XOM API for Processing XML with Java

[Michael Kay <mike AT saxonica.com>]

On 23/05/2011 23:19, Pieper, Aaron wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am working on some unit tests which use XPath to draw assertions on a
> document. I encountered some surprising behavior, when evaluating the
> following document.
>
> <endpoint>
>         <service>getData
>                 <errors/>
>         </service>
> </endpoint>
>
> The XPath expression /endpoint/service[text()='getData'] returns a
> single node in some XML frameworks (like Dom4J)

That's outrageously wrong. Gratuitously removing whitespace in mixed 
content can have no possible excuse. It's not a violation of the XPath 
spec, which allows you to construct the input tree any way you like, but 
it's totally against the accepted semantics of XML.

Even if it weren't mixed content, for example <service>  getData 
</service>, it would be highly questionable. It would be justified only 
if there's a schema that tells you something about the data type of the 
service element.

Michael Kay
Saxonica