Conditional xpath with Java

Question

I have a sample xml file which looks like the one below:

<Root>
    <SubOne>
       <book author="george" />
       <indiv name="abc" />
       <indiv name="khh" />
       <indiv name="ioo" />
    </SubOne>
    <SubTwo>
       <indiv book author="hamle" />
       <indiv name="kok"/>
       <indiv name="ppp" />
    </SubTow>

</Root>

Is there a way in XPATH to check , if author="george" select /Root/SubOne/indiv/@name , or if the author="hamle", select /Root/SubTwo/indiv/@name. Any help is appreciated

Look at this question [Return a string value based on XPATH condition](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7045151/return-a-string-value-based-on-xpath-condition) — codewaggle, Jun 26 '12 at 04:55
@codewagge, i saw the post . Want i would like to have is ,implementing the condition in a java program. — Parameswar, Jun 26 '12 at 05:02
You might get more help if you include that info in the question. — codewaggle, Jun 26 '12 at 05:05
Java isn't my area, hopefully the new tag and title will catch the eye of someone who does Java. — codewaggle, Jun 26 '12 at 05:09
It is much better to google a how-to than to ask for a specific piece of code on SO. People will help you find solutions but they won't provide coding service. — user845279, Jun 26 '12 at 05:38
@parameswar: Refer to my **[answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/11233547/500725)** — Siva Charan, Jun 27 '12 at 19:38

Siva Charan · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-27T19:36:43.550

First I noticed that your XML is not valid.

Assume that your XML is as follows.

XML:

<Root>
    <SubOne>
        <book author="george"/>
        <indiv name="abc"/>
        <indiv name="khh"/>
        <indiv name="ioo"/>
    </SubOne>
    <SubTwo>
        <book author="hamle"/>
        <indiv name="kok"/>
        <indiv name="ppp"/>
    </SubTwo>
</Root>

XPATH:

For @author='george', use this XPATH:

//*[book[@author='george']]/indiv

For @author='hamle', use this XPATH:

//*[book[@author='hamle']]/indiv

For both XPATH, to print the name use @name

JAVA:

Using Java, you need to implement this way for both xpath's

For @author='george',

String xpath = "//*[book[@author='george']]/indiv";
NodeList nl = (NodeList) xpath.evaluate(xpath, xml, XPathConstants.NODESET);
for (int i = 0; i < nodes.getLength(); i++) {
    System.out.println(nodes.item(i).getAttributes().getNamedItem("name").getNodeValue()); 
}

For @author='hamle',

String xpath = "//*[book[@author='hamle']]/indiv";
NodeList nl = (NodeList) xpath.evaluate(xpath, xml, XPathConstants.NODESET);
for (int i = 0; i < nodes.getLength(); i++) {
    System.out.println(nodes.item(i).getAttributes().getNamedItem("name").getNodeValue()); 
}

Viktor Stolbin · Answer 2 · 2012-06-26T06:02:13.090

0

I guess you have a typo in node /Root/SubTwo/indiv. This should work (I haven't check)

/Root/SubOne/book[@author='george']/following-sibling::1/@name | /Root/SubTwo/book[@author='hamle']/following-sibling::1/@name

It uses union so thats not exactly what you are looking for.

edited Jun 26 '12 at 06:02

answered Jun 26 '12 at 05:55

Viktor Stolbin

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Let me know if you check this. In addition to emulate true 'if' clause you can consume only first attribute in the result. – Viktor Stolbin Jun 26 '12 at 06:06
@victor, actualy i am trying to implement this in java . – Parameswar Jun 26 '12 at 06:22
i tried it, it is throwing an error, " Attribute name "book" associated with an element type "indiv" must be followed by the ' = ' character." – Parameswar Jun 26 '12 at 06:31
Fix the typo first: '' It has incorrect XML syntax. – Viktor Stolbin Jun 26 '12 at 06:37
I have fixed the typo. How do i implement this in java ? – Parameswar Jun 27 '12 at 18:08

Conditional xpath with Java

2 Answers2

XML:

XPATH:

JAVA: