XML DOMDocumentType

The XMLDOMDocumentType object contains information on all the entities and notations in a declared DTD of the XML file. This object is only found as a property, called the docType, of the DOMDocument object. This object and its properties are read-only. Therefore, you cannot add a DTD to a DOMDocument; it has to already have been declared in the XML file. You cannot add anything to the declared DTD for the XML file either.

Example

On our website, TopXML, there were quite a few discussions on how to add a DTD to a DOMDocument. With the current version of the msxml.dll, there was a bug if you added a DTD in a string and then used the loadXML() method.

The following example returns an XMLDOMDocumentType from the DOMDocument. We have added another line of code, objDOMDocument.resolveExternals = True, which is needed in order to instruct the DOMDocument to notice any external files associated with this XML file.

Dim objDOMDocument As DOMDocument
Dim objXMLDOMDocumentType As IXMLDOMDocumentType
Set objDOMDocument = New DOMDocument
objDOMDocument.async = False
objDOMDocument.resolveExternals = True
objDOMDocument.Load "http://localhost/xmlcode/people2.xml"
Set objXMLDOMDocumentType = objDOMDocument.doctype

This manuscript is an abridged version of a chapter from the Manning Publications book XML Programming with VB and ASP. This chapter looks at the Microsoft DOM objects. NOTE: Most images have been removed to increase speed and many of the code comments have also been removed for presentation. Please purchase the book to enjoy the full experience of all the chapters with images and code comments!