AuthorDocumentController findNodesByXpath not returning expected values

[neon096]

I'm writing some code to find all <para/> nodes within a <paragraph/> node. However I'm retrieving all para nodes within the entire document.

I'm using the following code

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final AuthorNode node = access.getDocumentController().getNodeAtOffset(offset);

final AuthorNode paragraphNode = DocumentUtils.getParagraphNode(node);

final AuthorNode[] paraNodes = access.getDocumentController().findNodesByXPath("//para", paragraphNode, true, true, true, true);

However using the the console output I'm getting the following. The paragraph I'm using for the relative path is

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<paragraph> (23, 41)

However I'm getting the following para nodes returned.

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[<para> (24, 40), <para> (45, 61), <para> (66, 88), <para> (89, 111), <para> (116, 138), <para> (139, 161), <para> (166, 188), <para> (189, 211), <para> (216, 238), <para> (239, 261), <para> (266, 288), <para> (289, 311), <para> (316, 332), <para> (345, 361), <para> (406, 422), <para> (446, 462), <para> (495, 511), <para> (528, 544), <para> (571, 587), <para> (592, 608)]

I only expected "<para> (24, 40)" to be returned.

[Radu]

Hi Neil,

This is how XPath expressions work, even when you interpret it relative to a node, if you use a // construct then the expression is interpreted as absolute.

For your case you should have simply used the expression para which would have returned all para's from that element.

You can test XPath expressions using our XPath toolbar.
If you place the caret in the Author document, the XPath expression is interpreted relative to the node which contains the caret offset.

Regards,
Radu

[neon096]

Thanks Radu,

I must have mis-nderstood the API documentation.

[Radu]

Hi Neil,

The Javadoc says something like:

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contextNode The node in the context of which the relative XPath Expressions will computed. 

but XPath expressions starting with "//" are not relative.

The XPath specification:

http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath/

gives some examples like:

//para selects all the para descendants of the document root and thus selects all para elements in the same document as the context node

.//para selects the para element descendants of the context node

So in your case you could have also used .//para and obtain the correct result.

Regards,
Radu