Connecting Apama Applications to External Components > Using Standard Adapters > Using the Apama Web Services Client Adapter > Using the XPath Helper > Generating XPath expressions
Generating XPath expressions
The XPath Helper enables you to generate XPath expressions. XPath expressions are used to select nodes or node sets in an XML document.
To generate an XPath expression
1. In the document tree in the left pane of the XPath Helper dialog, double-click a node to display the expression on the XPath Expression tab.
2. Select one of the following XPath generation options from the corresponding button at the top of the XPath Expression tab (initially Prefix is shown as the button name, indicating that this option is currently selected):
Option
Description
Prefix
Includes prefixes in the generated XPath expression. The XPath Helper resolves these prefixes to their corresponding namespaces, depending upon the namespace entries listed on the Namespaces tab.
Namespace
Includes the required namespaces in the generated XPath expression. This generated XPath expression is independent of the list of namespaces on the Namespaces tab.
Local Name
Generates an XPath expression that is independent of the prefixes and namespaces used in the input document.
3. In addition, you can select the following options:
Icon
Option
Description
Recent XPath Expressions
Displays 10 recent XPath expressions. You can select a different expression for evaluation.
Use Index
Inserts an index in the XPath expression to identify the position of the element.
Invoke Text Function
Generates an XPath expression that invokes the text() function in the last location step.
Select Node Depth
Limits the number of location steps in an XPath expression and determines whether the expression is relative or absolute.
With each selection, the appropriate XPath expression is shown in the text area of the XPath Expression tab, ready to be evaluated.
Note: You can also modify the default generated XPath expression in the text area.
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