XPath (dom4j API)

All Superinterfaces:

NodeFilter

All Known Implementing Classes:

DefaultXPath
```
public interface XPath
extends NodeFilter
```
XPath represents an XPath expression after it has been parsed from a String.

Method Summary

All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods Deprecated Methods
Modifier and Type	Method and Description
`boolean`	`booleanValueOf(java.lang.Object context)` Retrieve a boolean-value interpretation of this XPath expression when evaluated against a given context.
`java.lang.Object`	`evaluate(java.lang.Object context)` `evaluate` evaluates an XPath expression and returns the result as an `Object`.
`org.jaxen.FunctionContext`	`getFunctionContext()` DOCUMENT ME!
`org.jaxen.NamespaceContext`	`getNamespaceContext()` DOCUMENT ME!
`java.lang.String`	`getText()` `getText` will return the textual version of the XPath expression.
`org.jaxen.VariableContext`	`getVariableContext()` DOCUMENT ME!
`boolean`	`matches(Node node)` `matches` returns true if the given node matches the XPath expression.
`java.lang.Number`	`numberValueOf(java.lang.Object context)` `numberValueOf` evaluates an XPath expression and returns the numeric value of the XPath expression if the XPath expression results is a number, or null if the result is not a number.
`java.util.List<Node>`	`selectNodes(java.lang.Object context)` `selectNodes` performs this XPath expression on the given `Node`or `List`of `Node`s instances appending all the results together into a single list.
`java.util.List<Node>`	`selectNodes(java.lang.Object context, XPath sortXPath)` `selectNodes` evaluates the XPath expression on the given `Node`or `List`of `Node`s and returns the result as a `List` of `Node` s sorted by the sort XPath expression.
`java.util.List<Node>`	`selectNodes(java.lang.Object context, XPath sortXPath, boolean distinct)` `selectNodes` evaluates the XPath expression on the given `Node`or `List`of `Node`s and returns the result as a `List` of `Node` s sorted by the sort XPath expression.
`java.lang.Object`	`selectObject(java.lang.Object context)` Deprecated. please use evaluate(Object) instead. WILL BE REMOVED IN dom4j-1.6 !!
`Node`	`selectSingleNode(java.lang.Object context)` `selectSingleNode` evaluates this XPath expression on the given `Node`or `List`of `Node`s and returns the result as a single `Node` instance.
`void`	`setFunctionContext(org.jaxen.FunctionContext functionContext)` Sets the function context to be used when evaluating XPath expressions
`void`	`setNamespaceContext(org.jaxen.NamespaceContext namespaceContext)` Sets the namespace context to be used when evaluating XPath expressions
`void`	`setNamespaceURIs(java.util.Map<java.lang.String,java.lang.String> map)` Sets the current NamespaceContext from a Map where the keys are the String namespace prefixes and the values are the namespace URIs.
`void`	`setVariableContext(org.jaxen.VariableContext variableContext)` Sets the variable context to be used when evaluating XPath expressions
`void`	`sort(java.util.List<Node> list)` `sort` sorts the given List of Nodes using this XPath expression as a `Comparator`.
`void`	`sort(java.util.List<Node> list, boolean distinct)` `sort` sorts the given List of Nodes using this XPath expression as a `Comparator`and optionally removing duplicates.
`java.lang.String`	`valueOf(java.lang.Object context)` `valueOf` evaluates this XPath expression and returns the textual representation of the results using the XPath string() function.

- Method Detail
  - getText
```
java.lang.String getText()
```
    getText will return the textual version of the XPath expression.
    
    Returns:
    
    the textual format of the XPath expression.
  - matches
```
boolean matches(Node node)
```
    matches returns true if the given node matches the XPath expression. To be more precise when evaluating this XPath expression on the given node the result set must include the node.
    
    Specified by:
    
    matches in interface NodeFilter
    
    Parameters:
    
    node - DOCUMENT ME!
    
    Returns:
    
    true if the given node matches this XPath expression
  - evaluate
```
java.lang.Object evaluate(java.lang.Object context)
```
    evaluate evaluates an XPath expression and returns the result as an Object. The object returned can either be a List of Nodeinstances, a Nodeinstance, a String or a Numberinstance depending on the XPath expression.
    
    Parameters:
    
    context - is either a node or a list of nodes on which to evalute the XPath
    
    Returns:
    
    the value of the XPath expression as a Listof Node instances, a Nodeinstance, a Stringor a Numberinstance depending on the XPath expression.
  - selectObject
```
java.lang.Object selectObject(java.lang.Object context)
```
    Deprecated. please use evaluate(Object) instead. WILL BE REMOVED IN dom4j-1.6 !!
    
    selectObject evaluates an XPath expression and returns the result as an Object. The object returned can either be a List of Nodeinstances, a Nodeinstance, a String or a Numberinstance depending on the XPath expression.
    
    Parameters:
    
    context - is either a node or a list of nodes on which to evalute the XPath
    
    Returns:
    
    the value of the XPath expression as a Listof Node instances, a Nodeinstance, a Stringor a Numberinstance depending on the XPath expression.
  - selectNodes
```
java.util.List<Node> selectNodes(java.lang.Object context)
```
    selectNodes performs this XPath expression on the given Nodeor Listof Nodes instances appending all the results together into a single list.
    
