trouble using Msxml2.DOMDocument.6.0 on IIS7

lcsgeek · May 13th, 2009, 09:19 AM

I'm trying to move a Classic ASP app from WinXP Pro IIS6 to Win2K8 IIS7. The app has the following function (and many more like this):

Code:

function findXmlRecord(strXmlFile, strXPath)
'This function returns an array holding all child node values where xmlDoc.ChildNodes(0).IdAttributeValue = valueStoredInDb
'The function expects the following 2 arguments:
' 1) strXmlFile - <string> xml file name
' 2) strXPath - <string> XPath query criteria
 Dim xmlDoc, oNode, cNodes, i
 Dim arReturn()
 Set xmlDoc = Server.CreateObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument.6.0")
 xmlDoc.async = False
 If xmlDoc.load(Session("appDataPath") & strXmlFile) Then
  xmlDoc.setProperty "SelectionLanguage", "XPath"
  Set oNode = xmlDoc.selectNodes(strXPath)
  Set cNodes = oNode.item(0).childNodes
  Redim arReturn((cNodes.Length)-1) 'length is not zero based so have to do minus 1
  For i = 0 to ((cNodes.Length)-1)
   arReturn(i) = cNodes(i).text
  Next
  Set oNode = Nothing
  Set cNodes = Nothing
 End If
 set xmlDoc = nothing
 findXmlRecord = arReturn
end function

function call example:

Code:

   Response.Write(findXmlRecord("lists/classNames.xml", "/classNames/className[@ID = '" & oRs("classNameId") & "']")(0))

portion of the xml file:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<!-- Do not change any ID values in this document as they are stored in the GT database -->
<classNames>
 <className ID="1">
  <classNameText>Other</classNameText>
  <classNameSort>AAA</classNameSort>
 </className>
 <className ID="2">
  <classNameText>Study Hall</classNameText>
  <classNameSort>AAA</classNameSort>
 </className>
 <className ID="3">
  <classNameText>NILD</classNameText>
  <classNameSort>AAA</classNameSort>
 </className>
 <className ID="4">
  <classNameText>Art 6</classNameText>
  <classNameSort>BBB</classNameSort>
 </className>
 <className ID="5">
  <classNameText>Art I</classNameText>
  <classNameSort>BBB</classNameSort>
 </className>
 <className ID="6">
  <classNameText>Art II</classNameText>
  <classNameSort>BBB</classNameSort>
 </className>
 <className ID="7">
  <classNameText>Art III</classNameText>
  <classNameSort>BBB</classNameSort>
 </className>
 <className ID="8">
  <classNameText>Art IV</classNameText>
  <classNameSort>BBB</classNameSort>
 </className>
 <className ID="11">
  <classNameText>Art MC</classNameText>
  <classNameSort>BBB</classNameSort>
 </className>
</classNames>

On my laptop running XP Pro (and I think IIS6) I can call findXmlRecord just fine placing all className childnodes into an array where the className node ID attribute value = oRs("classNameId"). However the whole app comes crashing down when I copy it to my Win2K8 server running IIS7. What's weird is that I don't get any error messages, it's just that whenever I try to harvest data from my xml documents via "Set xmlDoc = Server.CreateObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument.6.0")" I get absoulutly no data. Like I said it works perfectly on my XP machine.

Can anyone give me some direction?

Thanks

Martin Honnen · May 13th, 2009, 09:41 AM

Well, "the whole app comes crashing down" and "I get absolutely no data" are quite different things in my understanding. If no data is found then I would debug the function you have, for instance you do

Code:

If xmlDoc.load(...) Then

but you have no Else branch checking xmlDoc.parseError.errorCode/reason.

lcsgeek · May 13th, 2009, 11:37 AM

Thank you Martin,
I did modify the If Then statement to include an Else branch as follows:

Code:

 Else
  arReturn(0) = xmlDoc.parseError.errorCode
 End If

and the function is now returning an errorCode -2147024893 which I can't find anywhere on the web.

Do you have access to the load method's return values?

Thanks again for your help.

Darin

Martin Honnen · May 13th, 2009, 11:46 AM

Simply check/output the other parseError properties like parseError.reason in your function. Or return them if that is what you want. As errorCode is not zero the file could not be successfully loaded or parsed, the reason property should tell you in plain language why.

lcsgeek · May 13th, 2009, 12:18 PM

very good

Code:

  arReturn(0) = "Error Code: " & xmlDoc.parseError.errorCode & ", Reason: " & xmlDoc.parseError.reason & ", Error Line: " & xmlDoc.parseError.line

returns:
Error Code: -2147024893, Reason: The system cannot find the path specified. , Error Line: 0

Are there any special file permissions I have to give the Network Service or Internet_Guest account to read the xml files? Not sure why the path works on my xp box but not on the server.

Thanks Martin

lcsgeek · May 13th, 2009, 12:42 PM

Got it. Turns out the folder structure differs between my XP box and the server, so the Session("appDataPath") needed changed in global.asa on the server. When I stated the whole site comes crashing down I meant that every reference to a xml file was failing - these references are scattered throughout the app. I edited the Session("appDataPath") value to match the server folder structure and everything is now working as it does on my xp box.

Thank you again Martin for your exellent pointers, your help is the reason for my success.

Darin

Martin Honnen · May 13th, 2009, 12:49 PM

Usually in classic ASP you use Server.MapPath("lists/classNames.xml") to map the web directory path to a file system path. Other than that I am not sure what to suggest. It could also be a permission issue but I am afraid I know nothing about the IIS 7 and Win 2008 server. Wrox has a classic ASP forum and Microsoft has IIS forums: http://forums.iis.net/, maybe someone there has more experience with IIS and setting up permissions for the user classic ASP is run with.