XPath^TM 2.0 Programmer's Reference

by Michael Kay

• ISBN13: 9780764569104
• ISBN10: 0764569104
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-01
• Publisher: Wrox

Summary

What is this book about?XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference is the only authoritative reference on XPath, a sub-language within XSLT that determines which part of an XML document the XSLT transforms. Written for professional programmers who use XML every day but find the W3C XPath specifications tough to slog through, this book explains in everyday language what every construct in the language does and how to use it. It also offers background material on the design thinking behind the language, gentle criticism of the language specification when appropriate, and a diverse range of interesting examples in various application areas.

Author Biography

<b>Michael Kay</b> has been working in the XML field since 1997; he became a member of the XSLWorking Group soon after the publication of XSLT 1.0, and took over as editor of the XSLT 2.0 specification in early 2001. He is also a member of the XQueryWorking Group, and is a joint editor of the XPath 2.0 specification. He is well known not only through previous editions of this book, but also as the developer of the open-source Saxon product, a pioneering implementation of XSLT 2.0, XPath 2.0, and XQuery 1.0.<br> The author has recently formed his own company, Saxonica, to provide commercial software and services building on the success of the Saxon technology. Previously, he spent three years with Software AG, working with the developers of the Tamino XML server, a leading XQuery implementation. His background is in database technology: after leaving the University of Cambridge with a Ph.D., he worked for many years with the (then) computer manufacturer ICL, developing network, relational, and object-oriented database software products as well as a text search engine, and held the position of ICL Fellow.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xiv
Introduction	xvi
Chapter 1: XPath 2.0 in Context	1	(26)
What Is XPath?	1	(14)
Path Expressions	3	(1)
Composability	4	(1)
What's New in XPath 2.0?	4	(5)
XPath 2.0 Processors	9	(6)
Where XPath fits in the XML Family	15	(7)
XPath and XSLT	15	(1)
XPath and the InfoSet	16	(1)
XML Namespaces	17	(1)
XPath and XPointer	18	(1)
XPath and XQuery	19	(1)
XPath and XML Schemas	20	(1)
XPath, the DOM, and Java	21	(1)
XPath 2.0 as a Language	22	(4)
The Syntax of XPath	22	(1)
An Embedded Language	23	(1)
A Language for Processing Sequences	24	(1)
Types Based on XML Schema	25	(1)
Summary	26	(1)
Chapter 2: The Data Model	27	(34)
Changes in 2.0	27	(1)
Sequences	28	(2)
Atomic Values	30	(3)
Nodes and Trees	33	(27)
XML as a Tree	33	(12)
Completing the UML Class Diagram	45	(1)
Names and Namespaces	45	(5)
IDs	50	(2)
Characters in the Data Model	52	(1)
What Does the Tree Leave Out?	53	(3)
From Textual XML to a Data Model	56	(1)
Controlling Serialization	57	(2)
Document Order	59	(1)
Summary	60	(1)
Chapter 3: The Type System	61	(54)
What Is a Type System?	61	(2)
XML Schema: An Overview	63	(13)
Simple Type Definitions	63	(2)
Elements with Attributes and Simple Content	65	(1)
Elements with Mixed Content	66	(1)
Elements with Element-Only Content	67	(2)
Defining a Type Hierarchy	69	(4)
Substitution Groups	73	(3)
Atomic Types	76	(29)
The Major Atomic Types	78	(15)
The Minor Atomic Types	93	(4)
Derived Numeric Types	97	(3)
Derived String Types	100	(3)
