Re: [xml-dev] Concerned about the increasing reliance on XPath

[Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>]

On 09/05/2011 16:43, Stephen D Green wrote:
> I tried to think of a way to write the XPath expression so
> it gives the same result whatever the version of XPath

You can write

/example:a/@version-id = 0.4

or

/example:a/@version-id = '0.4'

depending on which you mean [*], in both cases using the API of the 
processor to ensure that prefix "example" is bound to namespace URI 
"http://www.example.com";.

Writing it in a way that doesn't depend on any namespace bindings set up 
via the API is much harder - XPath is designed on the assumption that 
the bindings will be set up externally, and you're going against the 
grain if you don't want to do that.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

[*] the first will also match version-id="0.40", the second won't. Yes, 
XPath is not a language designed for people who find such fine 
distinctions irritating - the "do what I meant, not what I said" brigade.