firstChild Property

MSXML 5.0 SDK

Microsoft XML Core Services (MSXML) 5.0 for Microsoft Office - DOM Reference

firstChild Property

Contains the first child of the node.

[Script]

Script Syntax

var objXMLDOMNode = oXMLDOMNode.firstChild;

Example

The following example sets currNode to the first child node of the top-level node.

var xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument.5.0");
var currNode;
xmlDoc.async = false;
xmlDoc.load("books.xml");
if (xmlDoc.parseError.errorCode <> 0) {
   var myErr = xmlDoc.parseError;
   alert("You have error " + myErr.reason);
} else {
   currNode = xmlDoc.documentElement.firstChild;
   alert(currNode.xml);
}
[Visual Basic]

Visual Basic Syntax

Set objXMLDOMNode = oXMLDOMNode.firstChild

Example

The following example sets currNode to the first child node of the top-level node.

Dim xmlDoc As New Msxml2.DOMDocument50
Dim currNode As IXMLDOMNode
xmlDoc.async = False
xmlDoc.Load ("books.xml")
If (xmlDoc.parseError.errorCode <> 0) Then
   Dim myErr
   Set myErr = xmlDoc.parseError
   MsgBox("You have error " & myErr.reason)
Else
   Set currNode = xmlDoc.documentElement.firstChild
   MsgBox currNode.xml
End If
[C/C++]

C/C++ Syntax

HRESULT get_firstChild(
    IXMLDOMNode **firstChild);

Parameters

firstChild [out, retval]
The first child node. If there are no such children, it returns Null.

C/C++ Return Values

S_OK
The value returned if successful.
S_FALSE
The value returned when there are no children.
E_INVALIDARG
The value returned if the firstChild parameter is Null.

Remarks

The property is read-only. Returns the first child node. If there are no such children, returns Null.

This value depends on the value of the nodeType property.

NODE_ATTRIBUTE

NODE_DOCUMENT

NODE_DOCUMENT_FRAGMENT

NODE_DOCUMENT_TYPE

NODE_ELEMENT

NODE_ENTITY

NODE_ENTITY_REFERENCE

Returns the first child node. If there are no children, returns Null.
NODE_CDATA_SECTION

NODE_COMMENT

NODE_NOTATION

NODE_PROCESSING_INSTRUCTION

NODE_TEXT

Returns Null. These node types cannot have children.

To view reference information for Visual Basic, C/C++, or Script only, click the Language Filter button Language Filter in the upper-left corner of the page.

See Also

nodeType Property

Applies to: IXMLDOMAttribute | IXMLDOMCDATASection | IXMLDOMCharacterData | IXMLDOMComment |DOMDocument | IXMLDOMDocumentFragment | IXMLDOMDocumentType | IXMLDOMElement | IXMLDOMEntity | IXMLDOMEntityReference | IXMLDOMNode | IXMLDOMNotation | IXMLDOMProcessingInstruction | IXMLDOMText