org.apache.xpath

Class XPathAPI

public class XPathAPI extends Object

The methods in this class are convenience methods into the low-level XPath API. These functions tend to be a little slow, since a number of objects must be created for each evaluation. A faster way is to precompile the XPaths using the low-level API, and then just use the XPaths over and over. NOTE: In particular, each call to this method will create a new XPathContext, a new DTMManager... and thus a new DTM. That's very safe, since it guarantees that you're always processing against a fully up-to-date view of your document. But it's also portentially very expensive, since you're rebuilding the DTM every time. You should consider using an instance of CachedXPathAPI rather than these static methods.

See Also: XPath Specification

Method Summary
static XObjecteval(Node contextNode, String str)
Evaluate XPath string to an XObject.
static XObjecteval(Node contextNode, String str, Node namespaceNode)
Evaluate XPath string to an XObject.
static XObjecteval(Node contextNode, String str, PrefixResolver prefixResolver)
Evaluate XPath string to an XObject.
static NodeIteratorselectNodeIterator(Node contextNode, String str)
Use an XPath string to select a nodelist.
static NodeIteratorselectNodeIterator(Node contextNode, String str, Node namespaceNode)
Use an XPath string to select a nodelist.
static NodeListselectNodeList(Node contextNode, String str)
Use an XPath string to select a nodelist.
static NodeListselectNodeList(Node contextNode, String str, Node namespaceNode)
Use an XPath string to select a nodelist.
static NodeselectSingleNode(Node contextNode, String str)
Use an XPath string to select a single node.
static NodeselectSingleNode(Node contextNode, String str, Node namespaceNode)
Use an XPath string to select a single node.

Method Detail

eval

public static XObject eval(Node contextNode, String str)
Evaluate XPath string to an XObject. Using this method, XPath namespace prefixes will be resolved from the namespaceNode.

Parameters: contextNode The node to start searching from. str A valid XPath string.

Returns: An XObject, which can be used to obtain a string, number, nodelist, etc, should never be null.

Throws: TransformerException

See Also: XObject XNull XBoolean XNumber XString

eval

public static XObject eval(Node contextNode, String str, Node namespaceNode)
Evaluate XPath string to an XObject. XPath namespace prefixes are resolved from the namespaceNode. The implementation of this is a little slow, since it creates a number of objects each time it is called. This could be optimized to keep the same objects around, but then thread-safety issues would arise.

Parameters: contextNode The node to start searching from. str A valid XPath string. namespaceNode The node from which prefixes in the XPath will be resolved to namespaces.

Returns: An XObject, which can be used to obtain a string, number, nodelist, etc, should never be null.

Throws: TransformerException

See Also: XObject XNull XBoolean XNumber XString

eval

public static XObject eval(Node contextNode, String str, PrefixResolver prefixResolver)
Evaluate XPath string to an XObject. XPath namespace prefixes are resolved from the namespaceNode. The implementation of this is a little slow, since it creates a number of objects each time it is called. This could be optimized to keep the same objects around, but then thread-safety issues would arise.

Parameters: contextNode The node to start searching from. str A valid XPath string. prefixResolver Will be called if the parser encounters namespace prefixes, to resolve the prefixes to URLs.

Returns: An XObject, which can be used to obtain a string, number, nodelist, etc, should never be null.

Throws: TransformerException

See Also: XObject XNull XBoolean XNumber XString

selectNodeIterator

public static NodeIterator selectNodeIterator(Node contextNode, String str)
Use an XPath string to select a nodelist. XPath namespace prefixes are resolved from the contextNode.

Parameters: contextNode The node to start searching from. str A valid XPath string.

Returns: A NodeIterator, should never be null.

Throws: TransformerException

selectNodeIterator

public static NodeIterator selectNodeIterator(Node contextNode, String str, Node namespaceNode)
Use an XPath string to select a nodelist. XPath namespace prefixes are resolved from the namespaceNode.

Parameters: contextNode The node to start searching from. str A valid XPath string. namespaceNode The node from which prefixes in the XPath will be resolved to namespaces.

Returns: A NodeIterator, should never be null.

Throws: TransformerException

selectNodeList

public static NodeList selectNodeList(Node contextNode, String str)
Use an XPath string to select a nodelist. XPath namespace prefixes are resolved from the contextNode.

Parameters: contextNode The node to start searching from. str A valid XPath string.

Returns: A NodeIterator, should never be null.

Throws: TransformerException

selectNodeList

public static NodeList selectNodeList(Node contextNode, String str, Node namespaceNode)
Use an XPath string to select a nodelist. XPath namespace prefixes are resolved from the namespaceNode.

Parameters: contextNode The node to start searching from. str A valid XPath string. namespaceNode The node from which prefixes in the XPath will be resolved to namespaces.

Returns: A NodeIterator, should never be null.

Throws: TransformerException

selectSingleNode

public static Node selectSingleNode(Node contextNode, String str)
Use an XPath string to select a single node. XPath namespace prefixes are resolved from the context node, which may not be what you want (see the next method).

Parameters: contextNode The node to start searching from. str A valid XPath string.

Returns: The first node found that matches the XPath, or null.

Throws: TransformerException

selectSingleNode

public static Node selectSingleNode(Node contextNode, String str, Node namespaceNode)
Use an XPath string to select a single node. XPath namespace prefixes are resolved from the namespaceNode.

Parameters: contextNode The node to start searching from. str A valid XPath string. namespaceNode The node from which prefixes in the XPath will be resolved to namespaces.

Returns: The first node found that matches the XPath, or null.

Throws: TransformerException

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