    Parameters:
    
    context - is either a node or a list of nodes on which to evalute the XPath
    
    Returns:
    
    the results of all the XPath evaluations as a single list
  - selectNodes
```
java.util.List<Node> selectNodes(java.lang.Object context,
                                 XPath sortXPath)
```
    selectNodes evaluates the XPath expression on the given Nodeor Listof Nodes and returns the result as a List of Node s sorted by the sort XPath expression.
    
    Parameters:
    
    context - is either a node or a list of nodes on which to evalute the XPath
    
    sortXPath - is the XPath expression to sort by
    
    Returns:
    
    a list of Node instances
  - selectNodes
```
java.util.List<Node> selectNodes(java.lang.Object context,
                                 XPath sortXPath,
                                 boolean distinct)
```
    selectNodes evaluates the XPath expression on the given Nodeor Listof Nodes and returns the result as a List of Node s sorted by the sort XPath expression.
    
    Parameters:
    
    context - is either a node or a list of nodes on which to evalute the XPath
    
    sortXPath - is the XPath expression to sort by
    
    distinct - specifies whether or not duplicate values of the sort expression are allowed. If this parameter is true then only distinct sort expressions values are included in the result
    
    Returns:
    
    a list of Node instances
  - selectSingleNode
```
Node selectSingleNode(java.lang.Object context)
```
    selectSingleNode evaluates this XPath expression on the given Nodeor Listof Nodes and returns the result as a single Node instance.
    
    Parameters:
    
    context - is either a node or a list of nodes on which to evalute the XPath
    
    Returns:
    
    a single matching Node instance
  - valueOf
```
java.lang.String valueOf(java.lang.Object context)
```
    valueOf evaluates this XPath expression and returns the textual representation of the results using the XPath string() function.
    
    Parameters:
    
    context - is either a node or a list of nodes on which to evalute the XPath
    
    Returns:
    
    the string representation of the results of the XPath expression
  - numberValueOf
```
java.lang.Number numberValueOf(java.lang.Object context)
```
    numberValueOf evaluates an XPath expression and returns the numeric value of the XPath expression if the XPath expression results is a number, or null if the result is not a number.
    
    Parameters:
    
    context - is either a node or a list of nodes on which to evalute the XPath
    
    Returns:
    
    the numeric result of the XPath expression or null if the result is not a number.
  - booleanValueOf
```
boolean booleanValueOf(java.lang.Object context)
```
    Retrieve a boolean-value interpretation of this XPath expression when evaluated against a given context. The boolean-value of the expression is determined per the boolean(..) core function as defined in the XPath specification. This means that an expression that selects zero nodes will return false, while an expression that selects one-or-more nodes will return true.
    
    Parameters:
    
    context - The node, nodeset or Context object for evaluation. This value can be null
    
    Returns:
    
    The boolean-value interpretation of this expression.
    
    Since:
    
    1.5
  - sort
```
void sort(java.util.List<Node> list)
```
    sort sorts the given List of Nodes using this XPath expression as a Comparator.
    
    Parameters:
    
    list - is the list of Nodes to sort
  - sort
```
void sort(java.util.List<Node> list,
          boolean distinct)
```
    sort sorts the given List of Nodes using this XPath expression as a Comparatorand optionally removing duplicates.
    
    Parameters:
    
    list - is the list of Nodes to sort
    
    distinct - if true then duplicate values (using the sortXPath for comparisions) will be removed from the List
  - getFunctionContext
```
org.jaxen.FunctionContext getFunctionContext()
```
    DOCUMENT ME!
    
    Returns:
    
    the current function context
  - setFunctionContext
```
void setFunctionContext(org.jaxen.FunctionContext functionContext)
```
    Sets the function context to be used when evaluating XPath expressions
    
    Parameters:
    
    functionContext - DOCUMENT ME!
  - getNamespaceContext
```
org.jaxen.NamespaceContext getNamespaceContext()
```
    DOCUMENT ME!
    
    Returns:
    
    the current namespace context
  - setNamespaceContext
```
void setNamespaceContext(org.jaxen.NamespaceContext namespaceContext)
```
    Sets the namespace context to be used when evaluating XPath expressions
    
    Parameters:
    
    namespaceContext - DOCUMENT ME!
  - setNamespaceURIs
```
void setNamespaceURIs(java.util.Map<java.lang.String,java.lang.String> map)
```
    Sets the current NamespaceContext from a Map where the keys are the String namespace prefixes and the values are the namespace URIs. For example:
```
 Map uris = new HashMap();
 uris.put("SOAP-ENV", "http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/");
 uris.put("m", "urn:xmethodsBabelFish");
 XPath xpath = document
         .createXPath("SOAP-ENV:Envelope/SOAP-ENV:Body/m:BabelFish");
 xpath.setNamespaceURIs(uris);
 Node babelfish = xpath.selectSingleNode(document);
 
```
    Parameters:
    
    map - the map containing the namespace mappings
  - getVariableContext
```
org.jaxen.VariableContext getVariableContext()
```
    DOCUMENT ME!
    
    Returns:
    
    the current variable context
  - setVariableContext
```
void setVariableContext(org.jaxen.VariableContext variableContext)
```
    Sets the variable context to be used when evaluating XPath expressions
    
    Parameters:
    
    variableContext - DOCUMENT ME!

Interface XPath

Method Summary

Method Detail

getText

matches

evaluate

selectObject

selectNodes

selectNodes

selectNodes

selectSingleNode

valueOf

numberValueOf

booleanValueOf

sort

sort

getFunctionContext

setFunctionContext

getNamespaceContext

setNamespaceContext

setNamespaceURIs

getVariableContext

setVariableContext