xpath expression to find which element

[Steve]

Hello.. I have been trying to figure this out for the last hour, but I am
baffled... I'm hoping someone can help!

I'm trying to write an xpath expression to find the position of the node
with value "c" in the following xml. The result I'm looking for in this case
should be 3. Does anyone have any ideas?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<TopNode>
<FieldDefinition>a</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>b</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>c</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>d</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>e</FieldDefinition>
</TopNode>

My idea was something like:

/*/position(". = 'c'")

But that doesn't work.

Could anyone please help! Thank you very much in advance.
--
Steve

[Dimitre Novatchev]

/*/*[.='c']
Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev


"Steve" <sm*******@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:63**********************************@microsof t.com...

Hello.. I have been trying to figure this out for the last hour, but I am
baffled... I'm hoping someone can help!

I'm trying to write an xpath expression to find the position of the node
with value "c" in the following xml. The result I'm looking for in this
case
should be 3. Does anyone have any ideas?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<TopNode>
<FieldDefinition>a</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>b</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>c</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>d</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>e</FieldDefinition>
</TopNode>

My idea was something like:

/*/position(". = 'c'")

But that doesn't work.

Could anyone please help! Thank you very much in advance.
--
Steve

[Peter Flynn]

Steve wrote:

Hello.. I have been trying to figure this out for the last hour, but I am
baffled... I'm hoping someone can help!

I'm trying to write an xpath expression to find the position of the node
with value "c" in the following xml. The result I'm looking for in this case
should be 3. Does anyone have any ideas?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<TopNode>
<FieldDefinition>a</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>b</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>c</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>d</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>e</FieldDefinition>
</TopNode>

My idea was something like:

/*/position(". = 'c'")

But that doesn't work.

Could anyone please help! Thank you very much in advance.

position() won't help you here because it's a null function (no
arguments).

<xsl:value-of select="count(/*/*[.='c']/preceding-sibling::*)+1"/>

This will work provided you know that no other elements types apart from
FieldDefinition are permitted in the content model of TopNode. If other
elements types are allowed, then you will have to qualify the element
nodes located by the preceding-sibling axis.

///Peter

[Dimitre Novatchev]

Sorry, was misled by the subject.

Peter Flyn has provided an answer.

Another possibility is to use <xsl:number> , depending on what you mean
by "the position of the element"

Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev
"Dimitre Novatchev" <di******@tpg.com.au> wrote in message
news:43***********************@authen.yellow.readf reenews.net...

/*/*[.='c']
Cheers,
Dimitre Novatchev


"Steve" <sm*******@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:63**********************************@microsof t.com...

Hello.. I have been trying to figure this out for the last hour, but I am
baffled... I'm hoping someone can help!

I'm trying to write an xpath expression to find the position of the node
with value "c" in the following xml. The result I'm looking for in this
case
should be 3. Does anyone have any ideas?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<TopNode>
<FieldDefinition>a</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>b</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>c</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>d</FieldDefinition>
<FieldDefinition>e</FieldDefinition>
</TopNode>

My idea was something like:

/*/position(". = 'c'")

But that doesn't work.

Could anyone please help! Thank you very much in advance.
--
Steve