code: def getElementText(self, node, preserve_ws=None):
          
          result = []
          for child in node.childNodes:
              nodetype = child.nodeType
              if nodetype == child.TEXT_NODE or \
                 nodetype == child.CDATA_SECTION_NODE:
                  result.append(child.nodeValue)
          value = join(result, '')
          if preserve_ws is None:
              value = strip(value)
          return value
docs: Return the text value of an xml element node. Leading and trailing
             whitespace is stripped from the value unless the preserve_ws flag
             is passed with a true value.