Re: select nodes with xpath, having by specific attribute named 'class' the 'subvalue part' set

Martin Honnen wrote:
  > XPath 1.0 is not very strong in dealing with string values which are
> really a list of separate values thus if you are using XPath within 
> JavaScript I think it is easier to start with XPath

Thank You for Your superb answer.
Being back for some months in JS-world, I want to learn something new 
thatswhy i dropped that approach, but yes, it would be reasonable to do 
so as it would give more flexibility over (e.c. select nodes that have 
specific two/three etc 'separate-subvalues' set - which probably would 
be definately PITA with Xpath ... ) 'pure' allsolving Xpath expression.


> Using only XPath 1.0 it is very convoluted, watch out for line breaks 
> the posting introduces:
>   function findElementsByClassName (xmlDocument, className) {
>     var xpathExpression =
> '//element[normalize-space(@class) = "' + className + '"' +
> ' or starts-with(normalize-space(@class), "' + className + ' ")' +
> ' or contains(normalize-space(@class), " ' + className + ' ")' +
> ' or (substring(normalize-space(@class), 
> string-length(normalize-space(@class)) ' +
> ' - string-length(" ' + className + '") + 1) = " ' + className + '")]';
>     var elements = [];

Indeed it looks quite awkward. I'd wish there were possibilities to 
write  regexes in the path, but sadly by the specification things arent 
meant to be done so.

I have a small refining question:

why do I have to use
	normalize-space(@class) = "className"
too?
Why isnt the
	starts-with(normalize-space(@class), "className")
sufficient for both cases?


TIA.