xml-dev - Re: XML syntax for XPath?

[Michael Smith <smith@xml-doc.org>]

Simon St.Laurent <simonstl@simonstl.com> writes:

> Here's a slightly oddball holiday XML question:
> 
> Has anyone created an XML syntax for XPath/XPointer, with tools for
> mapping it to the usual XPath/XPointer notation?
> 
> Random reader question, but it would fit a fair number of potential
> needs, and might be interesting if verbose.

You probably already know this, but Mike Kay says in his XSLT book
that "in the very early drafts, the syntax for writing what are now
XPath expressions was also expressed in XML" -- so it might be
worthwhile to look at those "early drafts" if they're still available.

The single example (p. 33) he provides is an XML-syntax equivalent for
the XPath expression 'select=/book/author/first-name':

<select>
  <path>
    <element type="book">
    <element type="author">
    <element type="first-name">
  </path>
</select>

...definitely a bit more verbose.

  --Mike Smith

-- 
Michael Smith          mailto:smith@xml-doc.org
XML-Doc                http://www.xml-doc.org/