XPath
XPath is a W3C language for navigating and selecting nodes in XML and other structured document trees.
BDD in Action, Second Edition
An XPath expression is a path query that selects nodes in a structured document such as an HTML or XML document.
- How it is used
- Locates HTML elements for WebDriver acceptance tests when their position, attributes, or text provide the useful identifier.
- How deep it goes
- Explains common expressions through WebDriver calls and element examples, without developing XPath beyond the patterns needed for page interaction.
- Examples
- Uses destination titles and prices, a welcome heading, and registration preference labels as selection targets.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via WebDriver `By.xpath()` to find elements by attributes or text and navigate to related elements.
Practical Automation with PowerShell: Effective scripting from the console to the cloud
An XPath query is an expression defined by the XPath language for selecting nodes in an XML or HTML document tree.
- How it is used
- Extracts Microsoft Update Catalog search and detail-page data during PowerShell web scraping.
- How deep it goes
- Demonstrates browser-assisted query design, SelectNodes, SelectSingleNode, and nested-element traversal without teaching XPath language syntax broadly.
- Examples
- Uses Microsoft Update Catalog KB4521858 results, dynamic link ids, architecture, supported products, and supersedence links.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via PowerHTML to select result links and detail-page values from converted HTML.
100 SQL Server Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
XPath is a W3C language for navigating and selecting nodes in an XML document.
- How it is used
- Navigates XML hierarchies to select rows and map parent values during SQL Server OPENXML() shredding.
- How deep it goes
- Defines navigation, row selection, and ../ traversal but stops short of broader XPath syntax.
- Examples
- Uses nested employee, contract, and skill XML with upward ../ mappings.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via OPENXML() to select XML rows and retrieve values from higher hierarchy levels.
Read how 100 SQL Server Mistakes and How to Avoid Them explains XPath →
Related concepts
- CSSalternative to · CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a stylesheet language for specifying the presentation and layout of structured documents and user interfaces.
- CSS selectoralternative to · A CSS selector is a pattern that identifies document elements by their names, attributes, relationships, states, or other conditions.
- JSON path languagecontrasts with · JSONPath is a query language and expression syntax for navigating, selecting, and extracting values from hierarchical JSON documents.
- Page Element Query Languagealternative to · The Page Element Query Language is Serenity/JS's portable query syntax for locating page elements and deriving information from them.
- xmluses · XML is a text-based markup language for encoding structured documents and data using elements, attributes, and nested relationships.
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