Add getExtendedData()

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Add a get method for the <ExtendedData> element (like getName(), 
getDescription(), etc).

Requested by: Fraser

Supported by: sylehc, prav33n, bFlood,bTimoney, underbluewaters, plomari, 
jan.wischnat

Original issue reported on code.google.com by api.roman.public@gmail.com on 12 Aug 2008 at 8:45

[GoogleCodeExporter]

not to mention a SetExtendedData() function as well =D

Original comment by trstnmk...@gmail.com on 1 Sep 2008 at 4:02

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Here is a method to provide support for getExtendedData. It takes a string of 
Kml as 
the argument. It returns any extended data elements that have values in a 
key[value] 
object. It expects the extended data to be in the format:

<Data name="Foo">
  <value>bar</value>
</Data>

Tested in XP - FF3.0, IE7, Chrome 

---------------------------------------------------------------- 
object getExtendedData(string)
---------------------------------------------------------------- 
function getExtendedData(kmlString) { 
  var xmlDoc = null; 
  var keyValue = new Object(); 
  //Parse the kml 
  try { 
    //Internet Explorer 
    xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM"); 
    xmlDoc.async="false"; 
    xmlDoc.loadXML(kmlString); 
  } catch(e) { 
    try { 
      //Firefox, etc. 
      var parser = new DOMParser(); 
      xmlDoc = parser.parseFromString(kmlString,"text/xml"); 
    } 
    catch(e) { 
      //Failed to parse 
      alert(e.message); 
      return; 
    } 
  } 
  // Get all the named elements 
  var data = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("Data"); 
  // Iterate through the data elements 
  for(var i=0; i<data.length; i++) { 
    if(data[i].getAttribute("name") &&
      data[i].getElementsByTagName("value").length > 0) { 
      // Get the name and value 
      var name = data[i].getAttribute("name"); 
      var value = data[i].getElementsByTagName("value")[0].firstChild.data; 
      // Assign them to the keyValue object 
      keyValue[name] = value; 
    } 
  } 
  return keyValue; 
} 

---------------------------------------------------------------- 
Usage 
---------------------------------------------------------------- 
var data = getExtendedData(kmlString); 
for (var name in data) { 
  var value = data[name]; 
  alert(name + '=' + value);
} 

Original comment by fraser.c...@gmail.com on 16 Jan 2009 at 11:36

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Fixed in 5.2.1.1329

Original comment by jli...@google.com on 16 Jun 2010 at 3:32

• Changed state: Fixed

[GoogleCodeExporter]

This comment is in answer to 
https://groups.google.com/group/google-earth-browser-plugin/browse_thread/thread
/418993acc3ad1a7f# 

The best way to get a particular value for ExtendedData is using the getKml() 
method outlined above by Fraser.  

The 5.2.1.1329 release adds a couple new methods for getting the balloon html 
(placemark.getBalloonHtml() and placemark.getBalloonHtmlUnsafe() ) which allow 
you to render your balloon html appropriately if you have ExtendedData, which 
was not possible before this release.  

Between these, I think all manipulation and usage of ExtendedData should be 
covered, but if there is still something you cannot do with ExendedData, please 
add to these comments and I will re-open the ticket or create a new one as 
appropriate.

Original comment by jli...@google.com on 25 Jun 2010 at 3:02

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I'm not using ExtendedData in my apps, but I have been using a method similar 
to above to capture other information like itemIcon within my kmltree project. 
I've found performance to be pretty bad when you start using getKml(). The 
reason being you may have a pretty large list of placemarks, and when you call 
getKml() on a folder or document, you get all of them back and have to load 
them into a DOM. Since ExtendedData can be in a Folder or Document this problem 
could come up. If the plugin already has a DOM internally then it might be more 
efficient to have some getter method.

Original comment by underbluewaters on 25 Jun 2010 at 3:11

[GoogleCodeExporter]

underbluewaters: I thought we had covered the core needs with the new methods, 
but this is a good point.  I am reopening this feature request.  

Original comment by jli...@google.com on 25 Jun 2010 at 3:20

• Changed state: Acknowledged

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks for the response, however I think I have found an alternative way to do 
what I want - and the ExtendedData works for everything else I will be / may be 
using it for.

Original comment by GregoryH...@gmail.com on 30 Jun 2010 at 12:37

[GoogleCodeExporter]

getExtendedData() and setExtendedData() are critical to our product.
We create placemarks programmatically using the C# api alone and set each of 
their properties using api functions.

e.g.
IKmlPlacemark placemark = gePlugin.createPlacemark("1");
placemark.setName("name 1");
placemark.setVisibility(1);

Currently, placemark extended data is not accessible through the api.
The only bypass for accessing it is to execute getKml(), edit the kml 
programatically by inserting the extended data element and execute parseKml().
this bypass is very bad in terms of performance.
As mentioned by another user a few comments back, in some scenarios it can take 
a lot of time to execute getKml().

This feature request is very important for our project.

Thanks,
Shaul

Original comment by gisdevt...@gmail.com on 21 Oct 2010 at 3:50

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Like @Shaul and @underbluewaters, we need to embed metadata in our KML and then 
extract it via js that uses the Google Earth plug-in. The metadata is tiny, but 
the KML is large. If we use getKML() and parse it, that is a large overhead.

It doesn't matter too much to us whether getExtendedData() hands us a DOM tree 
or a string, but this data needs to be exposed somehow.

Original comment by hutt...@gmail.com on 21 Nov 2010 at 3:53

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks for the additional details for use cases.  Indeed there are a occasions 
where using setExtendedData and getExtendedData would be very useful.  In the 
meantime, for those who simply need to attach ExtendedData to a given KML, one 
workaround might be to create a placemark or other feature as a placeholder.  
Give it an ID of 'metadata' for example, and then use the getElementByUrl 
accessor to get just the element that contains this information.  Calling 
getKml() on this single feature should be significantly faster than calling it 
on the Document of a large folder.

I realize this is simply a workaround for what would be useful methods in the 
API, but hopefully the technique might be useful to some of you.

Original comment by jli...@google.com on 21 Nov 2010 at 4:20

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

[deleted comment]

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Issue 531 has been merged into this issue.

Original comment by bcke...@google.com on 12 Mar 2011 at 12:01

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by api.roman.public@gmail.com on 28 Jul 2011 at 4:08

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hi all,
I'm trying to reproduce a ship incident using data taken from the VDR (Voyage 
Data Recorder). I created a gx:track and a tour to show the ship in her last 
minutes.
A getExtendedData for <gx:value>'s in a <gx:SimpleArrayData> associated to a 
gx:track would enable me to show important informations like wind speed and 
direction, wave heights, engine RPM and so on...
So my +1 for a getExtendedData for Tracks!!!

Original comment by risid...@gmail.com on 23 Apr 2012 at 8:26