Get previous xml element of xml comment in document

[Sudha_K]

Hi,

     I need to get previous element of xml comment from indesign document.  My selection is xml comment. I need to select previous element (author) of xml comments (basic book).  How can I get that xml elemant?

Thanks in advance,

Sudha K

[Ronald63]

Hi,

Like this ... ?

var myXMLelement = app.selection[0];
myXMLelement.parent.select();
alert(myXMLelement.parent.markupTag.name)

Regards

Ronald

[Sudha_K]

yes... I can get parent element but i want to get the previous element of comments....

[Ronald63]

What do you mean by get the previous element of comments ?

[Sudha_K]

Here "Basic book" is comment tag its my selection.  I want the element before this. That means "author" tag.

[Ronald63]

OK,

Try this ...

var myXMLelement = app.selection[0];
myXMLelement.parent.xmlElements.itemByName('author').select();

[Sudha_K]

Hi,

  Sorry..  Not a specific tag name... In document, I need to get all comment tags and its previous tags.

Using the below code, I can get all comment tag from document.  I want to get the previous tag comment tag.

traverseXML(app.activeDocument)

exit()

function traverseXML(ele)

{

    if(ele.xmlElements.length > 0)

    {

        for(var eCnt = 0; eCnt < ele.xmlElements.length; eCnt++)

        {

            var cElt = ele.xmlElements[eCnt];                    

            if(cElt.xmlComments.length > 0)

            {             

                for(var i = 0; i < cElt.xmlComments.length; i++)

                {

                    var cCmt = cElt.xmlComments;

                    var cmtContents = cCmt.value;

                    cCmt.select();

                     alert("Comment " +cmtContents);  

                     //----------- Need Previous tag of this comment tag----

                }

            }

            if(cElt.xmlElements.length > 0)

            {

                   traverseXML(cElt)

            }

        }

    }

}

[Ronald63]

I looked but no solution yet

[Roland Dreger]

Hello Sudha,

maybe this works?

var _doc = app.activeDocument,
    _root = _doc.xmlElements[0],
    _comments = _root.evaluateXPathExpression("descendant-or-self::comment()"),
    i;


for(i=0; i<_comments.length; i++) { 
  $.writeln("Comment: " + _comments.value);
  $.writeln("Previous Tag: " + _comments.parent.evaluateXPathExpression("child::comment()/preceding-sibling::*[position() = 1]")[0].xmlContent.contents); 
}

But it depends on the whole structure, e.g. if several comments exists in the book-tag.

Or if you only want the previous tag (without comment).

_prevXMLTags = _root.evaluateXPathExpression("descendant-or-self::comment()/preceding-sibling::*[position() = 1]");

Roland

[Ronald63]

Good job Roland

[Sudha_K]

Hi,

      When I using the code for both comment and previous element, its throwing error in document.  .

But its running for the below one. I dono the reason.

- Sudha K

[sreekarthik_k]

HI sudha

In the above screen short you have selected xml an attribute not an element

[Sudha_K]

I am used document for process, not used selection. I have placed that screenshot for xml structure to know the issue.

[Roland Dreger]

Probably you have one or more comments without preceding tags!?

var _doc = app.activeDocument,
    _root = _doc.xmlElements[0],
    _comments = _root.evaluateXPathExpression("descendant-or-self::comment()"),
    _precTags,
    _precTagContent,
    i;


for(i=0; i<_comments.length; i++) { 

  $.writeln("Comment: " + _comments.value);

  _precTags = _comments.parent.evaluateXPathExpression("child::comment()/preceding-sibling::*[position() = 1]");

  if(_precTags.length > 0) { 
    _precTagContent = _precTags[0].xmlContent.contents; 
  } else { 
    _precTagContent = "No preceding tag!"; 
  }

  $.writeln("Preceding Tag: " + _precTagContent); 
}

Roland

[Sudha_K]

Yes, document contains more comments. Some comments dont have previous tag, only having parent tag.  I tested tag length but for me its returned only 0. I dono the issue.

Tag name contains prefix. So need I add any namespace or anything else to test??

[Roland Dreger · Accepted solution]

Yes, ALL namespaces must be declared. And especially in the loop, the problem is that evaluateXPathExpression does not »see« the namespace declatration of the parent tags.

Workaround: temporary Declaration of the namespace

_tempNSDeclaration = _comments.parent.xmlAttributes.add( "xmlns:cl", "http://www.namespace.xyz" );
_precTags = _comments.parent.evaluateXPathExpression("child::comment()/preceding-sibling::*[position() = 1]");
_tempNSDeclaration.remove();

Or iterating over _comments.parent.xmlElements

By the way, it is easier to help you, if you provide a test file with the complete structure.

Roland

[Sudha_K]

Hi Rolan,

     Sorry for the late reply...

    Thank you... Its working fine for me... 

    My doubt is, why we are adding namespace to comment parents?? Document root node contains namespace... is it not enough??