MSXML2 to System.Xml

Question

Hi I am converting the VB code to vb.net. I have to remove the refrence to MSXML2.dll and use the dot net System.XMl name space.

The dot net intellisense gives suggestions on what should be the replaceable code for MSXML2.DOMDocument that is System.Xml.XMLDocument but it says 'No correction suggestions' for the MSXML2.XSLTemplate30. I want to know should I replace it with System.Xml.Xsl.XslTransform .

Also , how can we convert this code

xslDoc.parseError.errorCode,

xslDoc.parseError.reason

Or if anyone could please have a look at the following code and suggest how to convert it and can there be any issues at run time ??

Public Function convertDefaultXMLToXML(ByVal fileName As String, ByVal XmlDom As MSXML2.DOMDocument, Optional ByRef xslParameters As String = "") As MSXML2.DOMDocument

 

Dim xmlDoc As New XmlDocument

 

Dim xslt As New MSXML2.XSLTemplate30

 

Dim xslDoc As New MSXML2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument

 

Dim xslProc As MSXML2.IXSLProcessor

 

Try

 

Dim sLogPath As String

xslDoc.async = False

xslDoc.load(m_sXSLPath & fileName & ".xsl")

 

Dim tempArray() As String

 

Dim xslParameter() As String

 

Dim x As Integer

 

If (xslDoc.parseError.errorCode = 0) Then

xslt.stylesheet = xslDoc

xslProc = xslt.createProcessor()

xslProc.input = XmlDom

xslProc.output = xmlDoc

 

If Trim(xslParameters) <> "" Then

 

If InStr(1, xslParameters, "|") > 0 Then

tempArray = Split(xslParameters,

"|")

 

For x = 0 To UBound(tempArray)

xslParameter = Split(tempArray(x),

"=")

xslProc.addParameter(xslParameter(0), xslParameter(1))

 

Next

 

Else

xslParameter = Split(xslParameters,

"=")

xslProc.addParameter(xslParameter(0), xslParameter(1))

 

End If

 

End If

xslProc.transform()

 

Else

xmlDoc = setErrorXML(

"", xslDoc.parseError.errorCode, xslDoc.parseError.reason)

 

End If

 

convertDefaultXMLToXML = xmlDoc

 

Catch Ex As Exception

 

xmlDoc = setErrorXML("", ErrNumber(Ex), Ex.Message)

convertDefaultXMLToXML = xmlDoc

 

Finally

 

'Destroy Objects

xslt =

Nothing

xslDoc =

Nothing

xmlDoc =

Nothing

xslProc =

Nothing

 

End Try

Answer 1

The similar functions are not available in vb.net. I have rewritten the code like this

Dim objXMLReader As XmlReader
Dim objProcessor As Xsl.XslCompiledTransform
Dim objArguList As Xsl.XsltArgumentList
Dim objStream As IO.Stream


'strXSLToApply contains the xsl in string format. you can pass the file name also using overloaded method
objXMLReader = XmlReader.Create(New System.IO.StringReader(strXSLToApply))
objProcessor = New Xsl.XslCompiledTransform
objProcessor.Load(objXMLReader)

objArguList = New Xsl.XsltArgumentList
objArguList.AddParam("Parametername", "", "paramvalue")

objStream = New IO.MemoryStream
'objXMLDOMDocument - contains the xml to be transformed
objProcessor.Transform(objXMLDOMDocument, objArguList, objStream)


'strSQL contains the transformed output
If objStream.Length > 3 Then
      Dim objByte(objStream.Length - 4) As Byte
      'First three bytes contains UTF-8 BOM characters which should not be decoded
      objStream.Position = 3
      objStream.Read(objByte, 0, objByte.Length)
      strSQL = System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetString(objByte)
Else
	strSQL = ""
End If

 

 

---

Jagatheesan

Answer 2

Thanks a lot Jagatheesan for replying quickly. This code sure helped me a lot.

However, Is there any way I can get these values

 

xslDoc.parseError.errorCode

xslDoc.parseError.reason

xslDoc.parseError.line

xslDoc.parseError.linepos

xslDoc.parseError.srcText

Thanks.

