oNode being Set to Nothing, but why, and how do I fix it?

Question

I am trying to develop a token (in this case a piece of code that runs inside a bigger VBScript) that returns information from an XML that is supplied by the 3rd-party software to a word plugin using bookmarks to provide parameters to the tokens.

So here is what is going on,

XmlDoc.SetProperty "SelectionLanguage", "XPath"

ReturnData = vbNullString

Public Function GetParameterXml()
    GetParameterXml = _
    "<Parameters>" & _
        "<Parameter Value='Last_Hearing' Code='L' Description='Last_Hearing' Type='Combo'>" & _
            "<Options>" & _
                "<Option Code='' Description='True' Value='True' />" & _
                "<Option Code='' Description='False' Value='False' />" & _
            "</Options>" & _
        "</Parameter>" & _
    "</Parameters>"     
End Function

Dim oNode : Set oNode = XmlDoc.SelectSingleNode("/Record/CelloXml/Integration/Case/Hearing/Setting/CourtroomMinutes/Comment")
Dim lastHearing : Set lastHearing = Parameters.Item( BookMark, "Last_Hearing" )     

If IsNull(lastHearing) Then
    lastHearing = False
End If
stop
If lastHearing.Value = "True" Then
    Dim dateNodes : Set dateNodes = XmlDoc.SelectNodes("/Record/CelloXml/Integration/Case/Hearing/Setting/HearingDate")
    Dim mostRecentHearingDate
    Dim dateNode
    Dim todaysDate
    todaysDate = Date

    Dim dateList : Set dateList = CreateObject("System.Collections.ArrayList")
    For Each dateNode In dateNodes
        dateList.Add CDate(dateNode.Text)
    Next
    dateList.Sort()

    Dim tempDate
    For Each tempDate In dateList
        If tempDate < todaysDate Then
            mostRecentHearingDate = tempDate
        End If
    Next
    mostRecentHearingDate = CStr(mostRecentHearingDate)
    Set oNode = XmlDoc.selectSingleNode("/Record/CelloXml/Integration/Case/Hearing/Setting[HearingDate/text()='" & mostRecentHearingDate & "']/CourtroomMinutes/Comment")
End If

If Not oNode Is Nothing Then
    ReturnData = oNode.text
Else
    ReturnData = vbNullString
End If

Everything works the way that I want it to up until

Set oNode = XmlDoc.selectSingleNode("/Record/CelloXml/Integration/Case/Hearing/Setting[HearingDate/text()='" & mostRecentHearingDate & "']/CourtroomMinutes/Comment")

I needed dateList to hold dates(or date literals) because I assumed that I would get a bad sort if I tried to sort the dates as a string rather than an actual date, so I converted the text from the node to a date(or date literal) and added it to dateList

When I was done with all the calculations then I needed a string to run in my XPath, if I hard code the date(as a string{08/05/2014}) into the XPath query it works, but when I turn mostRecentHearingDate into a string using CStr then oNode is Set to Nothing

The Node exists and holds data

So,

• Why is this happening?
• How do I get it to function the way I think it should?

Answer 1

If you do

dim mostRecentHearingDate
mostRecentHearingDate = CDate("08/05/2014")
mostRecentHearingDate = CStr(mostRecentHearingDate)

mostRecentHearingDate = "8/5/2014" not "08/05/2014" it drops the leading "0"

try

mostRecentHearingDate = Right("0"&DatePart("m",mostRecentHearingDate),2) & "/" & Right("0"&DatePart("d",mostRecentHearingDate),2) &  "/" & DatePart("YYYY",mostRecentHearingDate)

That yields

08/05/2014