function getElementTextNS(prefix, local, parentElem, index) {
    var result = "";
    if (prefix && isIE) {
        result = parentElem.getElementsByTagName(prefix + ":" + local)[index];
    } else {
        result = parentElem.getElementsByTagName(local)[index];
    }
    if (result) {
        if (result.childNodes.length > 1) {
            return result.childNodes[1].nodeValue;
        } else {
			if( result.childNodes[0] ) return result.childNodes[0].nodeValue;
			else  return "";   		
        }
    } else {
        return "";
    }
}

function appendToSelect(select, value, content) {
    var opt;
    opt = document.createElement("option");
    opt.value = value;
    opt.appendChild(content);
    select.appendChild(opt);
}

// fill Topics select list with items from
// the current XML document
function buildSelect( select, content_xml ) {
	// empty Topics select list content
	clearSelect(select);
	
	items = content_xml.getElementsByTagName("item");

	// loop through <item> elements, and add each nested
    // <title> element to Topics select element
    for (var i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
        appendToSelect(select, getElementTextNS("", "id", items[i], 0),document.createTextNode( getElementTextNS("", "name", items[i], 0) ));
    }
}

function clearSelect (select) {
	while (select.length > 0) { select.remove(0); }
}