terry Lucas and John Schneider and appeared in BEA's Weblogic Workshop 7.0, released in February 2002.[citation needed] BEA's implementation was based on Rhino and released before the ECMAScript E4X spec was completed in June 2004.

  • E4X was implemented in SpiderMonkey (Gecko's JavaScript engine) since version 1.6.0[7] until version 20, and is in Rhino (Mozilla's other JavaScript engine written in Java instead of C) since version 1.6R1.[8]
  • As Mozilla Firefox is based on Gecko, older versions could be used to run scripts using E4X. But this feature is deprecated since release 16 and removed in release 18.
  • Adobe's ActionScript 3 scripting language fully supports E4X. Early previews of ActionScript 3 were first made available in late 2005. Adobe officially released the language with Flash Player 9 on June 28, 2006.
  • E4X is available in Flash CS3, Adobe AIR and Adobe Flex as they use ActionScript 3 as a scripting language.
  • E4X is also available in Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader versions 8.0 or higher (notably[9] Forward Ported from SpiderMonkey version 17[10] and suggested may be dropped in the near future).
  • E4X is also available in Aptana's Jaxer Ajax application server which uses the Mozilla engine server-side.
  • Since the release of Alfresco Community Edition 2.9B, E4X is also available in this enterprise document management system.
  • E4X is available as part of Mirth Connect's JavaScript message transformation engine.

See also

  • JSX – an XML based markup specifically for DOM manipulation

References

  1. ^ 14:00-17:00. "ISO/IEC 22537:2006". ISO. Retrieved 2024-08-17. {{cite web}}: |last= has numeric name (help)
  2. ^ "E4X – Archive of obsolete content – MDN". Mozilla. Archived from the original on 24 July 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  3. ^ "ISO/IEC 22537:2006 — Information technology — ECMAScript for XML (E4X) specification — Status : Withdrawn".
  4. ^ "Issue 30975: Implement E4X Support for scripts and extensions". Google. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  5. ^ "Firefox 10 for developers". Mozilla. Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2012.
  6. ^ "E4X". Mozilla. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
  7. ^ SpiderMonkey 1.6.0 release notes Archived 2009-04-15 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Rhino 1.6R1 Change log
  9. ^ "Acrobat Help / New features summary". Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  10. ^ "15.008.20082 Planned Update, July 14, 2015". Retrieved 2015-07-16.
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