XPath Copier for VS Code

XPath Copier makes it simple to generate and copy XPaths for elements in XML‑like documents. It works with XML, HTML and XHTML files (or any other languages you configure) and offers several formats including full paths with indexes, compact paths without unnecessary indexes, name‑based paths and human‑readable breadcrumbs. A unified Quick Pick makes it easy to choose a format on the fly, and a reverse command lets you paste an XPath and jump directly to the referenced element.

Features

🧩 Copy XPaths in Multiple Formats

Six built‑in formats are supported:

You can trigger any of these commands directly from the Command Palette, a context menu in the editor or via optional keybindings. A single “XPath: Copy…” command displays a Quick Pick where you can choose the desired format.

📄 Paste & Go

The “XPath: Go To…” command lets you paste an XPath string (such as one that was generated previously) and the extension will move the cursor to the matching element. If no element matches the path, you will be notified.

🔍 Multi‑Cursor Friendly

When you have multiple selections or cursors active, XPath Copier will generate a list of XPaths. You can choose whether multiple results are joined with newlines or encoded as a JSON array via the xpathCopier.multicursorFormat setting.

⚙️ Configuration

Settings can be adjusted in your user or workspace settings under the xpathCopier namespace:

See package.json for the full schema. To add or remove languages just set xpathCopier.languages to a list of language IDs; commands and context menus will follow your configuration.

🎯 Element Skipping

XPath Copier can skip specific XML elements when generating XPaths, which is sometimes useful for schema files (XSD) where structural elements like xs:sequence, xs:choice, xs:any, and xs:all are sometimes not desired in the XPath.

Example Configuration:

{
  "xpathCopier.enableElementSkipping": true,
  "xpathCopier.skipRules": [
    {
      "filePattern": "**/*.xsd",
      "elementsToSkip": ["xs:sequence", "xs:choice", "xs:any", "xs:all"]
    },
    {
      "filePattern": "**/schema/**/*.xml",
      "elementsToSkip": ["metadata", "annotation"]
    }
  ]
}

Before (with xs:sequence included):

/xs:schema[1]/xs:element[1]/xs:complexType[1]/xs:sequence[1]/xs:element[2]

After (with xs:sequence skipped):

/xs:schema[1]/xs:element[1]/xs:complexType[1]/xs:element[2]

Each skip rule consists of:

• filePattern: A glob pattern (e.g., **/*.xsd, **/schema/*.xml) that matches files where the rule applies
• elementsToSkip: An array of element names to omit from XPath output (supports namespace prefixes like xs:sequence)

🏷️ Name Attribute Configuration

By default, XPath Copier looks for the name attribute on XML elements to provide more meaningful XPath expressions. You can customize which attribute to use and how it's displayed.

Configuration Options:

• nameAttribute (default: "name"): Specifies which attribute to extract from elements. You can change this to any attribute like id, key, ref, etc.
• nameOnly (default: false): When enabled, shows only the attribute value instead of the tag (value) format.

Example Configuration:

{
  "xpathCopier.nameAttribute": "name",
  "xpathCopier.nameOnly": true
}

Example with nameOnly: false (default):

Breadcrumb: xs:schema > xs:element (Person) > xs:complexType > xs:element (FirstName)
Named Full: /xs:schema/xs:element[@name='Person']/xs:complexType/xs:element[@name='FirstName']

Example with nameOnly: true:

Breadcrumb: xs:schema > Person > xs:complexType > FirstName
Named Full: /xs:schema/Person/xs:complexType/FirstName

This feature is particularly useful when working with schema definitions where element names provide clearer navigation paths than technical tag names. Elements without the configured attribute will still display their tag name normally.

📤 Output Options

XPath Copier provides flexible output options to control how generated XPaths are delivered to you:

Configuration Options:

• copyToClipboard (default: true): Automatically copies the generated XPath to your clipboard for immediate pasting.
• showInQuickPick (default: false): Displays the XPath in a Quick Pick dialog, allowing you to review it and click to copy again if needed.
• openInNewEditor (default: false): Opens the generated XPath in a new untitled editor window for further editing or documentation.

Example Configuration:

{
  "xpathCopier.copyToClipboard": true,
  "xpathCopier.showInQuickPick": true,
  "xpathCopier.openInNewEditor": false
}

These options can be combined - for example, you can enable both clipboard copying and the Quick Pick dialog to have the XPath copied automatically while also being able to review it in a dialog. When openInNewEditor is enabled, the XPath opens in a new editor tab, which is useful for creating documentation or sharing XPaths with others.

🧪 Testing

Unit tests live in the test directory and use Mocha. They verify the XPath generation logic, including indexing and name handling. You can run the tests with:

npm test

🔨 Building & Packaging

The source code lives under src/ and compiles to dist/ via TypeScript. To compile and package the extension into a .vsix file run:

npm install
npm run build

This uses the vsce tool internally to create a ready‑to‑install package.

📦 Icon & Licence

The file icon.png contains a free‑to‑use icon included with this repository. The extension is published under the MIT Licence.

Known Limitations

• Custom format templates must use the variables ${tag}, ${index} and ${name}. If a variable is undefined for a given segment it will be replaced with an empty string.

Contributing

Pull requests and issues are welcome! Please provide detailed steps to reproduce any problems, along with example input files when applicable.