[RESOLVED] Finding distinct attributes from a xml node

[sanjai]

Hi Everyone,

I was referring to one of the examples which I found on internet to find how we can use preceding-sibling to find distinct values from an xml using Visual Basic. I am using MS XML 3.0 in my project. http://www.perfectxml.com/msxmlAnswers.asp?Row_ID=101. I will explain it here too.

For eg: this is my xml structure

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<contacts>
   <contact type="friend">
      <name>Joe</name>
   </contact>

   <contact type="friend">
      <name>Rick</name>
   </contact>

   <contact type="foe">
      <name>Bob</name>
   </contact>

   <contact type="friend">
      <name>Jeff</name>
   </contact>

   <contact type="friend">
      <name>Mark</name>
   </contact>
</contacts>

I only need unique "type" values. In the example on the link above it uses the following xpath:

       Set xmlNodesColl = objXMLDoc.selectNodes( _
            "/contacts/contact[not(@type = preceding-sibling::contact/@type)]/@type")

When I try using it, I always get an error message to replace token : with ) and so on. I am not sure where I am going wrong.
Can someone please suggest what is the problem with the above code or if there is an alternative solution? The above problem could also be because I am using MS XML 3 and in the example on the link above it asks to use MS XML 4. Please suggest.

Thanks for your help.

[MartinLiss]

I tried it and it does work in 4 but not in 3. You easily download and then upgare to MSXML4.