RE: XPath problem with namespace attribute

The xmlns declaration (in XPath terms it's a namespace binding, not an
attribute) changes the name of the elements Three, Four, and Five. That
means you can't select them under their original names. You need to select
them under their namespaced names, which you do by binding a prefix to the
namespace and using that prefix in your path expression:

/One/Two/n:Three/n:Four/n:Five

Just as a bit of advice, you really should assume that a bug in your
implementation is the least probable explanation when you get unexpected
results. Google for "XPath default namespace" and you will find zillions of
references to this usability gotcha.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matthew Hailstone [mailto:matthew.hailstone@xxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: 05 September 2008 16:50
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject:  XPath problem with namespace attribute
> 
> All,
> 
> I hope it is ok to post this XPath comment to this list.
> 
> It seems there is a bug in the XPath result when an empty 
> namespace attribute is used:
> 
> XML:
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
> <One>
>   <Two>
>     <Three xmlns="http://www.hailstone.org/">
>       <Four>
>           <Five/>
>       </Four>
>     </Three>
>   </Two>
> </One>
> 
> XPath:
> /One/Two/Three/Four/Five
> 
> Expected Result:
> The element "Five" should be returned.
> 
> Result:
> Nothing is returned.
> 
> Modifications of element "Three" that fix the problem:
> 
> ...
> <Three xmlns:something="http://www.hailstone.org">
> ...
> 
> ...
> <Three normalattribute="http://www.hailstone.org">
> ...
> 
> Is this a bug in the XPath implementation?
> Is there something something special about the "xmlns" 
> attribute that I don't know?
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> Thanks,
> Matthew