def get_event_data(xmlDom):
    """
    Method loops through the Data childnodes to gather node names and
    node values.
    :param xmlDom: xml dom object
    :return: parsed event data in dictionary format
    """

    # holder for event data
    data = {}

    # get the number of subnodes in parent node
    len_ = xmlDom.getElementsByTagName("Data").length

    # loop through number of nodes
    for i in range(len_):

        # returns a tuple -> (Attribute Name, NodeValue)
        # throwaway AttributeName: not needed
        __, attriTag = xmlDom.getElementsByTagName("Data")[i].attributes.items()[0]

        # Some nodes do NOT have any values so catch the IndexError and handle
        # it by assigning attriValue with a tack (-).
        try:
            attriValue = xmlDom.getElementsByTagName("Data")[i].childNodes[0].data
        except IndexError:
            attriValue = "-"

        # append all values to dictionary
        data[attriTag] = attriValue

    return data