How can I combine several XPath queries?

[VolkerBarth]

I'd like to select several elements from a XML document and tried to combine several simple XPath queries with the pipe operator as logical OR, such as

'//GivenName | //SurName'

It seems that SQL Anywhere does not support that but raises error -892: "XPath parser error: syntax error at or before character '|'".

This is similar to that (still unanswered) FAQ on position tests in XPath queries.

Just to clarify this one: Am I right that ORing XPath expressions is not (yet) supported?

If so, are there better workarounds than

• use a more general XPath query and filter the result set with a usual SQL WHERE clause or
• use two openxml() calls with each single XPath query and UNION ALL both result sets?

[VolkerBarth]

Any more hints are still appreciated, say, by Jeff:)

[jeff_albion · Accepted solution]

syntax error at or before character '|'

Checking the XML parser code, yes, I can confirm that '|' is not currently supported in the XPath query for OPENXML.

Any more hints are still appreciated, say, by Jeff:)

I have now made an enhancement request to look at further potential support for XPath queries in OPENXML (set operations, and boolean/comparison/set expressions) in CR #740332 for a future version of SQL Anywhere. I hope that's a more helpful hint. 😉