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Remove a node from XML file in MS Project VBA

I’d like to remove a node from my xml file using VBA in MS Project 2007.

Should be so easy but I can’t get it running.

Here is my XML

<config id="config" ConfigSaveDate="2011-03-31 21:32:55" ConfigSchemaVersion="1.02">
    <Custom> 
    </Custom>
    <Program>
      <DateFormat>yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss</DateFormat> 
    </Program>
    <ProjectFile ProjectFileName="projectfile1.mpp">
      <RevisionNumber>201</RevisionNumber> 
      <FileName>projectfile1.mpp</FileName> 
      <LastSaveDate>2011-03-23 16:45:19</LastSaveDate> 
    </ProjectFile>
    <ProjectFile ProjectFileName="projectfile2bedeleted.mpp">
      <RevisionNumber>115</RevisionNumber> 
      <FileName>projectfile2bedeleted.mpp</FileName> 
      <LastSaveDate>2011-03-31 21:12:55</LastSaveDate> 
    </ProjectFile>
    <ProjectFile ProjectFileName="projectfile2.mpp">
      <RevisionNumber>315</RevisionNumber> 
      <FileName>projectfile2.mpp</FileName> 
      <LastSaveDate>2011-03-31 21:32:55</LastSaveDate> 
    </ProjectFile>
</config>

Here is my VBA code

Function configProjListDelete(configPath As String, ProjFiles As Variant) As Integer

  ' This function shall delete <ProjectFile> tags from the config.xml
  ' and shall delete coresponding project xml files from HD
  ' It shall return number of deleted files

  ' configPath is the  path to the xml folder
  ' ProjFiles is an array of file names of to be deleted files in above mentioned folder

  Dim xml As MSXML2.DOMDocument
  Dim RootElem As MSXML2.IXMLDOMElement
  'Dim cxp1 As CustomXMLPart
  Dim delNode As MSXML2.IXMLDOMNode ' XmlNode 'MSXML2.IXMLDOMElement
  Dim fSuccess As Boolean
  Dim ProjectFileList As MSXML2.IXMLDOMElement
  Dim fn As Variant 'file name in loop
  Dim i As Integer
  Dim delCnt As Integer

  If Not FileExists(configPath) Then
    ' given configFile doesn't exist return nothing
    Debug.Print "  iven config file doesn't exist. File: " & configPath
    GoTo ExitconfigProjListDelete
  End If

  'TODO: Catch empty ProjectFiles

  ' Initialize variables
  Set xml = New MSXML2.DOMDocument

  On Error GoTo HandleErr
  ' Load the  XML from disk, without validating it.
  ' Wait for the load to finish before proceeding.
  xml.async = False
  xml.validateOnParse = False
  fSuccess = xml.Load(configPath)
  On Error GoTo 0
  ' If anything went wrong, quit now.
  If Not fSuccess Then
    GoTo ExitconfigProjListDelete
  End If

  Set RootElem = xml.DocumentElement

  Debug.Print "- " & xml.getElementsByTagName("ProjectFile").Length & " ProjectFiles in config."

  i = 0
  delCnt = 0
  ' Loop through all ProjectFiles
  For Each ProjectFileList In xml.getElementsByTagName("ProjectFile")

    ' check if each project file name is one of the files to be deleted
    For Each fn In ProjFiles
      If fn = ProjectFileList.getElementsByTagName("FileName").NextNode.nodeTypedValue Then
        Debug.Print fn & " shall be deleted"

        ' remove it from the document

        ' here I'm struggeling!
        '#################################################
        ' How to delete the node <ProjectFile> and its childNodes?
        Set delNode = ProjectFileList.ParentNode
        xml.DocumentElement.RemoveChild (ProjectFileList) ' Error: 438 rough translation: "Object doesn't support this methode"

        ' This is all I've tried, but nothing works
        '===========================================
        'RootElem.RemoveChild (delNode)
        'xml.RemoveChild (delNode)
        'RootElem.RemoveChild (ProjectFileList.SelectSingleNode("ProjectFile"))
        'ProjectFileList.ParentNode.RemoveChild (ProjectFileList.ChildNodes(0))

        'Set objParent = datenode.ParentNode
        'xmldoc.DocumentElement.RemoveChild (objParent)

        'Set ProjectFileList = Empty


        delCnt = delCnt + 1
      End If
    Next fn

    i = i + 1
  Next ProjectFileList

  ' Save XML File
  If checkAppPath("Trying to update config file.") Then
    xml.Save CustomProperty("XMTMLMonitoring_AppPath") & "\" & m2w_config("SubFolder") & "\" & m2w_config("SubFolderData") & "\" & m2w_config("XMLConfigFileName")
    Debug.Print "  - Config has been updated and saved."
  Else
    MsgBox "Config data not exported to web." & Chr(10) & "Folder: '" & CustomProperty("XMTMLMonitoring_AppPath") & "\" & m2w_config("SubFolder") & "\" & m2w_config("SubFolderData") & Chr(10) & "doesn't exist. ", vbOKOnly, HEADLINE
  End If

  Set xml = Nothing

  configProjListDelete = delCnt

ExitconfigProjListDelete:
Exit Function

HandleErr:
  Debug.Print "XML File reading error " & Err.Number & ": " & Err.DESCRIPTION
  MsgBox "Error " & Err.Number & ": " & Err.DESCRIPTION
  On Error GoTo 0


End Function

I’d be glad to get some help!

Solution

  • Do you know about XPath? From the painful looks of your code, you do not. Instead of using a long combination of barbaric DOM methods to access the node you need, you should save yourself a lot of pain and just use an XPath to access it in one line.

    If I understand correctly what you're trying to do, then something like the following can replace your entire double loop, from i=0 to Next ProjectFileList:

    For i = LBound(ProjFiles) To UBound(ProjFiles)
    Set deleteMe = XML.selectSingleNode( _
        "/config/ProjectFile[@ProjectFileName='" & ProjFiles(i) & "']")
    Set oldChild = deleteMe.parentNode.removeChild(deleteMe)
Next i

    where the thing in "quotes" is an XPath. Hope this helps.

    As a side note, it seems inefficient, confusing, and error-prone to have a ProjectFileName attribute and a FileName element containing the exact same information in your XML file. What's up with that?