Answer 3

Load methods raises parse errors as xmlexception using which you can read these values

example

try

 objxml.load(xmlstring)

catch ex as XmlException

       linenumber = ex.linenumber

      linepos = ex.lineposition

       source = ex.source

end try

refer this link for complete list of xmlexception properties

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml.xmlexception_members.aspx

hope this helps

 

 

---

Jagatheesan

Answer 4

The link is very helpful and I am now getting a clearer picture of the things.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Answer 5

Hi Jagatheesan,

I Implemented the above code but the problem is my xml document is transformed but it si not structured . Following is my xml file

XML File

 

<xml xmlns:s="uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" xmlns:dt="uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" xmlns:rs="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema">
    <s:Schema id="RowsetSchema">
        <s:ElementType name="row" content="eltOnly">
            <s:AttributeType name="HCR_ID" rs:number="1">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="20" rs:fixedlength="true" rs:maybenull="false"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="LOTUS_NOTES_ID" rs:number="2">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="10" rs:fixedlength="true" rs:maybenull="false"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="ACTIVE_IND" rs:number="3">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="1" rs:fixedlength="true" rs:maybenull="false"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="HCR_ROLE_ID" rs:number="4">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="4" rs:fixedlength="true" rs:maybenull="false"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="ASSIGNMENT" rs:number="5" rs:nullable="true">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="1" rs:fixedlength="true"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="LAST_NM" rs:number="6" rs:nullable="true">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="50" rs:fixedlength="true"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="FIRST_NM" rs:number="7" rs:nullable="true">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="50" rs:fixedlength="true"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:extends type="rs:rowbase"/>
        </s:ElementType>
    </s:Schema>
    <rs:data>
        <z:row HCR_ID="67822181714161206002" LOTUS_NOTES_ID="LCADMN1   " ACTIVE_IND="Y" HCR_ROLE_ID="30  " ASSIGNMENT="Y" LAST_NM="AdminOne                                          " FIRST_NM="LC                                                "/>
    </rs:data>
</xml>

 

 

 

 

Here is the XSL file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:s="uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema" xmlns:rs="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:dt="uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882" exclude-result-prefixes="s z rs dt">
 <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes" encoding="UTF-8"/>
 <xsl:template match="/">
  <RESPONSE40>
   <FIELDS40>
    <ROW40>
     <xsl:apply-templates select="xml/rs:data/z:row"/>
    </ROW40>
   </FIELDS40>
  </RESPONSE40>
 </xsl:template>
 <xsl:template match="z:row">
  <ROLEID>
   <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(@HCR_ROLE_ID)"/>
  </ROLEID>
  <ID>
   <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(@HCR_ID)"/>
  </ID>
  <FIRSTNAME>
   <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(@FIRST_NM)"/>
  </FIRSTNAME>
  <LASTNAME>
   <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(@LAST_NM)"/>
  </LASTNAME>
  <MIDDLENAME>
   <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(@MIDDLE_NM)"/>
  </MIDDLENAME>
  <ISACTIVE>
   <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(@ACTIVE_IND)"/>
  </ISACTIVE>
  <NETWORKID>
   <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(@LOTUS_NOTES_ID)"/>
  </NETWORKID>
  <PHONE>
   <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(@PHONE_NUM)"/>
  </PHONE>
  <CELLPHONE>
   <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(@CELL_PHONE_NUM)"/>
  </CELLPHONE>
  <PAGER>
   <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(@PAGER_NUM)"/>
  </PAGER>
  <MANAGERID>
   <xsl:value-of select="normalize-space(@MGR_ID)"/>
  </MANAGERID>
 </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

 

the output XML document which I am expecting should be like this ( I get this output when I use the VB6 code with MSXML) . I have copied from the immediate window

 "<?xml version=""1.0""?>
<RESPONSE40>
 <FIELDS40>
  <ROW40>
   <ROLEID>30</ROLEID>
   <ID>67822181714161206002</ID>
   <FIRSTNAME>LC</FIRSTNAME>
   <LASTNAME>AdminOne</LASTNAME>
   <MIDDLENAME></MIDDLENAME>
   <ISACTIVE>Y</ISACTIVE>
   <NETWORKID>LCADMN1</NETWORKID>
   <PHONE></PHONE>
   <CELLPHONE></CELLPHONE>
   <PAGER></PAGER>
   <MANAGERID></MANAGERID>
  </ROW40>
 </FIELDS40>
</RESPONSE40>
"

 

 

I extended the code provided by you by one line

 

Dim objOutXML As New System.Xml.XmlDocument

objOutXML.LoadXml(strSQL)

 

But when I use the dot net code to transform I am getting this output .

?objOutXML.OuterXml

"<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><RESPONSE40><FIELDS40><ROW40><ROLEID>30</ROLEID><ID>67822181714161206002</ID><FIRSTNAME>LC</FIRSTNAME><LASTNAME>AdminOne</LASTNAME><MIDDLENAME></MIDDLENAME><ISACTIVE>Y</ISACTIVE><NETWORKID>LCADMN1</NETWORKID><PHONE></PHONE><CELLPHONE></CELLPHONE><PAGER></PAGER><MANAGERID></MANAGERID></ROW40></FIELDS40></RESPONSE40>"

 

The output is not structured

Could you please let me know why is this happening ? Or it is ok.

