Hmmmm, I've read through that post. And although it is in regard to removing elements, not simply reading the value of an element, I tried a few variations on what I saw there without success.
I also started looking at the documentation referenced in that post, but I just started running around in circles.
If anyone can take a look at the code samples I put up in my original post, all I need to know is what the method is that looks into an element object and retrieves the value of the field. Or if you could please provide a link to the doc that describes such a method or technique.
Thanks