Best XPath tools

Question

What tools are you guys using for XPath and why? Right now I'm using

• SketchPath because its totally awesome, but its a windows app that needs to be installed
• WhiteBeam online XPath test bedbecause you can test expressions from the website

SketchPath seems to stand out the most to me because it actually helps you create the xpath and it is very advanced. If you haven't tried it you should.

Cons to SketchPath: you have to install it on the machine, otherwise it is fantastic.

Cons to WhiteBeam: you have to upload your file which I don't always want to do for security reasons and the file size you can upload has some limit on it, and uploading a file is annoying anyways. Also I think there might be some subtle differences between the xpath used for that tool and when running a .NET app. But don't remember any right now. Just keep it in mind.

Answer 1

I like XPather, a Firefox plugin. It's simple and easy-to-use and it's not a separate program to run as long as you have Firefox running which is when and where I'm usually using XPath.

Answer 2

If you're in a web dev environment, Firefox has a number of great tools for XPath support and analysis:

• Firebug has built-in XPath support
• XPath Checker I have found to be great

and also maybe of use:

• XPath Runner
• FireXPath

Answer 3

I use oXygen for xpath work. It's rather easy to test your expression against xml on file. You set the target xml file once and then it's just a button to click to test your expression.