VBScript Can not Select XML nodes

Question

I am trying to Select nodes from some webservice response XML to no avail. For some reason I am able to select the root node (\"xmldata\") however, when I try to drill deeper(\"

Answer 1

Short answer

oXMLHttp.ResponseXML.text may return some text, but not 'A string containing a URL that specifies the location of the XML file' as required for the parameter of .load. So replace

xmlDoc.load (oXMLHttp.ResponseXML.text)

with

xmlDoc.loadXml oXMLHttp.ResponseXML.xml

If that 'does not work', say so; I then will try to provide a longer answer.

(P.S. to the short answer: AnthonyWJones' advice not to transform the XML twice is sound; I offered this 'minimal impact on existing code' approach in the hope to get the OT over the first hurdle, not as a generally applicable strategy.)

Longer answer

If you have XML problems on an ASP page, you should try to isolate and test the XML specific problems in a console script. For your problem I filled a skeleton (load .xml file, check for errors) with code to access nodes via XPath and DOM tree:

  Dim oFS    : Set oFS  = CreateObject( "Scripting.FileSystemObject" )
  Dim sFSpec : sFSpec   = oFS.GetAbsolutePathName("..\data\00.xml")
  Dim oXml   : Set oXml = CreateObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument")

  oXml.setProperty "SelectionLanguage", "XPath"
  oXml.async = False
  oXml.load sFSpec

  If 0 = oXml.parseError.errorCode Then
     WScript.Echo "loaded:", sFSpec
     WScript.Echo "root:", oXml.documentElement.tagName

     Dim sXPath, ndlFnd, ndChild, ndFnd

     sXPath = "/xmldata/customers"
     Set ndlFnd = oXml.selectNodes(sXPath)
     If 0 = ndlFnd.length Then
        WScript.Echo "no '" & sXPath & "' found"
     Else
        WScript.Echo "found", ndlFnd.length, "node(s) for '" & sXPath & "'"
        sXPath = "firstname"
        For Each ndChild In ndlFnd
            WScript.Echo "child:", ndChild.tagName
            Set ndFnd = ndChild.selectSingleNode(sXPath)
            If ndFnd Is Nothing Then
               WScript.Echo "no '" & sXPath & "' found"
            Else
               WScript.Echo ndFnd.text, "==", ndChild.childNodes(1).text
            End If
        Next
     End If
  Else
     WScript.Echo "errorCode:", oXml.parseError.errorCode
     WScript.Echo oXml.parseError.reason
  End If

output:

loaded: E:\trials\SoTrials\answers\11166940\data\00.xml
root: xmldata
found 1 node(s) for '/xmldata/customers'
child: customers
Jim == Jim

As you can see

1. I use standard/approved methods to check the result of the single steps (e.g. parseError (instead of voodoo length test) to see if I got a well-formed/valid/usable document)
2. When in doubt, I put in a WScript.Echo to make sure my assumptions about what VBScript should deliver hold water.