Answer 6

Thats should be fine when you access your xml in the code, it does not impact. If you want to write the content into some file you can format it using xmlwriter settings. Refer this link for details

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.xml.xmlwritersettings.aspx

 

---

Jagatheesan

Answer 7

There is one more thing for which I am not getting any clear answres on google ..

what is the alternative of the serProperty

This is my code

objXMLDOM.setProperty(

"SelectionNamespaces", "xmlns:s=""uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882"" xmlns:dt=""uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882"" xmlns:rs=""urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset"" xmlns:z=""#RowsetSchema""")

 

Thanks

Answer 8

These are the second level xml properties. i can't find alternative for this in system.xml. but if you give me the details of how exactly it is used and for what purpose these are used in your application I can provide the alternate.

---

Jagatheesan

Answer 9

I am using this to get the count of elements belonging to a particular namespace

My VB function is

Public

 

Function MGetCount(ByRef objXML As MSXML2.DOMDocument) As Short

 

On Error GoTo HandleError

objXML.setProperty(

"SelectionNamespaces", "xmlns:rs=""urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset"" xmlns:z=""#RowsetSchema""")

MGetCount =

CShort(objXML.selectNodes("xml/rs:data/z:row").length)

 

Exit Function

HandleError:

 

On Error Resume Next

MGetCount = 0

 

End Function

Th above code I have rewritten in dot net like this

Public

 

Function GetCount(ByRef objXML As System.Xml.XmlDocument) As Short

Dim ns As System.Xml.XmlNamespaceManager = New System.Xml.XmlNamespaceManager(objXML.NameTable)

 

'ns.AddNamespace("SelectionLanguage", "XPath")

ns.AddNamespace(

"SelectionNamespaces", "xmlns:rs=""urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset"" xmlns:z=""#RowsetSchema""")

 

Try

GetCount =

CShort(objXML.SelectNodes("xml/rs:data/z:row", ns).Count)

 

Catch ex As XPathException

GetCount = 0

 

End Try

 

End Function

 

Answer 10

The XMl that I am using as Input is as follows

 

<xml xmlns:s="uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882" xmlns:dt="uuid:C2F41010AA00C14882"

xmlns:rs="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema">
    <s:Schema id="RowsetSchema">
        <s:ElementType name="row" content="eltOnly">
            <s:AttributeType name="HCR_ID" rs:number="1">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="20" rs:fixedlength="true" rs:maybenull="false"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="LOTUS_NOTES_ID" rs:number="2">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="10" rs:fixedlength="true" rs:maybenull="false"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="ACTIVE_IND" rs:number="3">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="1" rs:fixedlength="true" rs:maybenull="false"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="HCR_ROLE_ID" rs:number="4">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="4" rs:fixedlength="true" rs:maybenull="false"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="ASSIGNMENT" rs:number="5" rs:nullable="true">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="1" rs:fixedlength="true"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="LAST_NM" rs:number="6" rs:nullable="true">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="50" rs:fixedlength="true"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:AttributeType name="FIRST_NM" rs:number="7" rs:nullable="true">
                <s:datatype dt:type="string" rs:dbtype="str" dt:maxLength="50" rs:fixedlength="true"/>
            </s:AttributeType>
            <s:extends type="rs:rowbase"/>
        </s:ElementType>
    </s:Schema>
    <rs:data>
        <z:row HCR_ID="03944925513171206002" LOTUS_NOTES_ID="TESTLCR2  " ACTIVE_IND="Y" HCR_ROLE_ID="10  " ASSIGNMENT="Y"

LAST_NM="Lcrtwo                                            " FIRST_NM="Test                                              "/>
        <z:row HCR_ID="05628012156191906002" LOTUS_NOTES_ID="LROMGR1   " ACTIVE_IND="Y" HCR_ROLE_ID="25  " ASSIGNMENT="Y"

LAST_NM="MgrOne                                            " FIRST_NM="LRO                                               "/>
        <z:row HCR_ID="05705050033152208002" LOTUS_NOTES_ID="HILL      " ACTIVE_IND="Y" HCR_ROLE_ID="10  " ASSIGNMENT="Y"

LAST_NM="Gray{}|&quot;:?&gt;&lt;()*                                   " FIRST_NM="Orange%                                    

      "/>
        <z:row HCR_ID="06962673013161409002" LOTUS_NOTES_ID="GREENC27  " ACTIVE_IND="N" HCR_ROLE_ID="10  " ASSIGNMENT="Y"

LAST_NM="Rep II                                            " FIRST_NM="Testing                                           "/>
                                                     
    </rs:data>
</xml>

 

 

 

The VB version works fine and gives me the count as 4.

 

But when I run the dot net version is throws an exception saying

Namespace prefix 'z' is not defined

 

Could you please suggest something .

I appreaciate all your help.

