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Introduction

This is a small application I wrote when I was stuck in front of an XPath query that I just couldn't understand. Took about an hour and a half to whip it up. The idea is to let you execute a query and see for yourself the results that are returned.

There are other tools that does it, but either they are Java based and require > 15 Mb support libraries or they are web based (which I hate).

The Code

The application gets its input from one of two sources - a file or the clipboard, loads it into an XmlDocument and start executing queries against it, showing you the result on the way.

I didn't built it to be performant or correct, just to do the job, so use it the next time you've XPath problems, and you'll like it. The other solution that I found was XmlSpy at 300$ +

License

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

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About the Author

goerge@Mailinator.com

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Author

Date

Generating xpath add-on (quick and dirty) [modified]

MikeEast

23:24 16 Jan '08

Hello all!

Lazy as i am, I was looking for a solution to get an xpath expression from clicking on an element in an XML DOM.

This article was a great start and here is my simple add-on:



private string calculateXpath()
{
    if (XmlTree.SelectedNode != null)
    {
        List<string> xpathItems = new List<string>();
        XmlNode node = ((TreeAndXmlNode)XmlTree.SelectedNode.Tag).xnode;
        while (node.ParentNode != null)
        {
            int index = 0;
            XmlNode currentNode = node;
            while (currentNode.PreviousSibling != null)
            {
                if (currentNode.Name == node.Name)
                    index++;
                currentNode = currentNode.PreviousSibling;
            }
            xpathItems.Add(string.Format("{0}[{1}]", node.Name, index));

            node = node.ParentNode;
        }
        xpathItems.Reverse();
        return string.Format("/{0}", string.Join("/", xpathItems.ToArray()));
    }
}

It generates xpaths like: /catalog[1]/dvd[14]/title[1]

It would be nice to get xpath based on other stuff than index, but this is what I needed. Developing this further is up to you.

Cheers!

::m

modified on Thursday, January 17, 2008 4:37:39 AM

in VB.NET

y2kvirus

13:50 22 Aug '05

this stuff is awesome ..do u have in in vb.net too.... I a new-bee in C#.NET ...In vb.net will be highly appreciated
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Wrong topic

alerma

22:48 14 Dec '03

I guess this article should be moved to XML section: http://www.codeproject.com/soap/
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Good job

Bill Seddon

22:21 9 Dec '03

You get my vote. Had just downloaded a trial version XMLSPY (which is very good) but, as you have identified, the challenge is XPath querying. Whether querying XML files or writing an XSL script, the XPath query is the tough part. Great idea! Bill Seddon
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Re: Good job

Marc Brooks

9:45 29 Jan '04

You should really look into http://www.xmedil.com/ which does most of what XMLSpy does, for free AND has a really nice XPath query builder/visualizer
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Re: Good job

Bill Seddon

9:55 29 Jan '04

Thanks for the note. XMedil will be an asset. I like this project because its a simple idea, an idea that I've already been able to use in a project. So from my perspective the two are complementary. Regards Bill Seddon
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Re: Good job

Marc Brooks

6:59 10 Oct '06

The first couple hits from Google "xmedil download" are good... http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Programming/Editors/XmEdiL_Download.html[^]

That program is very old these days... if you're looking for XPath debugging tools, I would check out Scott Hanselman's http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ScottHanselmans2006UltimateDeveloperAndPowerUsersToolListForWindows.aspx[^], especially the "angle bracket tax" section.

http://musingmarc.blogspot.com

Good work, but...

Christoph Lederer

22:19 9 Dec '03

Hi,

that's exactly that what I searched sometimes. I don't like these fat java-things and XMLSpy is too expensive just for evaluate the XPaths.

Do you think it's possible for you to upload the binaries for that project? I'm working here in germany for a customer and I don't have C#. Would be great!!!

Thanx...
ledererc!

____________________________
Rule #1: code doesn't lie!
Rule #2: code never lies!
Rule #3: if the docs are incorrect -> take a look at the code!

Re: Good work, but...

Edneeis

19:59 3 Feb '04

The demo project has the binaries. Just download that and use it.
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Graphical XPath Queries

chetmurphy

19:37 9 Dec '03

SitePad Pro (my product) has a XPath toolbar that lets you do XPath queries that shows the matches in the document context. See http://www.modelworks.com/editors/xml.html. You can download a free trial from http://www.modelworks.com. The cost for a commercial license is $69.00. Chet Murphy
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Re: Graphical XPath Queries

Marc Brooks

9:48 29 Jan '04

If you are going to do nothing but place an ad for your product, pay The Code Project for it. If, on the other hand, you have something useful to say about the article itself or some code to present go for it.
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