Untyped Atomic Values	103	(1)
NMTOKENS, IDREFS, and ENTITIES	104	(1)
Schema Types and XPath Types	105	(2)
The Type Matching Rules	107	(2)
Static and Dynamic Type Checking	109	(4)
Summary	113	(2)
Chapter 4: The Evaluation Context	115	(18)
The Static Context	115	(11)
XPath 1.0 Compatibility Mode	116	(1)
In-Scope Namespaces	117	(1)
Default Namespaces	118	(1)
In-Scope Schema Definitions	119	(2)
In-Scope Variables	121	(1)
In-Scope Functions	122	(1)
Collations	123	(2)
Base URI	125	(1)
Statically Known Documents and Collections	125	(1)
The Dynamic Context	126	(6)
The Focus	126	(3)
Dynamic Variables	129	(1)
Function Implementations	129	(1)
Current Date and Time	129	(1)
Implicit Timezone	130	(1)
Available Documents and Collections	131	(1)
Summary	132	(1)
Chapter 5: Basic Constructs	133	(36)
Notation	134	(2)
Where to Start	136	(1)
Expressions	136	(4)
Examples	139	(1)
Lexical Constructs	140	(12)
Comments	141	(1)
Numeric Literals	142	(2)
String Literals	144	(2)
Names	146	(4)
Operators	150	(2)
Primary Expressions	152	(1)
Examples	153	(1)
Variable References	153	(2)
Usage	153	(2)
Examples	155	(1)
Parenthesized Expressions	155	(1)
Changes in XPath 2.0	156	(1)
Context Item Expressions	156	(2)
Changes in XPath 2.0	157	(1)
Usage	157	(1)
Function Calls	158	(7)
Identifying the Function to be Called	159	(1)
Converting the Arguments and the Result	160	(2)
Changes in XPath 2.0	162	(1)
Side Effects	163	(1)
Examples	164	(1)
Conditional Expressions	165	(2)
Changes in XPath 2.0	166	(1)
Examples	167	(1)
Summary	167	(2)
Chapter 6: Operators on Items	169	(32)
Arithmetic Operators	169	(12)
Syntax	170	(1)
Type Promotion	170	(1)
Changes in XPath 2.0	171	(1)
Effect	172	(1)
Arithmetic Using Numbers	173	(2)
Examples of Numeric Arithmetic	175	(1)
Arithmetic Using Durations	176	(5)
Value Comparisons	181	(7)
Permitted Operand Types	182	(4)
Type Checking for Value Comparisons	186	(2)
Examples of Value Comparisons	188	(1)
General Comparisons	188	(8)
Changes in XPath 2.0	189	(1)
Rules for General Comparisons	190	(1)
Comparing Sequences	191	(4)
Examples of General Comparisons	195	(1)
Node Comparisons	196	(2)
The [[is]] Operator 196
The operators «[[» and «>>» 197
Changes in XPath 2.0	198	(1)
Boolean Expressions	198	(2)
Examples	199	(1)
Summary	200	(1)
Chapter 7: Path Expressions	201	(38)
Examples of Path Expressions	201	(2)
Changes in XPath 2.0	203	(1)
Full Path Expressions	204	(7)
Syntax	204	(2)
The Root Expression [[/]] 205
Absolute Paths	206	(2)
Relative Paths	208	(3)
Steps	211	(15)
Syntax of Steps	212	(3)
Axes	215	(5)
Node Tests	220	(1)
Name Tests	221	(3)
Kind Tests	224	(2)
Abbreviations	226	(4)
Defaulting the Axis Name in a Step	226	(4)
The [[@» Abbreviation 227
The [[..]] Abbreviation 227
The [[//» Abbreviation 228
Predicates	230	(4)
Combining Sets of Nodes	234	(3)
Syntax	235	(1)
Examples	236	(1)
Usage	236	(1)
Set Intersection and Difference in XPath 1.0	237	(1)
Summary	237	(2)
Chapter 8: Sequence Expressions	239	(22)
The Comma Operator	240	(3)
Examples	242	(1)
Numeric Ranges: The [[to]] Operator 242
Examples	243	(1)
Filter Expressions	244	(4)
Examples	246	(2)
The [[for]] Expression 247
Mapping a Sequence	248	(1)
Examples	249	(1)
For Expressions and Path Expressions	249	(1)
Combining Multiple Sequences	250	(1)
Example	251	(1)
Examples in XMLSpy	252	(5)
The [[some]] and [[every]] Expressions 254
Examples	257	(2)
Quantification and the [[=]] Operator 257
Errors in [[some]] and [[every]] Expressions 258
Summary	259	(2)
Chapter 9: Type Expressions	261	(30)
Converting Atomic Values	262	(15)
