Arndt Jonasson wrote:
> Say I have an XML document, where I want the contents of certain
> elements
> to be a textual pointer to another element, based on the contents
> of yet another element. Somewhat silly example:
> 
> <top>
>   <friends>
>     <friend>
>       <name1>Joe</name1>
>       <name2>Anderson</name2>
>     </friend>
>     <friend>
>       <name1>Paul</name1>
>       <name2>Bright</name2>
>     </friend>
>   </friends>
>   <addresses>
>     <address>
>       <name>Joe</name>
>       <moredata>/top/friends/friend[name1=$./../name]</moredata>
>       <street>Wilson St.</street>
>       <number>15</number>
>     </address>
>   </addresses>
> </top>
> 
> The string "/top/friends/friend[name1=$./../name]" could be what
> I want, except that the "$." thing is an invention. 

If you only want links within the document, just us ID and IDREF 
attribute types.

<top>
   <friends>
     <friend ID="JA1">
       <name1>Joe</name1>
       <name2>Anderson</name2>
     </friend>
     <friend>
       <name1>Paul</name1>
       <name2>Bright</name2>
     </friend>
   </friends>
   <addresses>
     <address>
       <name>Joe</name>
       <moredata see="JA1"/>
       <street>Wilson St.</street>
       <number>15</number>
     </address>
   </addresses>
</top>

But there are other, probably much more efficient ways to do this.

///Peter
-- 
XML FAQ: http://xml.silmaril.ie/