Example

In the following Microsoft® JScript® example, you can simply call the IXMLDOMSelection methods on the object returned from selectNodes.

var xmlDoc = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.DOMDocument5.0");
xmlDoc.setProperty("SelectionLanguage", "XPath");
var selection = xmlDoc.selectNodes("//book");
var expr = selection.expr; //This returns "//book"
alert(expr);

Example

In the following Microsoft Visual Basic® example, the selectNodes method returns IXMLDOMNodeList, so you have to cast the result of selectNodes into an IXMLDOMSelection.

Dim xmlDoc As New Msxml2.DOMDocument50
Dim Selection As IXMLDOMSelection
Dim sExpr As String
xmlDoc.async = False
xmlDoc.setProperty "SelectionLanguage", "XPath"
xmlDoc.Load ("books.xml")
If (xmlDoc.parseError.errorCode <> 0) Then
   Dim myErr
   Set myErr = xmlDoc.parseError
   MsgBox("You have error " & myErr.reason)
Else
   Set Selection = xmlDoc.selectNodes("//book")
   sExpr = Selection.expr       ' This returns "//book".
   MsgBox (sExpr)
End If

Example

In the following C/C++ example, IXMLDOMSelection inherits the threading model of the document that created it. IXMLDOMSelection is created through the selectNodes method on IXMLDOMDocument2.

#import "msxml5.dll"
using namespace MSXML2;

#define CHECK_AND_RELEASE(pInterface)  \
if(pInterface) \
   {\
pInterface->Release();\
pInterface = NULL;\
   }\

#define RELEASE(pInterface)  \
   {\
pInterface->Release();\
pInterface = NULL;\
   }\

BOOL DOMSelectionDemo()
{
   BOOL bResult = FALSE;
   short sResult = FALSE;
   IXMLDOMSelection *pIXMLDOMSelection=NULL;
   IXMLDOMNodeList *pIXMLDOMNodeList=NULL;
   IXMLDOMNode *pIXMLDOMNode=NULL;
   IXMLDOMDocument2 *pIXMLDOMDocument2=NULL;
   BSTR bstrValue;
   HRESULT hr;

   try
   {
      hr=CoCreateInstance(CLSID_DOMDocument, NULL, CLSCTX_SERVER,
               IID_IXMLDOMDocument2, (LPVOID*)(&pIXMLDOMDocument2));
      SUCCEEDED(hr) ? 0 : throw hr;

      if(pIXMLDOMDocument2)
      {
         hr=pIXMLDOMDocument2->put_async(VARIANT_FALSE);
         if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
         {
            hr=pIXMLDOMDocument2->load(_variant_t( 
      _T("d:\\inetpub\\wwwroot\\samplexmldtd.xml")), &sResult);
            if(SUCCEEDED(hr) && (sResult==VARIANT_TRUE))
            {
               hr=pIXMLDOMDocument2->selectNodes( 
               _T("*/BOOK[TITLE='Lover Birds']"), &pIXMLDOMNodeList);
               if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
               {
                  hr=pIXMLDOMNodeList->QueryInterface(IID_IXMLDOMSelection
                     ,(void**)&pIXMLDOMSelection );
                  if(SUCCEEDED(hr) && pIXMLDOMSelection)
                  {
                     LONG uLength;

                     bResult=TRUE;
                     hr=pIXMLDOMSelection->get_length(&uLength);
                     if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
                     {
                        for(int iIndex=0; iIndex < uLength; iIndex++)
                        {
                           // remove all the nodes from the list-display 
                           // them as they are removed.
                           hr=pIXMLDOMSelection->removeNext(
                              &pIXMLDOMNode);
                           if(SUCCEEDED(hr) && pIXMLDOMNode)
                           {   
                              hr=pIXMLDOMNode->get_text(&bstrValue);
                              if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
                                 ::MessageBox(NULL, bstrValue, _T("Node
                                  Text"), MB_OK);
                              RELEASE(pIXMLDOMNode);
                           }
                        }
                     }
                     RELEASE(pIXMLDOMSelection);
                  }
                  RELEASE(pIXMLDOMNodeList);
               }
            }
         }
         RELEASE(pIXMLDOMDocument2);
      }
   }
   catch(...)
   {
      CHECK_AND_RELEASE(pIXMLDOMNode);
      CHECK_AND_RELEASE(pIXMLDOMDocument2);
      CHECK_AND_RELEASE(pIXMLDOMNodeList);
      CHECK_AND_RELEASE(pIXMLDOMSelection);
      DisplayErrorToUser();
   }
   return bResult;
}

d:\\inetpub\\wwwroot\\samplexmldtd.xml

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<COLLECTION xmlns:dt="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:datatypes">
  <DATE dt:dt="datetime">1998-10-13T15:56:00</DATE>
  <BOOK>
    <TITLE>Lover Birds</TITLE>
    <AUTHOR>Cynthia Randall</AUTHOR>
    <PUBLISHER>Lucerne Publishing</PUBLISHER>
 </BOOK>
 <BOOK>
    <TITLE>The Sundered Grail</TITLE>
    <AUTHOR>Eva Corets</AUTHOR>
    <PUBLISHER>Lucerne Publishing</PUBLISHER>
 </BOOK>
 <BOOK>
    <TITLE>Splish Splash</TITLE>
    <AUTHOR>Paula Thurman</AUTHOR>
    <PUBLISHER>Scootney</PUBLISHER>
 </BOOK>
</COLLECTION>

Output (in a message box)

Lover Birds Cynthia Randall Lucerne Publishing

Header and IDL files: msxml2.h, msxml2.idl