XPath search does not work

Question

I try to access an xml file with dom4j. I also tried trough the dom of org.w3c but this failed in the same way. I have a sample of the xml file which I try to read below. I try to read the attribute xlink:href from the element loc but for some reason this always fails. When I try the same methods on an simple xml file I write myself, it does work. I've been working on this for days now. Here is my method:

 File file = new File("schemas/pfs-2013-04-01-presentation.xml");
            SAXReader reader = new SAXReader();
            Document document = reader.read(file);
            XPath xpath = document.createXPath("//loc");
            Map uris = new HashMap();
            uris.put("", "http://www.xbrl.org/2003/linkbase");
            uris.put("xbrli","http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance");
            uris.put("xlink","http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink");
            uris.put("xsi","http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance");

            xpath.setNamespaceURIs(uris);

            List<Node> nodes =  xpath.selectNodes(xpath);

From these 'nodes' I want to read the attributes later on. When I execute this the List is empty however. This is something do not understand.

Can anyone help me with this please? thanks

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<linkbase xmlns="http://www.xbrl.org/2003/linkbase" xmlns:xbrli="http://www.xbrl.org/2003/instance" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.xbrl.org/2003/linkbase http://www.xbrl.org/2003/xbrl-linkbase-2003-12-31.xsd" xmlns:presentationAttribute="http://www.nbb.be/be/fr/pfs/presentationAttribute" >
    <roleRef roleURI="http://www.nbb.be/be/fr/pfs/ci/role/FullIdentifyingData" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="pfs-full-2013-04-01.xsd#FullIdentifyingData"/>
    <roleRef roleURI="http://www.nbb.be/be/fr/pfs/ci/role/FullBalanceSheet" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="pfs-full-2013-04-01.xsd#FullBalanceSheet"/>
    <roleRef roleURI="http://www.nbb.be/be/fr/pfs/ci/role/FullIncomeStatement" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="pfs-full-2013-04-01.xsd#FullIncomeStatement"/>
    <roleRef roleURI="http://www.nbb.be/be/fr/pfs/ci/role/FullAppropriationsWithdrawings" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="pfs-full-2013-04-01.xsd#FullAppropriationsWithdrawings"/>
    <roleRef roleURI="http://www.nbb.be/be/fr/pfs/ci/role/FullDisclosures" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="pfs-full-2013-04-01.xsd#FullDisclosures"/>
    <roleRef roleURI="http://www.nbb.be/be/fr/pfs/ci/role/FullSocialBalanceSheet" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="pfs-full-2013-04-01.xsd#FullSocialBalanceSheet"/>
    <roleRef roleURI="http://www.nbb.be/be/fr/pfs/ci/role/FullValidationRules" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="pfs-full-2013-04-01.xsd#FullValidationRules"/>
    <roleRef roleURI="http://www.nbb.be/be/fr/pfs/ci/role/FullManagementReport" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="pfs-full-2013-04-01.xsd#FullManagementReport"/>
    <roleRef roleURI="http://www.nbb.be/be/fr/pfs/ci/role/FullAccountantsReport" xlink:type="simple" xlink:href="pfs-full-2013-04-01.xsd#FullAccountantsReport"/>
<presentationLink xlink:type="extended" xlink:role="http://www.nbb.be/be/fr/pfs/ci/role/FullIdentifyingData">
    <loc xlink:type="locator" xlink:href="pfs-2013-04-01.xsd#pfs_IdentifyingData" xlink:label="IdentifyingData_1" />
    <loc xlink:type="locator" xlink:href="pfs-gcd-2013-04-01.xsd#pfs-gcd_GlobalCommonDocument" xlink:label="GlobalCommonDocument_2" />
    <loc xlink:type="locator" xlink:href="pfs-gcd-2013-04-01.xsd#pfs-gcd_EntityInformation" xlink:label="EntityInformation_3" />
    <loc xlink:type="locator" xlink:href="pfs-gcd-2013-04-01.xsd#pfs-gcd_EntityName" xlink:label="EntityName_4" />
    <loc xlink:type="locator" xlink:href="pfs-gcd-2013-04-01.xsd#pfs-gcd_EntityCurrentLegalName" xlink:label="EntityCurrentLegalName_5" />

Are you sure you can set the empty prefix? In XPath it represents the "no URI" namespace, any other namespace must have a prefix. — choroba, Sep 27 '13 at 14:14

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 27 '13 at 14:29

Since you're not using the default namespace, xpath doesn't know how to locate your "loc" nodes. You'd need to prefix your "loc" nodes and update the proper namespace to use to the same prefix. See this for more information: XPath and Default Namespace handling

XPath search does not work

1 Answers1