Issue in parsing XML with Classic ASP (VBscript) - vbscript

Question

I have the following code, which used to work perfectly, But now for somes reason, doesn't.
The XML I am reading is located at: https://forex.boi.org.il/currency.xml
The following code should parse the XMl and then save the USD/ILS exchange rate. As I say, it doesnt anymore, and I cant figure out whats wrong.
forexURL = "https://forex.boi.org.il/currency.xml"
getUSDRate = 0
MyRate = 0
Set xmlObj = Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument")
xmlObj.async = False
xmlObj.setProperty "ServerHTTPRequest", True
xmlObj.Load(forexURL)
Set xmlList = xmlObj.getElementsByTagName("CURRENCY")
Set xmlObj = Nothing
x = 1
For Each xmlItem In xmlList
response.write "<p>" & xmlItem.childNodes(0).text
response.write "<p>" & xmlItem.childNodes(1).text
response.write "<p>" & xmlItem.childNodes(2).text
response.write "<p>" & xmlItem.childNodes(3).text
response.write "<p>" & xmlItem.childNodes(4).text
response.write "<p>" & xmlItem.childNodes(5).text
response.write "<p>___________________<br />" & x & "</p>"
if xmlItem.childNodes(2).text = "USD" then
MyRate = xmlItem.childNodes(4).text
exit for
end if
x = x +1
Next
Set xmlList = Nothing

Answer 1

I suspect (wild guess ahead) changes to the way SSL is handled on the server side as the cause of your trouble. Maybe they disabled older, more insecure ciphers in response to recent SSL bugs.
Like #John notes - when you change from MSXML2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument (which loads version MSXML2 version 3) to explicitly load the more modern version 6 (MSXML2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument.6.0) then the download of the document succeeds.
That being said I've made a few changes to your code, mostly to be more readable and make it fail visibly when the document load fails for some reason.
Note
the use of XPath
a helper function GetText() in place of blindly indexing into child nodes
the parseError check to make LoadXmlDocument fail non-silently
.
Option Explicit
Dim usdRate, x, currencies, curr
Set currencies = LoadXmlDocument("https://forex.boi.org.il/currency.xml")
usdRate = GetText(currencies, "//CURRENCY[CURRENCYCODE = 'USD']/RATE")
x = 1
For Each curr In currencies.getElementsByTagName("CURRENCY")
Response.Write "<p>" & GetText(curr, "NAME") & "</p>"
Response.Write "<p>" & GetText(curr, "UNIT") & "</p>"
Response.Write "<p>" & GetText(curr, "CURRENCYCODE") & "</p>"
Response.Write "<p>" & GetText(curr, "COUNTRY") & "</p>"
Response.Write "<p>" & GetText(curr, "RATE") & "</p>"
Response.Write "<p>" & GetText(curr, "CHANGE") & "</p>"
Response.Write "<p>___________________<br />" & x & "</p>"
x = x + 1
Next
' ----------------------------------------------------------------------
' loads an XML document from a URL and returns it
Function LoadXmlDocument(url)
Set LoadXmlDocument = CreateObject("MSXML2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument.6.0")
LoadXmlDocument.async = False
LoadXmlDocument.setProperty "ServerHTTPRequest", True
LoadXmlDocument.setProperty "SelectionLanguage", "XPath"
LoadXmlDocument.Load url
If LoadXmlDocument.parseError <> 0 Then
Err.Raise vbObjectError + 1, _
"LoadXmlDocument", _
"Cannot load " & url & " (" & LoadXmlDocument.parseError.reason & ")"
End If
End Function
' finds the first node that matches the XPath and returns its text value
Function GetText(context, xpath)
Dim node
Set node = context.selectSingleNode(xpath)
If node Is Nothing Then
GetText = vbEmpty
Else
GetText = node.text
End If
End Function

Answer 2

I just tried this on my machine. Try replacing
Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument")
with
Server.CreateObject("Msxml2.DomDocument.6.0")
Edit
Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.FreeThreadedDOMDocument.6.0")
also seems to work