Can I use Excel VBA to extract information from an XML file _without_
opening the XML file as a worksheet in Excel? If so...can y'all point me
to some tutorials on the web or to a good book?

I have been using Excel and macros and VBA for many years, but am new to
this XML stuff.

What I have is an XML file generated by another program, that file contains
a wealth of information to be used in a manufacturing plant. I guess I am
expecting to be able to use some sort of functions to extract my desired
information from the "data fields" in the XML file. Maybe I have a totally
wrong impression of what this stuff does.

thanks. Fred.