Thanks

Answer 11

Hi Jagatheesan,

I changed the dot net version of the function as follows now the error has gone but the value of GetCount is coming as 0 (Not 4)

Public

 

Function GetCount(ByRef objXML As System.Xml.XmlDocument) As Short

 

Dim ns As System.Xml.XmlNamespaceManager = New System.Xml.XmlNamespaceManager(objXML.NameTable)

ns.AddNamespace(

"rs", "xmlns:rs=""urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset""")

ns.AddNamespace(

"z", "xmlns:z=""#RowsetSchema""")

 

Try

GetCount =

CShort(objXML.SelectNodes("xml/rs:data/z:row", ns).Count)

 

Catch ex As XPathException

GetCount = 0

 

End Try

 

End Function

Thanks.

Answer 12

There is one more thing for which I am not getting any clear answres on google ..

what is the alternative of the serProperty

This is my code

objXMLDOM.setProperty(

"SelectionNamespaces" , "xmlns:s=""uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882"" xmlns:dt=""uuid:C2F41010-65B3-11d1-A29F-00AA00C14882"" xmlns:rs=""urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset"" xmlns:z=""#RowsetSchema""" )

 

Thanks

Use an XmlNamespaceManager e.g.

XmlNamespaceManager mgr = new XmlNamespaceManager(xmlDocumentInstance.NameTable);

mgr.AddNamespace("s", "uuid:BDC6E3F0-6DA3-11d1-A2A3-00AA00C14882");

// add the other namespaces here

// then pass the XmlNamespaceManager object "mgr" to any SelectNodes and SelectSingleNode calls as the second argument

---

MVP Data Platform Development My blog

Answer 13

Corrected code below. In namespace parameters just give the namespace without prefix

ns.AddNamespace( "rs" , "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" )

ns.AddNamespace( "z" , "#RowsetSchema" )

 

---

Jagatheesan

Answer 14

Oh Yes. It worked. Thanks a lot.

Answer 15

Hi Jagatheesan,

I got a couple of more challenges while doing this migration from MSXML2 to System.XML

The equivalent of Node.text in MSXL2 is the "InnerText" of System.XML . When I see the output of the two in immediate window this is what I notice (I am using Books.xml from msdn articles)

?childNode.InnerText

"Blue Smoke19.95"

?childNode1.text

"Blue Smoke 19.95"

?childNode1.text.Length

16

?childNode.InnerText.Length

15

As you can see there is no space in between the Book name and price in the dot net version . Can we call this a Bug ? What can be the workaroud for this .

 

One more thing is there, as you can see down from the immediate window output. I printed the XML of the childnode . In the MSXML2 version the output is properly indented but in the dot net version (outerxml) the output is displayed as a single line .

What can we do for this. This may not be an issue at runtime but still why is this behaviour there ? How can I get the indented output ?

?childNode.OuterXml

"<book genre="novel" publicationdate="1991" bk:ISBN="1-861001-57-8" xmlns:bk="urn:samples"><title>Blue Smoke</title><price>19.95</price></book>"

?childNode1.xml

"<book genre="novel" publicationdate="1991" xmlns:bk="urn:samples" bk:ISBN="1-861001-57-8">

<title>Blue Smoke</title>

<price>19.95</price>

</book>"

 

Thanks a lot for all you help once again.

Answer 16

For the .NET System.Xml.XmlDocument instance you might want to set

Dim doc As New XmlDocument()

doc.PreserveWhitespace = True

before you load any data, that way the OuterXml will reflect the white space that was originally in the source XML.

If you don't want to set that property but still want intended output then don't use OuterXml, instead use the Save method, that will be default add indentation.

---

MVP Data Platform Development My blog

Answer 17

Ok. This is the difference between text and innertext methods. But normally we use innerText to find the value of single node. Why do you want to read the values of more than one node at a time? I can provide the workaround based on your need here.

Your next question also deals with difference between the parsers. But it wont impact anything. If you want to write into some file you can use xmlwriter settings which has better control over MSXML2.

 

 

---

Jagatheesan

Answer 18

Hi,

Is there any way to use the Save method of  classic ADO recordset with the System.XML.XMLDocument.

As when I try to run the following code I am getting this error

objRst.Save(objXMLDOM, ADODB.PersistFormatEnum.adPersistXML)

"Arguments are of the wrong type, are out of acceptable range, or are in conflict with one another."

I googled it and found this link helpful to the extent that it explains that System.XML.XMLDocument is com invisible but as a solution they asked to use the MSXML2 document. This can not be the solution in my case beacuse I have to System.XML only.

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/adodotnetdataproviders/thread/f1e9e3cf-cf07-49f4-842b-a9c753af2b54

So is there any workaroung that I can save my recorset data into the System.XML.XmlDocument .

 

Thanks a lot for your help.

Answer 19

Try this

objRst.Save("sample.xml", ADODB.PersistFormatEnum.adPersistXML)

objXMLDOM.load("sample.xml")

---

Jagatheesan