XPath expressions

USE:

XPath expressions are used to operate on XML messages.

for XPath syntax guidelines, check w3schools.com
for testing expressions: XPath and Flat File see Int4 IFTT Expression Test Tool

Please note that all XPATH expressions that point to the node values should be ended with /text(), while the expressions that point to Attribute value should be ended just with attribute name.

All variables XPath expressions should refer to values, not nodes.

EXAMPLES:

Example 1:
Sample XML for which the expressions will be presented:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 
<DELVRY07>
  <IDOC BEGIN="1">
    <E1EDL20 SEGMENT="1">
      <VBELN>TEST0080018016</VBELN>
      <VSTEL>3000</VSTEL>
      <VKORG>3000</VKORG>
      <E1EDL22 SEGMENT="1">
         <VSTEL_BEZ>SBC: Shipping Point New York</VSTEL_BEZ>
         <VKORG_BEZ>USA Philadelphia</VKORG_BEZ>
         <INCO1_BEZ>Costs, insurance &amp; freight</INCO1_BEZ>
         <ROUTE_BEZ>Northern Route</ROUTE_BEZ><VSBED_BEZ>Standard</VSBED_BEZ>

      </E1EDL22>
    </E1EDL20>
   </IDOC>
<DELVRY07>

//E1EDL20/VBELN/text() points just to field value. The different value will be allowed

//E1EDL20/VBELN points to a node so will allow that node will exist in reference or current run and will be missing in another

//E1EDL20 points to the node and all subnodes, values and attributes

//IDOC/@BEGIN points to the attribute and its value

You can also look for nodes by entering conditions like for example:

//E1EDK03[IDDAT='001']/UZEIT/text() to find a field UZEIT from node E1EDK03 where other field in this node, IDDAT will contain value '001'

//*:E1EDK03/UZEIT/text() - to find a field UZEIT from node E1EDK03 - if it would have an unknown prefix

Example 2:

Another example is ignoring the XML namespace, for example, if you would like to compare the execution of enterprise service on different environments. Sample XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<n0:ServiceOrderQuotationCRMByIDResponse_sync xmlns:n0="http://sap.com/xi/CRM/SE" xmlns:prx="urn:sap.com:proxy:OC1:/1SAI/TASC5D32AE048B38AAA2236:740" xmlns:n1="urn:customer.com:A:HYBRIS:eCommerce">
<ServiceOrderQuotation>

....

and we would like to ignore the xmlns:prx namespace, then XPath expression should look like the following:

//n0:ServiceOrderQuotationCRMByIDResponse_sync/@prx

Example 3:

In this example, the message contains the default namespace but without the prefix:

<transferId>72312355</transferId>

to read transferId value, the expression looks following:

//*:PostInvoice/transferId/text() or

/*[local-name()="PostInvoice"]/transferId/text()

We provided some examples for non-XML payloads (like EDIFACT) on this page.

It is possible to combine more than one expression in Variable Processing settings using '||' operator. Each sub-expression separated with '||' is evaluated separately, and the result is combined.

E.g. it is possible to configure variable PURCHASE_ORDER with following expression: //ns0:PurchaseOrder/@PurchaseOrderNumber||//ns0:PurchaseOrder/Header/Number/text()

During runtime, values from both PurchaseOrderNumber attribute and Number node will be stored in the variable.