Subj : Re: E4X; assigning an XMLList to a property of an XML object
To   : Martin.Honnen
From : Brendan Eich
Date : Sun Apr 17 2005 11:12 am

Martin Honnen wrote:

> I have the simple test case
> 
> var god = <god><name>Kibo</name></god>;
> print(god);
> 
> god.name = <><prename>James</prename><nickname>Kibo</nickname></>;
> print(god);
> 
> which runs fine in Spidermonkey resulting in the output
> 
> <god>
>   <prename>James</prename>
>   <nickname>Kibo</nickname>
> </god>
> 
> meaning Spidermonkey replaces the <name> element with the elements in 
> the XMLList but Rhino throws an error complaining
> 
> uncaught JavaScript runtime exception: TypeError : Can't 
> move/copy/insert a whole document.

[snip]

> Should I file a bug on Rhino?


Yes, if one isn't already on file.  For your example assignment

god.name = <><prename>James</prename><nickname>Kibo</nickname></>;

ECMA-357 9.1.1.2 XML [[Put]] Step 12 deletes all but the first <name> 
elements being replaced by this [[Put]], and then (step 15(a)) calls 
Replace on the XML object being updated with arguments (index of first 
<name>) and (deep copy of list on right-hand side of assignemnt).

9.1.1.12 XML [[Replace]] Step 6 does the rest.

/be

.