Hello everybody,

I need to format a long XML file with Word 2007. I try to do this with
the new "custom XML" features in conjunction with content controls.
However, I have a problem using XPath expressions programmatically.
Consider the following XML file called "foo.xml":

<foo title="an attempt">
<ul>
<li>This works fine</li>
<li>Before the inline element <em>Inside the inline element</em> after
the inline element</li>
<li>This also works fine</li>
</ul>
</foo>

I load this file into Word 2007 using a short VBA sub (Alt-F11):

Sub load_custom_xml_part()
    ActiveDocument.CustomXMLParts.Add.Load ("c:\foo.xml")
End Sub

The content control for the mapping can also be created
programmatically:

Sub create_content_control()
    Dim strTitle As String
    strTitle = "My_arbitrary_title"
    Dim oCC2 As Word.ContentControl
    Set oCC2 =
Application.Selection.ContentControls.Add(wdContentControlText)
    oCC2.Title = strTitle
End Sub

In order to map the content of the first list element into the content
control, I use the XPath expression "/foo/ul/li[1]", which works fine:

Sub bind_nodes()
    Dim strXPath As String
    strXPath = "/foo/ul/li[1]"
    ActiveDocument.ContentControls(1).XMLMapping.SetMapping strXPath
End Sub

However, I need an XPath expression that returns the second list
element in three "portions" as they have to be formatted with separate
content controls:

- "Before the inline element "
- "Inside the inline element"
- " after the inline element"

The XPath expression "/foo/ul/li[2]/text()[1]" worked perfectly fine
when I tested it with this XPath Demo website:

http://www.futurelab.ch/xmlkurs/xpath.en.html

However, it doesn't seem to work with VBA. The content control doesn't
change its text when I use

    strXPath = "/foo/ul/li[2]/text()[1]"

inside of bind_nodes().

Any ideas?

Kind regards,

Rainer