Bug in NI_XML.lvlib:Get First Non-Text Child.vi

Question

This VI fails to handle the output of the first Property Node on its block diagram. Here's a screenshot of the BD in LV 2013 SP1:
Here's a fixed version:

Answer 1

I agree with David, but I hesitate to call it a bug.  Spewing meaningless errors into unrelated parts of your code is on the NI-sanctioned Error-handling Greatest Hits album so it is probably intentional.
There are 4 scenarios here to consider:
1) Bad reference passed in
2) Good reference, no child nodes
3) Good reference, no non-text child nodes
4) Good reference, 1 or more non-text child nodes.
What are the outputs:
1) Error message from first PN, boolean false, NotARefnum
2) Error message from second PN, boolean false, NotARefnum
3) No Error, boolean false, NotARefnum
4) No Error, boolean true, valid Refnum
How is an outsider suppposed to know from the error messages which of 1 & 2 happened?  You have to know what goes on inside and see which node threw the error.  Having to know the insides of a VI to decipher an error message is not good API design IMO.
What should happen in my opinion is the following:
Input check, invalid refnum throws an error clearly indicating "Bad refnum input"
The output refence would only be valid in case 4, so the boolean is redundant, but I would include it as a usability measure.  No errors should be thrown in cases 2-4, no text nodes versus no nodes at all is almost certainly a distinction without a difference in this case.
David's fix cleans up the unhelpful error message being thrown during an unsuccessful search of a valid refnum.  I would add an input validation check in the interest of providing a useful error message and not the "random property called with bad reference" error.