XPath - retrieve multiple values from different paths based on same condition

Question

This is my XML

<root>
   <entry id="1">
      <value name="ID">11</value>
      <value name="ENABLE">0</value>
      <value name="NAME">USER1</value>
   </entry>
   <entry id="2">
      <value name="ID">11</value>
      <value name="ENABLE">0</value>
      <value name="NAME">USER2</value>
   </entry>
   <entry id="3">
      <value name="ID">12</value>
      <value name="ENABLE">0</value>
      <value name="NAME">USER1</value>
   </entry>
</root>

I need an XPath query to retrieve all the names whose id is 11.

I tried:

String xpath = "/root/entry/value[@name=ID/text()='11']/value[@name='NAME']";
String xpath = "/root/entry/value[@name=ID/text()='11']/NAME";

Can someone tell me what is wrong in my query?

EDIT:

Expected Output:

USER1
USER2

both these have ID = 11

Solution 1

This would be the correct path:

/root/entry[value[@name = 'ID'] = 11]/value[@name = 'NAME']

To retrieve a list of nodes, you need to use the version of xPath.evaluate() that takes a returnType parameter:

InputSource document = new InputSource(new FileInputStream("user1.xml"));
String xpath = "/root/entry[value[@name = 'ID'] = 11]/value[@name = 'NAME']";
NodeSet result = (NodeSet)xPath.evaluate(xpath, document, XPathConstants.NODESET); 
for(int index = 0; index < result.getLength(); index ++) {      
    Node node = result.item(index);
    String name = node.getNodeValue();
}

Solution 2

/root/entry[value[@name="ID" and .=11]]/value[@name="NAME"]

or

/root/entry/value[@name="ID" and .=11]/../value[@name="NAME"]

or

/descendant::entry[value=11 and value/@name="ID"]/value[@name="NAME"]

or

//value[.=11]/@name[.="ID"]/ancestor::entry/value[@name="NAME"]

or many other variations

Solution 3

Use:

/*/*[*[@name='ID'] = 11]/*[@name='NAME']

XSLT - based verification:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
 <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>

 <xsl:template match="/">
  <xsl:copy-of select="/*/*[*[@name='ID'] = 11]/*[@name='NAME']"/>
 </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

when this transformation is applied on the provided XML document:

<root>
    <entry id="1">
        <value name="ID">11</value>
        <value name="ENABLE">0</value>
        <value name="NAME">USER1</value>
    </entry>
    <entry id="2">
        <value name="ID">11</value>
        <value name="ENABLE">0</value>
        <value name="NAME">USER2</value>
    </entry>
    <entry id="3">
        <value name="ID">12</value>
        <value name="ENABLE">0</value>
        <value name="NAME">USER1</value>
    </entry>
</root>

the XPath expression is evaluated and the result of this evaluation (all selected nodes) is copied to the output:

<value name="NAME">USER1</value>
<value name="NAME">USER2</value>

Comments

[Abi]

Nope,I am getting 11 as the output

[jeewiya]

i have missing NAME part,check it now

[Abi]

i am getting only one user value returned

[Abi]

first option - infinite loop. second option - returns only one user USER1

[Abi]

fourth option also returns only one value

[JLRishe]

@Abi Sorry, I had an extra slash. Please try it now.

[Abi]

Thanks, this is working but is XSL the only way to go about it? Cannot be done using normal XPath?Because when I tried using that Xpath in my class it returned only user1

[JLRishe]

@Abi Both Dimitre's example and mine should find USER1 and USER2. If you're only getting one value, it's the way you're applying the XPath that's wrong. Please show us your actual code.

[Abi]

@JLRishe - yes that may be the mistake, code is String xpath = "/root/entry[value[@name = 'ID'] = 11]/value[@name = 'NAME']"; String result = xPath.evaluate(xpath, new InputSource(new FileInputStream("user1.xml")));

[Dimitre Novatchev]

@abi, the result from evaluate() most probably is Object -- and needs to be cast to a list of nodes. Your mistake is that you are assigning it to a String. I don't know what XPath API you are using (the PL seems to be Java) -- please, read well the documentation and review any available code examples, so that you can correct your current code.

[Abi]

MYBAD!!! didnt realize i had messed up in the reading the result part. Thanks alot for all your answers