This can happen if the routine contains an ASCII character that cannot be printed to XML. Here is an example from a routine I created:

> set routine = ##class(%Routine).%OpenId("pbarton.test.MAC")
> zw routine.Read()
"pbarton"_$c(10)_" write ""hello"_$c(7)_""""

You can see the routine contains $c(7), which is a non-printable ASCII character. When I export the routine it looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Export generator="IRIS" version="26" zv="IRIS for Windows (x86-64) 2023.2.0L (Build 159U)" ts="2023-09-13 11:20:00">
<RoutineBase64 name="pbarton.test" type="MAC" languagemode="0" timestamp="66730,40577.6434199">cGJhcnRvbgogd3JpdGUgImhlbGxvByI=
</RoutineBase64>
</Export>

If your VS Code workspace has an active connection to an ObjectScript server, you can do this:

• Open the local XML file in VS Code
• Right click and choose "Preview XML as UDL"
• In the preview window, right click and choose "Import and Compile Current File"