selectNodes Method

Script Syntax

var objXMLDOMNodeList = oXMLDOMNode.selectNodes(expression);

Parameters

expression

A string specifying the pattern-matching operation to be applied. This string is an XPath expression only if the setProperty method has set the SelectionLanguage internal property (flag) to "XPath". Otherwise, this string is an XSL Patterns query.

Return Value

An object. Returns the collection of nodes selected by applying the given pattern-matching operation. If no nodes are selected, returns an empty collection.

Example

The following script example creates an IXMLDOMNodeList object containing the nodes specified by the expression parameter (for example, all the BOOK nodes). It then displays the number of nodes contained in the node list.

var xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument.4.0");
var objNodeList;
xmlDoc.async = false;
xmlDoc.load("books.xml");
xmlDoc.setProperty("SelectionLanguage", "XPath");
objNodeList = xmlDoc.documentElement.selectNodes("//book");
alert(objNodeList.length);

Visual Basic Syntax

Set objXMLDOMNodeList = oXMLDOMNode.selectNodes(expression)

Parameters

expression

A string specifying the pattern-matching operation to be applied. This string is an XPath expression only if the setProperty method has set the SelectionLanguage internal property (flag) to "XPath". Otherwise, this string is an XSL Patterns query.

Return Value

An object. Returns the collection of nodes selected by applying the given pattern-matching operation. If no nodes are selected, returns an empty collection.

Example

The following Microsoft® Visual Basic® example creates an IXMLDOMNodeList object containing the nodes specified by the expression parameter (for example, all the BOOK nodes). It then displays the number of nodes contained in the node list.

Dim xmlDoc As New Msxml2.DOMDocument40
Dim objNodeList As IXMLDOMNodeList
xmlDoc.async = False
xmlDoc.Load ("books.xml")
xmlDoc.setProperty "SelectionLanguage", "XPath"
Set objNodeList = xmlDoc.documentElement.selectNodes("//book")
MsgBox objNodeList.length

C/C++ Syntax

HRESULT selectNodes(
    BSTR expression,
    IXMLDOMNodeList **resultList);

Parameters

expression [in]

A string specifying the pattern-matching operation to be applied. This string is an XPath expression only if the setProperty method has set the SelectionLanguage internal property (flag) to "XPath". Otherwise, this string is an XSL Patterns query.

resultList [out, retval]

The list of nodes selected by applying the given pattern-matching operation. If no nodes are selected, returns an empty node list.

C/C++ Return Values

S_OK

The value returned if successful.

E_INVALIDARG

The value returned if resultList is Null.