selectNodes Method

Script Syntax

var objXMLDOMNodeList = oXMLDOMNode.selectNodes(expression);

Parameters

expression

A string specifying an XPath expression.

Return Value

An object. Returns the collection of nodes selected by applying the given pattern-matching operation. If no nodes are selected, returns an empty collection.

Example

The following script example creates an IXMLDOMNodeList object containing the nodes specified by the expression parameter (for example, all the <xsl:template> nodes in an XSLT style sheet). It then displays the number of nodes contained in the node list.

var xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument.5.0");
var objNodeList;
xmlDoc.async = false;
xmlDoc.load("hello.xsl");
if (xmlDoc.parseError.errorCode <> 0) {
   var myErr = xmlDoc.parseError;
   alert("You have error " + myErr.reason);
} else {
   xmlDoc.setProperty("SelectionNamespaces",    "xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform'");
   xmlDoc.setProperty("SelectionLanguage", "XPath");
   objNodeList = xmlDoc.documentElement.selectNodes("//xsl:template");
   alert(objNodeList.length);
}

Visual Basic Syntax

Set objXMLDOMNodeList = oXMLDOMNode.selectNodes(expression)

Parameters

expression

A string specifying an XPath expression.

Return Value

An object. Returns the collection of nodes selected by applying the given pattern-matching operation. If no nodes are selected, returns an empty collection.

Example

The following Microsoft® Visual Basic® example creates an IXMLDOMNodeList object containing the nodes specified by the expression parameter (for example, all the <xsl:template> nodes in an XSLT style sheet). It then displays the number of nodes contained in the node list.

Dim xmlDoc As New Msxml2.DOMDocument50
Dim objNodeList As IXMLDOMNodeList
xmlDoc.async = False
xmlDoc.Load "hello.xsl"
If (xmlDoc.parseError.errorCode <> 0) Then
   Dim myErr
   Set myErr = xmlDoc.parseError
   MsgBox("You have error " & myErr.reason)
Else
   xmlDoc.setProperty "SelectionNamespaces",    "xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform'"
   xmlDoc.setProperty "SelectionLanguage", "XPath"
   Set objNodeList = xmlDoc.documentElement.selectNodes("//xsl:template")
   MsgBox objNodeList.length
End If

C/C++ Syntax

HRESULT selectNodes(
    BSTR expression,
    IXMLDOMNodeList **resultList);

Parameters

expression [in]

A string specifying an XPath expression.

resultList [out, retval]

The list of nodes selected by applying the given pattern-matching operation. If no nodes are selected, returns an empty node list.

C/C++ Return Values

S_OK

The value returned if successful.

E_INVALIDARG

The value returned if the resultList parameter is Null.

Example

The following Microsoft® Visual C++ example creates an IXMLDOMNodeList object containing the nodes specified by the expression parameter (for example, all the <xsl:template> nodes in an XSLT stylesheet). It then displays the number of nodes contained in the node list.

XpathSelectNodes.cpp

#include <stdio.h>
#import <msxml5.dll>
using namespace MSXML2;

void dump_com_error(_com_error &e);

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
  CoInitialize(NULL);
  try{
    IXMLDOMDocument2Ptr pXMLDoc = NULL;
    HRESULT hr = pXMLDoc.CreateInstance(__uuidof(DOMDocument50));

    // Set parser property settings
    pXMLDoc->async =  VARIANT_FALSE;

    // Load the sample XML file
    hr = pXMLDoc->load("hello.xsl");

    // If document does not load report the parse error 
    if(hr!=VARIANT_TRUE)
    {
      IXMLDOMParseErrorPtr  pError;
      pError = pXMLDoc->parseError;
      _bstr_t parseError =_bstr_t("At line ")+ _bstr_t(pError->Getline())
      + _bstr_t("\n")+ _bstr_t(pError->Getreason());
      MessageBox(NULL,parseError, "Parse Error",MB_OK);
      return 0;
    }
    // Otherwise, build node list using SelectNodes 
    // and returns its length as console output
    else
      pXMLDoc->setProperty("SelectionLanguage", "XPath");
      // Set the selection namespace URI if the nodes
      // you wish to select later use a namespace prefix
      pXMLDoc->setProperty("SelectionNamespaces",
      "xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform'");
      IXMLDOMElementPtr pXMLDocElement = NULL;
      pXMLDocElement = pXMLDoc->documentElement;
      IXMLDOMNodeListPtr pXMLDomNodeList = NULL;
      pXMLDomNodeList = pXMLDocElement->selectNodes("//xsl:template");
      int count = 0;
      count = pXMLDomNodeList->length;
      printf("The number of <xsl:template> nodes is %i.\n", count);
  }
  catch(_com_error &e)
  {
    dump_com_error(e);
  }
  return 0;
}

void dump_com_error(_com_error &e)
{
  printf("Error\n");
  printf("\a\tCode = %08lx\n", e.Error());
  printf("\a\tCode meaning = %s", e.ErrorMessage());
  _bstr_t bstrSource(e.Source());
  _bstr_t bstrDescription(e.Description());
  printf("\a\tSource = %s\n", (LPCSTR) bstrSource);
  printf("\a\tDescription = %s\n", (LPCSTR) bstrDescription);
}

Try It!

1. Set up a new empty project in Visual C++ for a Win32 console application.

   For more information, see Set Up My Visual C++ Project.

2. Copy the XpathSelectNodes.cpp file and paste it in as code for a new Visual C/C++ source file in your project.
3. Copy the hello.xsl file from the Hello, World! (XSLT) tutorial application and paste and save it as a resource file in the same folder as your project.
4. Build and execute the project as a console EXE application.

Results and Output

When run successfully using the sample code and files, the application will return as standard console output the following:

The number of <xsl:template> nodes is 2.