Using ASP/VB to get value of a node attribute

Question

Hello all. I have the following XML schema:

 <lyrics>
      <response code="0">SUCCESS</response>
      <searchResults>
           <result id="120745" hid="gXTQx5ywE0M=" exactMatch="true">
                <title>Opera Singer</title>
                <artist>
                     <name>Cake</name>
                </artist>
           </result>
      </searchResults>
 </lyrics>

Using VB, how would I get the value of "exactMatch"? I have tried all sorts of different methods, but nothing seems to work. Any ideas?

Cheers, Drew

Answer 1

Try this:

<%
Set xmldoc = Server.CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
    xmldoc.async = true
    xmldoc.Load Server.MapPath("yourfile.xml")

'' // query for a specific result        
Set result = xmldoc.SelectSingleNode("//result[@id='120745']")
Response.Write(result.GetAttribute("exactMatch") & "<br />")

'' // get all results elements
Set results = xmldoc.SelectNodes("//result")
For Each result In results
    Response.Write(result.GetAttribute("exactMatch") & "<br />")
Next

%>

Answer 2

Use this code:-

<%
Option Explicit
Dim doc: Set doc = YourFunctionThatFetchesTheResults()

Dim result
For Each result in doc.SelectNodes("/lyrics/searchresults/result")
   RenderResult result
Next

Sub RenderResult(result)
   Dim ID : ID = result.getAttribute("ID")
   Dim exactMatch : ID = result.getAttribute("extactMatch")
   Dim title : title = GetElemText(result,"title")
   Dim artist : artist = GetElemText(result, "artist/name")
   %>
   <tr><td><%=ID%></td><td><%=exactMatch%></td><td><%=title%></td><td><%=artist ></td></tr>
   <%
End Sub

Function GetElemText(node, path)
    Dim elem : Set elem = node.selectSingleNode(path)
    If Not elem is Nothing Then
        GetElemText = elem.Text
    End If
End Function

Alternatively you may wish only to list those results which are extact matches, in which case you would adjust the code like this:-

Dim result
For Each result in doc.SelectNodes("/lyrics/searchresults/result[@extactMatch='true']")
   RenderResult result
Next

BTW, Avoid being tempted by the expedience of '//', if the document structure is known then navigating that structure explicitly is a more robust approach.