XML XPath Extension

XML XPath Extension Easily generate XPath expressions in Visual Studio Code directly from your XML files with customizable modes, templates, and intelligent indexing.

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✨ Features 📋 Copy XPath from the current cursor position 🌍 Universal XPath - Generate XPaths that work across different files 🔍 Search with XPath - Find elements using XPath expressions 🔧 Multiple XPath generation modes: Include/exclude indices Include/exclude attributes Attribute-based indexing (group elements by attribute values) ⚙️ Custom predicate templates with powerful token replacement 🎯 Fine-grained index control: Skip [1] for unique elements Force [1] for specific tags Exception lists for ultimate control 🧠 xlink:label indexing with pattern matching 🪄 Parent tag scoping to build relative XPaths 📊 Parent-scoped indexing - Reset counters per parent element 🔍 Live XPath preview in status bar 📁 Works with .xml, .xsd, .xsl, .xaml, .svg, .xhtml, .wsdl, and more! 📸 Demo Demo GIF

⚡ Quick Start Open any XML file Place your cursor on an element Use Ctrl+Shift+C to copy the XPath Or click the XPath in the status bar ⚙️ Commands Core Commands Command Description Shortcut XML XPath: Copy XPath from Cursor Copies XPath for the current element Ctrl+Shift+C XML XPath: Copy Universal XPath Copies XPath with universal settings - XML XPath: Search with XPath Find elements using XPath Ctrl+Shift+F Configuration Commands Command Description XML XPath: Set Parent Tag Sets a tag from which XPath should be generated XML XPath: Clear Parent Tag Clears parent scoping and returns to full XPath XML XPath: Set XPath Mode Choose between indices, attributes, both, or simple XML XPath: Set Preferred Attributes Choose preferred attributes for XPath predicates XML XPath: Set Predicate Template Customize how predicates are rendered Index Control Commands Command Description XML XPath: Set Ignore-Index Tags Tags that should never show [1] XML XPath: Set Force Index [1] Tags Tags that must always show [1] XML XPath: Set Exceptions to Force Index [1] Override force index for specific tags XML XPath: Toggle Disable Leaf Index Skip [n] on the last segment XML XPath: Toggle Skip Single Index Skip [1] when element is unique XML XPath: Toggle Attribute-Based Indexing Index elements by attribute values Advanced Features Command Description XML XPath: Toggle Use XLink Label Index Use index parsed from xlink:label XML XPath: Set xlink:label Pattern Configure how to extract numbers from xlink:label XML XPath: Toggle Parent-Scoped Indexing Use parent-relative counters XML XPath: Toggle Ignore Parent Segment Remove parent tag from relative XPath 🪄 Pro Tip: All commands are prefixed with XML XPath: — just type that in the command palette!

🛠️ Configuration Settings Basic Settings jsonc { // Parent tag for relative XPath generation "xmlXpath.parentTag": "section",

// XPath generation mode "xmlXpath.mode": { "includeIndices": true, "includeAttributes": true },

// Preferred attributes for predicates (order matters!) "xmlXpath.preferredAttributes": ["id", "name", "type"],

// Custom predicate template "xmlXpath.predicateTemplate": "[@{attr1}='{attr1V}']" } Index Control jsonc { // Skip [1] for unique elements "xmlXpath.skipSingleIndex": true,

// Never show [1] for these tags "xmlXpath.ignoreIndexTags": ["html", "body"],

// Always show [1] for these tags (when skipSingleIndex is false) "xmlXpath.forceIndexOneFor": ["section", "paragraph"],

// Exception tags that never show [1] (overrides everything) "xmlXpath.exceptionsToIndexOneForcing": ["subsection"],

// Disable index on the last element "xmlXpath.disableLeafIndex": false } Advanced Features jsonc { // Use xlink:label for indexing "xmlXpath.useXlinkLabelIndex": false,

// Pattern for extracting numbers from xlink:label "xmlXpath.xlinkLabelPattern": { "type": "any", // "any", "startsWith", "contains", "endsWith", "regex", "exactPrefix" "pattern": "" },

// Use parent-scoped index counters "xmlXpath.useParentScopedIndices": false,

// Enable attribute-based indexing "xmlXpath.useAttributeBasedIndexing": false,

// Remove parent segment from relative XPath "xmlXpath.ignoreParentSegment": false } 📚 Examples Basic XPath Generation xml

Attribute-Based Indexing xml With attribute-based indexing ON:

/Properties/Property[@ValuationType='SUBJECT'][@id='1'][1] /Properties/Property[@ValuationType='COMPARABLE'][@id='2'][1] /Properties/Property[@ValuationType='COMPARABLE'][@id='3'][2] Custom Predicate Templates Available tokens:

{attr1} - Attribute name {attr1V} - Attribute value {tag} - Element tag name {idx} - Element index {at} - @ symbol {xllv} - xlink:label raw value {xllvI} - xlink:label index Example templates:

Default: [@{attr1}='{attr1V}'] Contains: [contains(@{attr1}, '{attr1V}')] Multiple: [@{attr1}='{attr1V}'][position()={idx}] 🎯 Use Cases Web Scraping - Generate reliable XPaths for data extraction Test Automation - Create stable selectors for UI tests XML Processing - Navigate complex XML structures Documentation - Reference specific elements in XML docs 🤝 Contributing Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue on GitHub.

📝 License This extension is licensed under the MIT License.

Enjoy generating XPaths! 🚀