(Visual Basic) XML Sort by Content

Demonstrates the SortByContent method.

The input XML, available at http://www.chilkatsoft.com/data/fruitSort2.xml, is this:

<root>
    <fruits>
        <apples>
            <apple>fuji</apple>
            <apple>gala</apple>
            <apple>granny smith</apple>
            <apple>honeycrisp</apple>
            <apple>mcintosh</apple>
        </apples>
        <fruit>banana</fruit>
        <fruit>blackberry</fruit>
        <fruit>blueberry</fruit>
        <fruit>orange</fruit>
        <fruit>pear</fruit>
    </fruits>
</root>

Download Chilkat XML ActiveX

Dim xml As New ChilkatXml
Dim xSortRoot As ChilkatXml

Dim success As Long
'  The sample input XML is available at http://www.chilkatsoft.com/data/fruitSort2.xml
success = xml.LoadXmlFile("fruitSort2.xml")
If (success <> 1) Then
    Text1.Text = Text1.Text & xml.LastErrorText & vbCrLf
    Exit Sub
End If

'  Sort the direct children under the "fruits" node by tag:
Set xSortRoot = xml.FindChild("fruits")

'  Sort in ascending order.
Dim bAscending As Long
bAscending = 1
xSortRoot.SortByContent bAscending

'  Show the result:
Text1.Text = Text1.Text & xml.GetXml() & vbCrLf

'  Note:  The "apples" node contains child nodes, but its
'  text content is 0-length (empty).  Therefore, when sorting in
'  ascending order, it will be positioned before the direct
'  children containing non-empty content.
'  
<root>
    <fruits>
        <apples>
            <apple>granny smith</apple>
            <apple>gala</apple>
            <apple>fuji</apple>
            <apple>mcintosh</apple>
            <apple>honeycrisp</apple>
        </apples>
        <fruit>banana</fruit>
        <fruit>blackberry</fruit>
        <fruit>blueberry</fruit>
        <fruit>orange</fruit>
        <fruit>pear</fruit>
    </fruits>
</root>


'  Sort the direct children under the "apples" node:
xSortRoot.FindChild2 "apples"

xSortRoot.SortByContent bAscending
Text1.Text = Text1.Text & xml.GetXml() & vbCrLf

'  
<root>
    <fruits>
        <apples>
            <apple>fuji</apple>
            <apple>gala</apple>
            <apple>granny smith</apple>
            <apple>honeycrisp</apple>
            <apple>mcintosh</apple>
        </apples>
        <fruit>banana</fruit>
        <fruit>blackberry</fruit>
        <fruit>blueberry</fruit>
        <fruit>orange</fruit>
        <fruit>pear</fruit>
    </fruits>
</root>