xpath question.

[alanchinese]

i wonder if there is a simple xpath query to retrieve a list of book IDs whose notes Descendants evaluates a dynamic condition to be true. to make it simple, consider the following XML.
<BOOKS>
<BOOK ID=1234>
<CATEGORIES>1,2,9</CATEGORIES>
</BOOK>
<BOOK ID=2333>
<CATEGORIES>2,7,8</CATEGORIES>
</BOOK>
<BOOK ID=5555>
<CATEGORIES>1,7,8</CATEGORIES>
</BOOK>
</BOOKS>

Dim sRule1 as String = "(contains//CATEGORIES, 2)"
Dim sRule2 as String = "(contains//CATEGORIES, 8)"
when sRule1 is used, IDs 1234, 2333 would be returned.
when sRule2 is used, IDs 2333, 5555 would be returned.

 

[Igor Sukhov]

Following xpath query returns all Book elements which child CATEGORIES element
contains string "2":

"//Book[contains(CATEGORIES/text(), 2)]"

i wonder if there is a simple xpath query to retrieve a list of book IDs whose notes Descendants evaluates a dynamic condition to be true. to make it simple, consider the following XML.
<BOOKS>
<BOOK ID=1234>
<CATEGORIES>1,2,9</CATEGORIES>
</BOOK>
<BOOK ID=2333>
<CATEGORIES>2,7,8</CATEGORIES>
</BOOK>
<BOOK ID=5555>
<CATEGORIES>1,7,8</CATEGORIES>
</BOOK>
</BOOKS>

Dim sRule1 as String = "(contains//CATEGORIES, 2)"
Dim sRule2 as String = "(contains//CATEGORIES, 8)"
when sRule1 is used, IDs 1234, 2333 would be returned.
when sRule2 is used, IDs 2333, 5555 would be returned.

 

[alanchinese]

Thankx for the tips!
but I cannot modify the Rules, so rule1 and rule2 cannot be modified to obtain a list of Book elements.
any ways to plug in the rule strings into the xpath?
also, what would the above xpath be if i CATEGORIES is a decendant element instead of a direct child?
again, thankx a lot

Following xpath query returns all Book elements which child CATEGORIES element
contains string "2":

"//Book[contains(CATEGORIES/text(), 2)]"

 

[Igor Sukhov]

What do you mean by "rules" ? How do you apply/convert your "rules" to actual XPath expressions ?