<xs:element name="article" type="xs:string" maxOccurs="unbounded" minOccurs="0"/>

Function firstparam() As Boolean
Dim objNode As XMLNode
Dim param As Double
Dim obj_count As Integer
Dim usedobj_count As Integer
obj_count = 0
usedobj_count = 0
For i = 1 To ActiveDocument.XMLNodes.count
 Set objNode = ActiveDocument.XMLNodes.Item(i)
 If objNode.Attributes.count > 0 Then
 For j = 1 To objNode.Attributes.count
  If (objNode.Attributes(j).Text = "*") Then
   obj_count = obj_count + 1
    If (objNode.Text <> "") Then usedobj_count = usedobj_count + 1
   End If
 Next j
 End If