XPath Examples

Let's try to learn some basic XPath syntax by looking at some examples.

The XML Example Document

We will use the following XML document in the examples below.

"books.xml":

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<bookstore>

<book category="COOKING">
  <title lang="en">Everyday Italian</title>
  <author>Giada De Laurentiis</author>
  <year>2005</year>
  <price>30.00</price>
</book>

<book category="CHILDREN">
  <title lang="en">Harry Potter</title>
  <author>J K. Rowling</author>
  <year>2005</year>
  <price>29.99</price>
</book>

<book category="WEB">
  <title lang="en">XQuery Kick Start</title>
  <author>James McGovern</author>
  <author>Per Bothner</author>
  <author>Kurt Cagle</author>
  <author>James Linn</author>
  <author>Vaidyanathan Nagarajan</author>
  <year>2003</year>
  <price>49.99</price>
</book>

<book category="WEB">
  <title lang="en">Learning XML</title>
  <author>Erik T. Ray</author>
  <year>2003</year>
  <price>39.95</price>
</book>

</bookstore>

View the "books.xml" file in your browser.

Selecting Nodes

Unfortunately, there are different ways of dealing with XML and XPath in Internet Explorer based browsers and other browsers (like Mozilla based browsers).

In our examples we have included code that should work with most major browsers.

Select nodes for Internet Explorer based browsers

Using the Microsoft XMLDOM object to load the XML document and the selectNodes() method to select nodes from the XML document:

xmlDoc=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM");
xmlDoc.async=false;
xmlDoc.load("books.xml");

xmlDoc.selectNodes(xpath);

Select nodes for other browsers

Using the implementation() method of the document object to load the XML document and the evaluate() method to select nodes from the XML document:

xmlDoc=document.implementation.createDocument("","",null);
xmlDoc.async=false;
xmlDoc.load("books.xml");

document.evaluate(xpath, xmlDoc, null, XPathResult.ANY_TYPE,null);

Select titles from all book Nodes

The following path syntax selects all the title nodes:

/bookstore/book/title

Try it yourself.

Select the title of the first book Node

The following path syntax selects only the title of the first book node under the bookstore element:

/bookstore/book[1]/title

Try it yourself

There is a problem with this. The example above shows different results in IE and other browsers.

IE5 and later has implemented that [0] should be the first node, but according to the W3C standard it should have been [1]!!

A Workaround!

To solve the [0] and [1] problem in IE5+, you can set the SelectionLanguage to XPath.

The following path syntax selects only the title of the first book node under the bookstore element:

xml.setProperty("SelectionLanguage","XPath");
xml.selectNodes("/bookstore/book[1]/title");

Try it yourself

Select the prices

The following path syntax selects the text from all the price nodes:

/bookstore/book/price/text()

Try it yourself.

Selecting price Nodes with Price>35

The following path syntax selects all the price nodes with a price higher than 35:

/bookstore/book[price>35]/price

Try it yourself.

Selecting title Nodes with Price>35

The following path syntax selects all the title nodes with a price higher than 35:

/bookstore/book[price>35]/title

Try it yourself.

The Ektron Intranet lets you do everything you need to do on your corporate intranet and everything you want to do... all with just one application. What can you do with the Ektron Intranet? Navigate through content, documents, assets, colleagues and workgroups quickly and intuitively with enterprise search Communicate with friends and colleagues with forums, message boards and corporate blogging using the new Social Networking Platform Utilize the extensive out-of-the box features or customize your site through Ektron CMS400.NET's open architecture Promote collaboration in your organization through project workspaces where others can efficiently find information and work together Author/edit content, manage navigation, menus, audit trails, workflow and approvals with the best in breed Content Management See why there are 20,000+ Ektron integrations worldwide.
	TAKE THE VIDEO TOUR
	or download a FREE TRIAL today.

Jump to: Top of Page or HOME or Printer friendly page

W3Schools provides material for training only. We do not warrant the correctness of its contents. The risk from using it lies entirely with the user. While using this site, you agree to have read and accepted our terms of use and privacy policy.

Copyright 1999-2008 by Refsnes Data. All Rights Reserved.

W3Schools was converted to XHTML in December 1999