ArcGIS 10 export metadata to XML programmatically

Question

I have some code that exports metadata from an iMetadata instance to a standalone XML file. This code uses the ExportXML type and the iMetadataExport interface (see below).

Private Sub ExportMetadatatoXML(ByVal Metadata As IMetadata, ByVal strXMLdocName As String, ByVal strOutputXmlFolder As String)
 Try
 Dim ExportXML As ExportXML
 Dim xml_Export As IMetadataExport
 ExportXML = New ExportXML
 xml_Export = ExportXML
 If System.IO.Directory.Exists(strOutputXmlFolder) Then
 xml_Export.Export(Metadata, strOutputXmlFolder & "\" & strXMLdocName & ".xml")
 Logging.WriteToLog("Metadata Exported to " & strOutputXmlFolder & "\" & strXMLdocName & ".xml", Serverity.SeverityLevel.Information)
 Else
 Logging.WriteToLog("Output XML Directory " & strOutputXmlFolder & " cannot be found", Serverity.SeverityLevel.Fatal)
 Result = Result - 1
 End If
 Logging.WriteToLog("Metadata was not exported to " & strOutputXmlFolder & "\" & strXMLdocName & ".xml", Serverity.SeverityLevel.Information)
 Catch ex As Exception
 Dim strRoutine As String = "Error thrown in: " & System.Reflection.MethodBase.GetCurrentMethod.Name
 Logging.WriteToLog(strRoutine & " - " & ex.Message, Serverity.SeverityLevel.Fatal)
 Result = Result - 1
 End Try
End Sub

This code worked a treat for 9.x versions of ArcGIS, but with the new metadata changes for 10+, it no longer works. The ExportXML type seems to no longer exist and I can't seem to figure out a replacement. Does anyone know how I can achieve this with 10+? I've noticed there's a metadata toolbox but would rather avoid using geoprocessing. Thanks for your time.

Edit: I have since tried using geoprocessor to export to XML, but i'm getting a hresult error on gp.execute. Can anyone suggest what the problem might be?

 Dim GP As ESRI.ArcGIS.Geoprocessor.Geoprocessor = New ESRI.ArcGIS.Geoprocessor.Geoprocessor
 Dim parameters As IVariantArray = New VarArray
 parameters.Add("C:\Temp\Temp.gdb\BLOCKS")
 parameters.Add("C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.1\Metadata\Translator\ARCGIS2FGDC.xml")
 parameters.Add("C:\Temp\Metadata\blocks.xml")
 GP.Execute("ExportMetadata_conversion", parameters, Nothing)

Answer 1

This page states that the ExportXML coClass was removed in version 10.0 so this is why your code has stopped working.

If you want your code to be as simple as your original code then by far the easiest method is to call the export geoprocessing tool using the IGeoProcessor.

Otherwise you would need to obtain the propertyset and write out each element of the XML which would be a lot of work.

Here is an example of how I would do it in VBA:

Public Sub test()
 Dim pGP As IGeoProcessor2
 Set pGP = New GeoProcessor
 Dim pVarArray As IVariantArray
 Set pVarArray = New VarArray
 With pVarArray
 .Add "C:\temp\landuse_.shp"
 .Add "C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.2\Metadata\Translator\ARCGIS2FGDC.xml"
 .Add "C:\temp\x.xml"
 End With
 Dim pRes As IGeoProcessorResult2
 Set pRes = pGP.Execute("ExportMetadata_conversion", pVarArray, Nothing)
End Sub

• pvdev: Thanks for the reply. It seems odd that there isn't a simple solution available anymore without resorting to geoprocessing tools. Anyway, I've attempted exporting using geoprocessor but I have a new problem. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? I've edited my original question with the code.