XPath String Functions
I have XML that looks like this.
I need to get value of hash attribute (BF8E8F60E722E92C7ED8303916591AB4). I know the value of m url parameter (inside url attribute) (7fb83717-9606-4022-bd4e-67b6f6582ada), but I do not know the value of code url parameter.
I know how to get attribute of a tag when I know another attribute of that tag. For example, if I knew hash attribute and needed url attribute, I would do it like this:
e = REXML::Document.new(ie.text).root.elements
e["/tokens/ShortUrl[@hash='BF8E8F60E722E92C7ED8303916591AB4']“].attributes["url"]
=> “resetpassword.aspx?m=7fb83717-9606-4022-bd4e-67b6f6582ada&code=2271ad0e-d627-4e6c-bdfb-2b11d354e9ac”
But, I know only part of url attribute. Of course, this does not work (because e[...] returns nil).
e["/tokens/ShortUrl[@url='resetpassword.aspx?m=7fb83717-9606-4022-bd4e-67b6f6582ada&code=']“].attributes["hash"]
=> NoMethodError: undefined method `attributes’ for nil:NilClass
I have heard that there are XPath string functions, but I did not understand how to use them, or would it even help in this case.
I have solved this problem with regular expressions, but I guess there must be XPath solution.
Also, I have already asked my developer to simplify that XML, so I can use it, but that has low priority because I have already solved the problem.
Angrez Singh was kind enough to help me. This is the solution.
e["/tokens/ShortUrl[starts-with(@url, 'resetpassword.aspx?m=7fb83717-9606-4022-bd4e-67b6f6582ada&code=')]“].attributes["hash"]
=> “BF8E8F60E722E92C7ED8303916591AB4″
You can find this thread at wtr-general.
