VBScript and loadXML: Invalid at the top level of the document. How to fix it?

Question

This is my fort post on stackoverflow. I have searched many similiar Q&A's on this site but my conditions seem a bit different. here is my vbscript code:

------------ code snippet ---------------

xmlurl = "songs.xml"

set xmlDoc = CreateObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM")
xmlDoc.async = False
xmlDoc.loadXML(xmlurl)

if xmlDoc.parseError.errorcode<>0 then
  'error handling code
  msgbox("error! " & xmlDoc.parseError.reason)
end if

------------ end code snippet ---------------

XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<nowplaying-info-list>
  <nowplaying-info mountName="CKOIFMAAC" timestamp="1339771946" type="track">
    <property name="track_artist_name"><![CDATA[CKOI]]></property>
    <property name="cue_title"><![CDATA[HITMIX]]></property>
  </nowplaying-info>
  <nowplaying-info mountName="CKOIFMAAC" timestamp="1339771364" type="track">
    <property name="track_artist_name"><![CDATA[AMYLIE]]></property>
    <property name="cue_title"><![CDATA[LES FILLES]]></property>
  </nowplaying-info>
  <nowplaying-info mountName="CKOIFMAAC" timestamp="1339771149" type="track">
    <property name="track_artist_name"><![CDATA[MIA MARTINA]]></property>
    <property name="cue_title"><![CDATA[TOI ET MOI]]></property>
  </nowplaying-info>
</nowplaying-info-list>

I also tried removing the first line in case maybe UTF-8 was not compatible with windows (saw some posts about this), but I still got the same error. I also tried unix2dos and vice versa in case there were carriage return issues (hidden characters embedded in the xml). I just can't seem to figure out what's wrong. It's such a simole XML file. I could parse it in a few minutes using perl regex but I need to run this script on windows so using vbscript. I use the same technique to parse XML from other sources without any issues. I cannot modify the XML unfortunately, it is from an external source. I have this exact same error on both my Windows Vista home edition and Windows Server 2008. I am running the vbscript from the command line for testing so far (ie not in ASP).

Thanks in advance,

Sam

Answer 1

xmlDoc.loadXML() can load an XML string. It cannot retrieve a URL.

Use an XMLHTTPRequest object if you need to make an HTTP request.

Function LoadXml(xmlurl)
  Dim xmlhttp

  Set xmlhttp = CreateObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP")
  xmlhttp.Open "GET", xmlurl, false

  ' switch to manual error handling
  On Error Resume Next

  xmlhttp.Send
  If err.number <> 0 Then 
    WScript.Echo xmlhttp.parseError.Reason
    Err.Clear
  End If 

  ' switch back to automatic error handling 
  On Error Goto 0

  Set LoadXml = xmlhttp.ResponseXml
End Function

Use like

Set doc = LoadXml("http://your.url/here")