I tried your first suggestion and I was not successful. Here is what I tried:

if (defined $entry->getElementsByTagName('test 4')) {
    print "reached 1\n";
    if (defined $entry->getElementsByTagName('test 4')->item(0)) { 
        print "reached 2\n";
        if (defined $entry->getElementsByTagName('test 4')->item(0)->g
+etFirstChild ) { 
            print"reached 3\n";
            if (defined $entry->getElementsByTagName('test 4')->item(0
+)->getFirstChild->getNodeValue ) { 
                print"reached 4\n";
                $test4 = $entry->getElementsByTagName('test4')->item(0
+)->getFirstChild->getNodeValue;
            }
        }
    }
}
[download]

It only gets past the first if statement. The if (defined $entry->getElementsByTagName('test 4')->item(0)) never passes. Am I doing something wrong?