Using flash to search for a XML element value. (a simple search function)

I'm having some problems getting a flash application (in AS3) to search for a specific element value inside a xml. I have the following xml file.

 <clientlist>
  <pessoa>
    <id>0140</id>
    <nome>Maria Manuela</nome>
    <email>mariamanuela@gmail.com</email>
    <contacto开发者_JAVA百科>969876543</contacto>
  </pessoa>
  <pessoa>
    <id>0141</id>
    <nome>Maria Jose</nome>
    <email/>
    <contacto>961234567</contacto>
  </pessoa>
  <pessoa>
<clientlist>

I have a "search" field where, supposedly, I would type a name and would get an array of "pessoa"s, but I am having some problems making the loop happen.

So, imagine I would search for "Maria", I wanted to get a:

trace(PessoaArray[0]) =

<id>0140</id>
<nome>Maria Manuela</nome>
<email>mariamanuela@gmail.com</email>
<contacto>967060255</contacto>

trace(PessoaArray[1]) =

<id>0141</id>
<nome>Maria Jose</nome>
<email/>
<contacto>968496127</contacto>

Can anyone help me out? I'm not new to flash AS3 (even though i'm not exactly a pro), but its my first time messing with XML files.

Thank you.

Marco Roberto.

the short answer: xmlData.*.(nome == $name))

the long answer...

tested this in a FLA with a textfield_tf and button_btn

import flash.events.MouseEvent;

var $data:XML = <clientlist>
  <pessoa>
    <id>0140</id>
    <nome>Maria Manuela</nome>
    <email>mariamanuela@gmail.com</email>
    <contacto>969876543</contacto>
  </pessoa>
  <pessoa>
    <id>0141</id>
    <nome>Maria Jose</nome>
    <email/>
    <contacto>961234567</contacto>
  </pessoa>
</clientlist>;

_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,onClick);

function onClick($e:MouseEvent):void{
    trace($data.*.(nome == _tf.text))

}