XPath helpers

In the Document pane of the Development Studio XPath transform editor, XPath helpers are used to create XPress expressions.

To facilitate the creation of XPath expressions, the common functions have been provided in drop-down menus. With the selection of the functions from these menus, the proper syntax for the function inserts in the Expression field.

All of the number functions return values in floating point format. If the description of the function says it returns an integer, the function actually returns the value in floating point format that is equivalent to the integer.

Tokens are inserted in an XPath expression to use context items for the transform.

Group	Function	Description	Syntax
String	String	Returns the value as a string	string(.)
String	Concat	Concatenates a comma separated list of values into a single string Concatenating secure data with a string is not supported for use with basic and advanced XPATH or XSLT transforms.	concat(., 'text')
String	Starts with	Returns a value of 'true' or 'false' indicating whether the sting begins with the specified text	starts-with(., 'text')
String	Contains	Returns a value of 'true' or 'false' indicating whether the sting contains the specified text	contains(., 'text')
String	Substring before	Returns the portion of the string that precedes the specified text	substring-before(., 'text')
String	Substring after	Returns the portion of the string that succeeds the specified text	substring-after(., 'text')
String	Substring	Returns a portion of the string, beginning at the numeric position specified	substring(., number)
String	String length	Returns the number of characters in the string	string-length(.)
String	Normalize space	Removes leading and trailing spaces from the string	normalize-space(.)
String	Translate	Converts a string by replacing the characters in 'from' with the characters in 'to'	translate(.,'from','to')
Boolean	Boolean	Returns a Boolean value	boolean(.)
Boolean	Not	Returns the opposite Boolean value	not(.)
Boolean	True	Returns the Boolean value 'true'	true()
Boolean	False	Returns the Boolean value 'false'	false()
Number	Number	Returns the value as a number	number(.)
Number	Sum	Returns the sum of numeric values for the specified element	sum(.)
Number	Floor	Returns, in floating point format, the largest integer that is not greater than the specified number. For example, floor(3.4) = 3.0	floor(.)
Number	Ceiling	Returns, in floating point format, the smallest integer that is greater than the specified number. For example, ceiling(3.4) = 4.0	ceiling(.)
Number	Round	Rounds the specified number to the nearest integer in floating point format. For example,  round(3.4) = 3.0	round(.)
Operators	Less than or equal	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	<=
Operators	Less than	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	<
Operators	Greater than or equal	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	>=
Operators	Greater than	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	>
Operators	Equal	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	=
Operators	Not equal	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	!=
Operators	Multiply	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	*
Operators	Divide	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	div
Operators	Modulus	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	mod
Operators	Add	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	+
Operators	Subtract	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	-
Operators	And	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	and
Operators	Or	Inserts the appropriate syntax for the function	or
Position	Last	Returns the index of the last child node	last()
Position	Position	Returns the position of the current node, relative to the parent node	position()
Position	Count	Counts the number of nodes	count(.)
Position	Name	Returns the element name	name(.)

To insert the function syntax for an XPath Helper

In the Document pane, use the Group menu to select the group.
Use the Functions menu to select the function.
Click the Insert button.
Tip

Use these steps to insert additional function syntax. The syntax inserts at the cursor.

To insert tokens in an XPath expression

Position the cursor in the Expression field at the point of token insertion. To replace text in the current expression with the token, highlight the text to be replaced.
Use the Token Selector drop-down menu and select the token.

There are two choices in the drop-down menu for each token in the Tokens pane, one with the token name and one with -esc appended to the token name.
If a token represents a sequence of characters that are classified as XML special characters, choosing the token-esc option causes the XML special characters to be escaped.
For example:
< is converted to <
> is converted to >
The <token> choice is displayed with curly brackets ${tokenName}. The <token-esc> choice is displayed with square brackets $[tokenName].
Click the Preview button in the Document pane toolbar to execute the expression and display the Preview Drawer.

XPath helpers

To insert the function syntax for an XPath Helper

To insert tokens in an XPath expression

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