What is difference between getElementsByTagName() with tagName and with .//tagName?

Question

What is difference between getElementsByTagName() with tagName and with .//tagName ?

When we pass tagname in the getElementsByTagName(), in that what is the meaning when we add ".//" ?

What is the difference between

sSourceInputXml->

getElementsByTagName(_bstr_t(".//author"), &xml2);

and

sSourceInputXml->

getElementsByTagName(_bstr_t("author"), &xml2);

?

Both return me same number of elements.

Any help is appreciated.

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 27 '15 at 09:07

0

// means location step descendant-or-self:node(), which retrieves the current node and all its descendants.

. means self::node() which gets the context node.

Default location step is child, which gets the child elements of the context node.

If you need more information, check here.

answered Aug 27 '15 at 09:07

EvgeniyZh

Thanks for the info. But is there a difference if i use .//TagName and directly use TagName? ie. directly use author as shown: getElementsByTagName(_bstr_t("author"), &xml2); – Veeru Aug 27 '15 at 11:16
@Veeru as far as I understand, no. Default mode returns children of context, and .// returns context nose and its children. So unless you are searching for context node itself (sounds unlikely) there will be no difference. – EvgeniyZh Aug 27 '15 at 11:24
Thank you very much for a prompt response. – Veeru Aug 27 '15 at 11:35

1 Answers1