The Not So Answered Variables in GPathResult

A while ago, I posted that I had gotten the answer on how to get the number of records in an xml file using XMLSlurper (or XMLParser) by passing a variable. It turns out, it was not so answered. This only worked for elements that are immediate children of the root. It seems XMLSlurper and XMLParser can't get longer paths from a single String, it needs to be broken up. (Not sure why it was implemented this way). Fortunately, our own brilliant, Jonathan Baker noticed this and suggested the solution below. It's not complicated once you figure out that the String has to be broken up:

def xmltxt = """
<file>
  <something>
    <record>
      <name>nakina</name>
    </record>
    <record>
      <name>buaboe</name>
    </record>
  </something>
</file>"""
 
def xml = new XmlSlurper().parseText(xmltxt)
def fullPath = 'file.something.record'

def pathElements = fullPath.tokenize('.')
pathElements -= xml.name()
def root = xml
pathElements.each {node ->
    root = root."$node"
}
return root.size()

You could also use split, as John Wagenleitner suggested in response to my comment on his answer on StackOverflow:

def xmltxt = """
<file>
  <something>
    <record name="some record" />
    <record name="some other record" />
  </something>
</file>"""
def xml = new XmlSlurper().parseText(xmltxt)
String foo = "something.record"

def aNode = xml
foo.split("\\.").each {
  aNode = aNode."${it}"
}
return aNode.size()

My thanks to you both.

After talking with Josh, I understand why the Groovy people had to do what they did. Dots (.) are still legal in XML element names, as long as the name doesn't start with a dot. (Actually, other punctuation is allowed as well, though it is not recommended). I don't think they could use forward slashes as XPath does because of how Groovy has overloaded the operators and dots had to be allowable, so this is what we're stuck with. Maybe they should have used spaces instead, since those aren't legal in element names. I don't know the impact this would have on other classes.