Public Shared Function GetMax(ByVal nodes As XmlNodeList, ByVal columnName As String) As Integer
            Try
                Dim max_rec As Integer = 0
                For Each node As XmlNode In nodes
                    Dim currentRec As Integer = CType(node.Attributes(columnName).InnerText, Integer)
                    If (currentRec > max_rec) Then
                        max_rec = currentRec
                    End If
                Next
                Return max_rec
            Catch ex As Exception
                WriteFile("Error in Carts.GetIdentity(): " + ex.Message)
                Return 0
            End Try

        End Function