Converting between Primitive Types	264	(12)
Converting between Derived Types	276	(1)
Sequence Type Descriptors	277	(13)
Atomic Types	278	(1)
Matching Nodes	279	(2)
Matching Elements and Attributes	281	(9)
The [[instance of ]] operator 287
The [[treat as]] Operator 288
Summary	290	(1)
Chapter 10: XPath Functions	291	(156)
A Word about Naming	292	(1)
Functions by Category	292	(2)
Boolean Functions	292	(1)
Numeric Functions	292	(1)
String Functions	292	(1)
Date and Time Functions	293	(1)
Duration Functions	293	(1)
Aggregation Functions	293	(1)
Functions on URIs	293	(1)
Functions on QNames	293	(1)
Functions on Sequences	293	(1)
Functions that Return Properties of Nodes	293	(1)
Functions that Find Nodes	294	(1)
Functions that Return Context Information	294	(1)
Diagnostic Functions	294	(1)
Functions that Assert a Static Type	294	(1)
Notation	294	(2)
Function Definitions	296	(149)
abs	296	(1)
adjust-date-to-timezone, adjust-dateTime-to-timezone, adjust-time-to-timezone	297	(4)
avg	301	(1)
base-uri	302	(2)
boolean	304	(2)
ceiling	306	(2)
code points-to-string	308	(1)
collection	309	(1)
compare	310	(2)
concat	312	(2)
contains	314	(2)
count	316	(2)
current-date, current-dateTime, current-time	318	(2)
data	320	(2)
day-from-date, day-from-dateTime	322	(1)
days-from-duration	323	(1)
deep-equal	323	(3)
default-collation	326	(1)
distinct-values	327	(2)
doc	329	(3)
document-uri	332	(1)
empty	333	(1)
ends-with	334	(2)
error	336	(1)
escape-uri	337	(3)
exactly-one	340	(1)
exists	341	(1)
expanded-QName	342	(1)
false	343	(1)
floor	344	(2)
hours-from-dateTime, hours-from-time	346	(1)
hours-from-duration	347	(1)
id	347	(3)
idref	350	(2)
implicit-timezone	352	(1)
index-of	353	(1)
in-scope-prefixes	354	(2)
insert-before	356	(1)
lang	357	(2)
last	359	(4)
local-name	363	(2)
local-name-from-QName	365	(1)
lower-case	366	(2)
matches	368	(2)
max	370	(1)
min	371	(2)
minutes-from-dateTime, minutes-from-time	373	(1)
minutes-from-duration	374	(1)
month-from-date, month-from-dateTime	374	(1)
months-from-duration	375	(1)
name	376	(3)
namespace-uri	379	(2)
namespace-uri-for-prefix	381	(1)
namespace-uri-from-QName	382	(1)
pilled	383	(1)
node-name	384	(2)
normalize-space	386	(2)
normalize-unicode	388	(3)
not	391	(2)
number	393	(2)
one-or-more	395	(1)
position	396	(3)
remove	399	(1)
replace	400	(3)
resolve-QName	403	(2)
resolve-uri	405	(3)
reverse	408	(1)
root	408	(1)
round	409	(2)
round-half-to-even	411	(2)
seconds-from-dateTime, seconds-from-time	413	(1)
seconds-from-duration	414	(1)
starts-with	415	(1)
string	416	(2)
string-join	418	(1)
string-length	419	(2)
string-to-codepoints	421	(1)
subsequence	422	(1)
substring	423	(2)
substring-after	425	(2)
substring-before	427	(2)
subtract-dates, subtract-dateTimes	429	(2)
sum	431	(2)
timezone-from-date, timezone-from-dateTime, timezone-from-time	433	(1)
tokenize	434	(2)
trace	436	(1)
translate	437	(2)
true	439	(1)
unordered	440	(2)
upper-case	442	(1)
year-from-date, year-from-dateTime	443	(1)
years-from-duration	443	(1)
zero-or-one	444	(1)
Summary	445	(2)
Chapter 11: Regular Expressions	447	(12)
Branches and Pieces	448	(1)
Quantifiers	448	(1)
Atoms	449	(1)
Character Groups	450	(1)
Character Ranges	450	(1)
Character Class Escapes	451	(2)
Character Blocks	453	(2)
Character Categories	455	(2)
Disallowed Constructs	457	(1)
Summary	457	(2)
Appendix A: XPath 2.0 Syntax Summary	459	(8)
Appendix B: Operator Precedence	467	(2)
Appendix C: Compatibility with XPath 1.0	469	(6)
Appendix D: Error Codes	475	(12)
Glossary	487	(18)
Index	505