<html>
<head>
<script src="/demo/loadxmldoc.js">
</script>
</head>
<body>
<script>
//check if the previous sibling node is an element node
function get_previoussibling(n)
{
x=n.previousSibling;
while (x.nodeType!=1)
{
x=x.previousSibling;
}
return x;
}
xmlDoc=loadXMLDoc("books.xml");
x=xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("author")[0];
document.write(x.nodeName);
document.write(" = ");
document.write(x.childNodes[0].nodeValue);
y=get_previoussibling(x);
document.write("<br>Previous sibling: ");
document.write(y.nodeName);
document.write(" = ");
document.write(y.childNodes[0].nodeValue);
</script>
</body>
</html>