If you use SelectSingleNode on a reverse axis it gets the closest node to 
the context. If you use SelectNodes you then have a NodeList which contains 
the nodes in document order.

-- 

Joe Fawcett (MVP - XML)

http://joe.fawcett.name


"Francesca Baslen" <francesca.baslen@g...> wrote in message 
news:46389d0e$0$446$426a74cc@n......
> OK, I found an answer myself. Not why my code behaves like this, but how 
> to get it do what what I want.
> Obviously, the SelectSingleNode method doesn't follow the reverse axis, 
> but SelectNodes does.
>
> Set Nodes2 = 
> Node1.SelectNodes("ancestor-or-self::*[@xml:lang][1]/@xml:lang")
> If Not(Nodes2.Length = 0) Then
> Response.Write "Lang:" & Nodes2(0).Text
> Response.Write " (inherited from " & 
> Nodes2(0).SelectSingleNode("..").NodeName & ")"
> End If
>
> Strange enough though.
>
> F
>
>
> Francesca Baslen was caught writing:
>> Hello,
>>
>> Suppose I want to write a custom function which for a given node Node1 
>> retrieves its language value (given by an xml:lang attribute).
>> This value can be inherited -- in which case the significant language 
>> value should be that of the closest ancestor which explicitly states a 
>> language value.
>>
>> Please take a look at my example ASP code below:
>>
>>
>> <%@ LANGUAGE = "VBScript" %>
>> <% Response.Buffer = True %>
>> <%
>> Dim XML1,XMLDoc1,Node1,Node2
>> Set XMLDoc1 = Server.CreateObject("MSXML2.DOMDocument")
>> XMLDoc1.setProperty "SelectionLanguage","XPath"
>> XMLDoc1.Async = False
>>
>> XML1 = XML1 & "<doc xml:lang=""de"">"
>> XML1 = XML1 & "<block xml:lang=""en"">"
>> XML1 = XML1 & "<item>Item</item>"
>> XML1 = XML1 & "</block>"
>> XML1 = XML1 & "</doc>"
>>
>> XMLDoc1.LoadXML(XML1)
>>
>> Set Node1 = XMLDoc1.SelectSingleNode("//item")
>> Set Node2 = Node1.SelectSingleNode("ancestor-or-self::node()/@xml:lang")
>>
>> If Not(Node2 Is Nothing) Then
>>     Response.Write "Lang:" & Node2.Text
>>     Response.Write " (inherited from " & 
>> Node2.SelectSingleNode("..").NodeName & ")"
>> End If
>>
>> Set Node1 = Nothing
>> Set Node2 = Nothing
>> Set XMLDoc1 = Nothing
>> %>
>>
>> On this example, the XML document is made up of 3 nested nodes "doc", 
>> "block", "item". "doc" and "block" have different xml:lang values.
>> I want to test the language value of the node "doc" (Node1)
>> In my understanding, the XPath expression 
>> "ancestor-or-self::node()/@xml:lang" applied to Node1 is the correct one. 
>> As an argument of the XML DOM SelectSingleNodemethod, it *should* select 
>> the first node on the reverse axis, ie the @xml:lang of the "block" node.
>>
>> Problem: instead of the expected behaviour, it selects the @xml:lang of 
>> the "doc" node (indeed the first node, but in the document order, *not* 
>> the reverse order going from "item" upwards), and I don't understand why.
>>
>> Could somebody explain this behaviour and help me solve this problem.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> F
>>