XPointer Relative Location Terms in Visual Studio .NET

Scanner QR-Code in Visual Studio .NET XPointer Relative Location Terms

You use relative location terms, such as + below, to indicate a location with respect to the location source: XPointer::= First ('' Second)

'PSIBLING' | 'FOLLOWING' | 'FSIBLING'

Arguments::= '(' Instance ',' ElType (',' Attr ',' Val)* ')'

ElType::= '*CDATA'/* selects text pseudo-elements */

| '*'/* elements and pseudo-elements */

| ''/* elements only */

| Name/* elements of this type */

NameVal::= '*IMPLIED'/* no value specified, no default */

| '*'/* any value */

| Name/* case and space normalized */

| SkipLit/* exact match */

Note the keywords you can use in relative links: CHILD, DESCENDANT, ANCESTOR, PRECEDING, PSIBLING, FOLLOWING, and FSIBLING We'll take a look at those terms, with examples, now

The CHILD keyword allows you to select child elements of the location source For example, this XPointer selects the second <MENU> element inside the

element with an ID that equals X12 We specify the instance number[md]that is, the occurrence[md]we want (the second occurrence of the element we're looking for) and the element type we want (<MENU>) this way: ID(X12),CHILD(2,MENU) There's a shorthand you should be aware of as you use multiple relative keywords You can skip keywords like CHILD if they are repeated; for example, these two XPointers are the same: CHILD(2,MENU)(1,SUBMENU) CHILD(2,MENU)CHILD(1,SUBMENU) Here's an example that skips the CHILD keyword twice; this location specification selects the seventh paragraph of the sixth part of the second section: CHILD(2,SECTION)(6,PART)(7,P) You can give the element's type by name or one of the values: , *CDATA, or * The term matches any element type, *CDATA matches untagged subparts of an element that have mixed content (called pseudo-elements), and * matches either child elements or psuedo-elements For example, if this is the document section we're linking to: <BOOK><SECTION>Natural Phenomena</SECTION> <TITLE>Thunder and Storms</TITLE>Thunder storms are loud<TITLE>Landslides</TITLE> Landslides are dangerous<TITLE>Floods</TITLE> Watch out for floods</BOOK> Here are a few location term examples, treating the <BOOK> element as the location source: CHILD(2,TITLE) selects the second TITLE element, "Landslides" CHILD(2,) selects the second child element, which is the first <TITLE>, "Thunder and Storms" CHILD(2,*CDATA) selects the second pseudo-element, "Thunder storms are loud" (The first pseudo-element is the carriage return after the </SECTION> tag) Finally, CHILD(3,*) selects the third element or pseudo-element among the children, which is the <TITLE> element "Thunder and Storms"

You can also select items using the item's attribute name and value If you specify the attribute name in quotation marks, the attribute-value parameter is case-sensitive Otherwise it is not You can use * for attribute names in location terms; for example, this location term selects the second child of any type for which the attribute TARGET has a value (any value at all): CHILD(2,*,TARGET,*) This location specification selects the second child which is a P element for which the ALIGN attribute has been left unspecified: CHILD(2,P,ALIGN,*IMPLIED)

Besides CHILD, you can also use DESCENDANT, which selects among the elements with content in the location source For example, this location specification selects the second MENU element with a CHICKEN attribute that has value of ROASTED: DESCENDANT(2,MENU,CHICKEN,ROASTED)

The ANCESTOR keyword selects an element from among the direct ancestors of the location source For example, this location specification finds the smallest element containing the location source and having the attribute FINDME with value HEREIAM: ANCESTOR(1,*,FINDME,HEREIAM)

The PRECEDING keyword selects an element[md]or a pseudo-element[md] from all those that precede the location source For example, this location specification points to the third element or pseudo-element preceding the element with an ID of M15: ID(M15)PRECEDING(3,)

You use the PSIBLING keyword to select an element or pseudo-element from among those that precede the location source within the same parent element (A sibling is an element or pseudo-element contained by the same parent element)Those elements or pseudo-elements that precede the current location in the document are elder siblings; those that follow it are younger siblings For example, here we point to the element or pseudo-element immediately preceding the element with an ID of M99: ID(M99)PSIBLING(1,)