This action computes a unique XPath expression that matches the currently selected node in the document. The action is available from the View-Menu (Unique Path) and the Editor-Context Menu (Show Unique XPath). The action is only enabled when the caret is placed on an element that a useful expression can be generated for.
The generated expression in the pop-up can be selected and copied into the clipboard for further use.
If a simple XPath expression like /root/something/else doesn't produce a unique result, the action has
two strategies to make it unique:
-
If the non-unique node is an element, the action looks for attributes with the name 'id', 'name' and attributes
that are of ID-type, as defined by the document's DTD or XML Schema.
Example:
/root/something[@id="foo"]/else -
For nodes other than elements (comments, processing instructions), or if the above rule doesn't produce a unique
result, the index of the node inside its parent is appended.
Example:
/root/something/else[2]