Difficulty with XPath and Namespaces using Eclipse with simple ANT build

Hello

Put simply, I cannot get Freemarker to process XPath queries or recognise XML namespaces - even using the examples out of the documentation. I am sure this must mean I'm doing something silly, but I cannot work out what.

Specifically; my XML document looks like this:-

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<book title="Test">
  <chapter title="Ch1">
    <para>p1.1</para>
    <para>p1.2</para>
    <para>p1.3</para>
  </chapter>
  <chapter title="Ch2">
    <para>p2.1</para>
    <para>p2.2</para>
  </chapter>
</book> 

and my template like this

<#assign book=document.book>
<h1>${book.@title}</h1>
<#list book.chapter as ch>
  <h2>${ch.@title}</h2>
  <#list ch.para as p>
    <p>${p}
  </#list>
</#list>  
<---- Next list --->
<#list document["book/chapter[title='Ch1']/para"] as p>
  <p>${p}
</#list> 
<--- do the original again -->
<#list book.chapter as ch>
  <h2>${ch.@title}</h2>
  <#list ch.para as p>
    <p>${p}
  </#list>
</#list>  
<---- Count -->
${document["count(//para)"]}  

and my output looks like

<h1> title="Test"</h1>
  <h2> title="Ch1"</h2>
    <p><para>p1.1</para>
    <p><para>p1.2</para>
    <p><para>p1.3</para>
  <h2> title="Ch2"</h2>
    <p><para>p2.1</para>
    <p><para>p2.2</para>
<---- Next list --->
<--- do the original again -->
  <h2> title="Ch1"</h2>
    <p><para>p1.1</para>
    <p><para>p1.2</para>
    <p><para>p1.3</para>
  <h2> title="Ch2"</h2>
    <p><para>p2.1</para>
    <p><para>p2.2</para>
<---- Count -->
  

As you can see, the XPath just doesn't return anything (nor any error) and yet all this is a direct copy out of the documentation on-line.

It gets worse if I try and use namespaces.

Change the basic XML to look as below

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<e:book xmlns:e="http://example.com/ebook" 
    title="Test">
  <e:chapter title="Ch1">
    <e:para>p1.1</e:para>
    <e:para>p1.2</e:para>
    <e:para>p1.3</e:para>
  </e:chapter>
  <e:chapter title="Ch2">
    <e:para>p2.1</e:para>
    <e:para>p2.2</e:para>
  </e:chapter>
</e:book>  


Use the template that follows:

<#ftl ns_prefixes={"e":"http://example.com/ebook"}>

<#recurse>

<#macro "e:book">
  I'm the book element handler. ${.node.@title}
</#macro>  

and get this output (which is correct)

  I'm the book element handler. Test

BUT, use this template

<#ftl ns_prefixes={"e":"http://example.com/ebook"}>
<#assign book=document["e:book"]>
<h1>${book.@title}</h1>
<#list book["e:chapter"] as ch>
  <h2>${ch.@title}</h2>
  <#list ch["e:para"] as p>
    <p>${p}
  </#list>
</#list>  
<---- Next list --->
<#list document["e:book/e:chapter[title='Ch1']/e:para"] as p>
  <p>${p}
</#list> 
<--- do the original again -->
<#list book["e:chapter"] as ch>
  <h2>${ch.@title}</h2>
  <#list ch["e:para"] as p>
    <p>${p}
  </#list>
</#list>  
<---- Count -->
${document["count(//e:para)"]}  

and you get a Java exception

[freemarker] Mar 26, 2012 4:15:35 PM freemarker.log.JDK14LoggerFactory$JDK14Logger error
[freemarker] SEVERE: Template processing error: "Namespace prefix e is not registered."
[freemarker] Namespace prefix e is not registered.
[freemarker] The problematic instruction:
[freemarker] ----------
[freemarker] ==> assignment: book=document["e:book"] [on line 2, column 1 in books.ftl]


even if the syntax were wrong in itself, the namespace has been registered. So it seem that ns_prefixes works if you use declaratives (recurse) but not if you use imperatives.

Can any kind person suggest what I am getting wrong??

Thanks in advance

Bob Johnson

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