Xpath and DOM

[Leigh Dodds]

At present the DOM spec only allows one to traverse the 
tree 'manually' using getChild, etc. Or jump into the 
tree at some point using getElementsByTagName.

Theres nothing in there to allow me to do getElementsByExpression
(accepting an XPath search expression), or similarly pull out 
sections of the DOM tree using XPath expressions.

I've written basic utilities to do this, as have others I'm sure 
(XSLT engines must use something similar), but I'm curious as to when, or 
even whether, this type of feature is going to be added to the 
DOM API itself. 

It would seem to be pretty useful. In the applications I've built 
so far, I've not wanted to traverse or walk the tree, just pick 
out bits of it (and sure I could use SAX but I want the tree 
in memory because I'm manipulating it multiple times).

Unless I'm asking the wrong question - is there a tool that will 
search a DOM tree for me, assuming I supply it with an XPath 
expression.

Cheers,

L.

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    "Never Do With More, What Can Be Achieved With Less"
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Leigh Dodds                             Eml:  ldodds at ingenta.com
ingenta ltd                             Tel:  +44 1225 826619
BUCS Building, University of Bath       Fax:  +44 1225 826283

eclectic				http://weblogs.userland.com/eclectic
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