Home > Learn XML > XML Books > XPath 2.0 Programmers Reference

Download a Free Trial >

See What's New for 2012 >

Buy Now >

XPath 2.0 Programmers Reference

We're pleased to provide chapter one entitled XPath 2.0 in Context of the XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference, 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, the 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.

XPath 2.0 Programmers Reference covers the following topics:

• Top-level XPath constructs and the lexical rules for using whitespace and comments
• Basic XPath operators for writing arithmetic and Boolean expressions
• Three operators for combining the results of path expressions: union, intersect, and except
• How XPath 2.0 supports sequences
• Where to access a complete listing of all functions in the core function library
• How to define the syntax of XPath regular expressions as used in the new functions matches(), replace(), and tokenize(), and much more

From its origins as a sublanguage of XSLT, XPath has come into its own as a key element of XML. XPath 2.0 has emerged as a robust language twice the size of its predecessor, complex and capable of standing on its own. This substantive volume, by the editor of the W3C® XSLT 2.0 specification, is the authoritative reference on XPath 2.0. It begins by thoroughly explaining the foundations, including XML schema and the evaluation context. Building on this knowledge, it then moves through literals and function calls, basic operators, path expressions, types, and the regular expressions of three new functions that greatly boost the power of XPath 2.0.

Table of contents

• An Introduction to XPath 2.0
• Chapter 1: XPath 2.0 in Context.
• Chapter 2: The XPath Data Model.
• Chapter 3: The XPath Type System.
• Chapter 4: XPath Evaluation Context.
• Chapter 5: Basic XPath Constructs.
• Chapter 6: XPath Operators on Items.
• Chapter 7: XPath Expressions.
• Chapter 8: XPath Sequence Expressions.
• Chapter 9: XPath Type Expressions.
• Chapter 10: XPath Functions.
• Chapter 11: Regular Expressions.
• Appendix A: XPath 2.0 Syntax Summary.
• Appendix B: Operator Precedence.
• Appendix C: Compatibility with XPath 1.0.
• Appendix D: Error Codes.

Author Biography

Dr. Michael Kay is the author of "XSLT Programmer's Reference" from Wrox Press, the standard reference work on XSLT. He is also the editor of the W3C's XSLT 2.0 specification, which is currently a Last Call Working Draft, and his Java-based Saxon XSLT processor is one of the most successful and popular XSLT processors in the language's history. The branch of Saxon supporting XSLT 1.0 is currently at release 6.5.3, and regular readers of this column will know that the 7.x branch of Saxon has been implementing more and more support for XSLT 2.0, and has also added support for XQuery. Michael recently formed his own company, Saxonica, and has launched a commercial version of Saxon with support for XML Schema Aware XSLT and XQuery processing.

Additional Book Information

Next: "XSLT: Programmers Reference"

Download a 15 Day Free Trial Now >

See What's New for 2012 in Stylus Studio X14 >

Purchase Stylus Studio X14 Now >

SQL Server Tools

Integrated SQL Server Tools in Stylus Studio enable you to access relational data stored in SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005 as XML using XQuery, SQL/XML or ADO - learn how to export relational data as XML today!

Chemical Companies That Use Stylus Studio

When working in a lab it's always important to have the right ingredients. That's why top chemical companies use Stylus Studio 2006 to create the ultimate experiments. See which of these top chemical companies are using Stylus Studio today!

An Introduction To XML Schema Development

An Introduction to XML schema development in Stylus Studio covers some of the highlights of our XML Schema Editor, powerful tools for editing, validating, converting and generating XML schema. Watch the video online today!

XSD Mapping

Stylus Studio® includes a visual XSD-to-XSD mapping tool that allows you to easily implement sophisticated XML data mappings involving multiple data sources and customized data processing using either XSLT or XQuery code.

Stylus Most Wanted