How do I create an xpath expression to return a sorted nodelist?
I need the sort to be by the attribute value.
Example, If I have an xml list of names with "lastName" as an attribute
<name lastName="Smith" />
<name lastName="Brown" />

i want to get back a sorted nodelist

Dim NodeSorted as
xmlNodeList=NodeNameList.SelectNodes("Name[@lastName=sorted"]
or something to this effect

-Lou

Lou wrote:
See <URL:http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/b2hhe5h7.aspx> for the
AddSort method on XPathExpression.


--

Martin Honnen --- MVP XML
http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

Martin Honnen wrote:
Here is an example:

Dim doc As XPathDocument = New XPathDocument("..\..\XMLFile1.xml")
Dim nav As XPathNavigator = doc.CreateNavigator()
Dim ex1 As XPathExpression = XPathExpression.Compile("*/name")
ex1.AddSort("@lastName", XmlSortOrder.Ascending,
XmlCaseOrder.LowerFirst, "en", XmlDataType.Text)
Dim it As XPathNodeIterator = nav.Select(ex1)
While it.MoveNext()
Console.WriteLine(it.Current.GetAttribute("lastNam e", ""))
End While



--

Martin Honnen --- MVP XML
http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

Maybe you could help me, I can't get it to work
here is my xml

<xml>
<names>
<name lastName="Smith" />
<name lastName="Brown" />
</names>
</xml>

What is the expresiion I use as Expression1 in the example to sort by
lastName attribute you linked me too?
Also does it return a Node?

Here is my code where the iterator.Current.Value returns empty strings.
=================================================
'Construct the XPathDocument by specifying the path to Books.xml.

Dim xmldoc As New System.Xml.XPath.XPathDocument(ElectionData.DataFi le)

'Create XPathNavigator.

Dim nav As System.Xml.XPath.XPathNavigator = xmldoc.CreateNavigator()

'Compile the XPath query expression to select all the Title elements.

'The Compile method of the XPathNavigator generates an XPathExpression

'object that encapsulates the compiled query.

Dim expr As System.Xml.XPath.XPathExpression =
nav.Compile("xml/rnames/name/[@lastName]")

'Execute the AddSort method of the XPathExpression object to define the

' Title Element as the sort key.

expr.AddSort(".", System.Xml.XPath.XmlSortOrder.Ascending,
System.Xml.XPath.XmlCaseOrder.None, "", Xml.XPath.XmlDataType.Text)



'Create the XPathNodeIterator by executing the Select method of the
XPathNavigator.

'Notice that the XPathExpression object is supplied as the query expression
parameter.

Dim iterator As System.Xml.XPath.XPathNodeIterator = nav.Select(expr)

System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Titles Sorted in Ascending Order")

System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("************** ******************")

'Use the iterator to explore the result set that is generated.

Do While iterator.MoveNext

System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(iterator.Curren t.Value)

Loop




"Martin Honnen" <mahotrash (AT) yahoo (DOT) de> wrote

Lou wrote:

That does not make sense as an XPath expression use
nav.Compile("xml/names/name")
then set the sort as
expr.AddSort("@lastName", System.Xml.XPath.XmlSortOrder.Ascending,
System.Xml.XPath.XmlCaseOrder.None, "en", Xml.XPath.XmlDataType.Text)

As an alternative approach you could use
nav.Compile("xml/names/name/@lastName")
then you can use
expr.AddSort(".", System.Xml.XPath.XmlSortOrder.Ascending,
System.Xml.XPath.XmlCaseOrder.None, "en", Xml.XPath.XmlDataType.Text)
--

Martin Honnen --- MVP XML
http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

Thanks, your a genius. That saved me SOOOOOO much time!
-Lou

"Martin Honnen" <mahotrash (AT) yahoo (DOT) de> wrote