Parsing Through XML File Excel VBA objDOM not Working - excel

Question

Trying to parse thorugh an XML file with VBA and print the results to an Excel spreadsheet. But whenever I get to creating a list with the following code it doesn't create one and I can't figure out why.
Set Songs = objDOM.SelectNodes("/channel/item")
Full code and XML is below
Function fnReadXMLByTags()
'Code From: https://excel-macro.tutorialhorizon.com/vba-excel-read-xml-by-looping-through-nodes/
'And Here: https://desmondoshiwambo.wordpress.com/2012/07/03/how-to-load-xml-from-a-local-file-with-msxml2-domdocument-6-0-and-loadxml-using-vba/
Dim mainWorkBook As Workbook
Set mainWorkBook = ActiveWorkbook
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A:C").Clear
Dim intFile As Integer
Dim strTemp As String
Dim strXML As String
Dim strOrderText As String
Dim objDOM As Object
Dim Songs As Object
XMLFileName = ThisWorkbook.Path & "\PlaylistFeed.xml"
'Open file
intFile = FreeFile
Open XMLFileName For Input As intFile
strXML = ""
'Load XML into string strXML
While Not EOF(intFile)
Line Input #intFile, strTemp
strXML = strXML & strTemp
Wend
Close intFile
'Load the XML into DOMDocument object
Set objDOM = CreateObject("MSXML2.DOMDocument.6.0")
objDOM.LoadXML strXML
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A1,B1,C1,D1").Interior.ColorIndex = 40
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A1,B1,C1,D1").Borders.Value = 1
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A" & 1).Value = "Song Number"
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("B" & 1).Value = "Tag Number"
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("C" & 1).Value = "Item Node"
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("D" & 1).Value = "Value"
Set Songs = objDOM.SelectNodes("/channel/item")
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A" & 2).Value = Songs.Length 'always says 0
intCounter = 2
For i = 0 To Songs.Length - 1
For j = 0 To Songs(i).ChildNodes.Length - 1
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A" & intCounter).Value = i + 1
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("B" & intCounter).Value = j + 1
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("C" & intCounter).Value = Songs(i).ChildNodes(j).tagname
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("D" & intCounter).Value = Songs(i).ChildNodes(j).Text
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A" & intCounter).Borders.Value = 1
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("B" & intCounter).Borders.Value = 1
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("C" & intCounter).Borders.Value = 1
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("D" & intCounter).Borders.Value = 1
intCounter = intCounter + 1
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A" & intCounter, "B" & intCounter, "C" & intCounter, "D" & intCounter).Interior.ColorIndex = 40
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A" & intCounter, "B" & intCounter, "C" & intCounter, "D" & intCounter).Borders.Value = 1
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A" & intCounter).Value = "Song Number"
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("B" & intCounter).Value = "Tag Number"
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("C" & intCounter).Value = "Item Node"
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("D" & intCounter).Value = "Value"
Next
intCounter = intCounter + 1
Next
End Function
<rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>WTMD Playlist</title>
<link>http://www.wtmd.org</link>
<description>Recently Played Songs at WTMD</description>
<item>
<title>Son Volt - Drown</title>
<link>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=wt897fmrafomu-20&index=digital-music-track&keyword=Son+Volt%2BDrown
</link>
<description>Album: Trace</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:09:44 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=wt897fmrafomu-20&index=digital-music-track&keyword=Son+Volt%2BDrown
</guid>
<dc:date>2012-12-03T20:09:44Z</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<title>Allen Stone - Sleep</title>
<link>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=wt897fmrafomu-20&index=digital-music-track&keyword=Allen+Stone%2BSleep
</link>
<description>Album: Allen Stone</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:07:19 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=wt897fmrafomu-20&index=digital-music-track&keyword=Allen+Stone%2BSleep
</guid>
<dc:date>2012-12-03T20:07:19Z</dc:date>
</item>
When testing the length the Songs list always comes at zero and I can't figure out why. Everything I've tried either has the same problem or gives an error.

Answer 1

As QHarr pointed out, in parts of the XML document, you have text containing the & symbol (ampersand), for example:
tag=wt897fmrafomu-20&index=digital-music-track
The & symbol on its own is not allowed as part of well formed XML and needs to be replaced by the entity reference &:
tag=wt897fmrafomu-20&index=digital-music-track
The XPath query in the call to selectNodes is also incorrect. You have:
Set Songs = objDOM.SelectNodes("/channel/item")
That would only be correct if "channel" was the root node of the XML document. In fact, "rss" is the root node so you would need to use this instead:
Set Songs = objDOM.SelectNodes("/rss/channel/item")
The calls to set the color index and borders are incorrect. You should have this instead:
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A" & intCounter & ":D" & intCounter).Interior.ColorIndex = 40
mainWorkBook.Sheets("XML_Parser").Range("A" & intCounter & ":D" & intCounter).Borders.Value = 1
The XML document as shown in the question is incomplete so I'm assuming that the remaining tags were added to close the "channel" and "rss" tags. I'm also assuming that an XML declaration was added at the start:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>WTMD Playlist</title>
<link>http://www.wtmd.org</link>
<description>Recently Played Songs at WTMD</description>
<item>
<title>Son Volt - Drown</title>
<link>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=wt897fmrafomu-20&index=digital-music-track&keyword=Son+Volt%2BDrown
</link>
<description>Album: Trace</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:09:44 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=wt897fmrafomu-20&index=digital-music-track&keyword=Son+Volt%2BDrown
</guid>
<dc:date>2012-12-03T20:09:44Z</dc:date>
</item>
<item>
<title>Allen Stone - Sleep</title>
<link>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=wt897fmrafomu-20&index=digital-music-track&keyword=Allen+Stone%2BSleep
</link>
<description>Album: Allen Stone</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:07:19 GMT</pubDate>
<guid>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search?tag=wt897fmrafomu-20&index=digital-music-track&keyword=Allen+Stone%2BSleep
</guid>
<dc:date>2012-12-03T20:07:19Z</dc:date>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>