Here i am going to discuss about advanced usage of xpaths..
I will provide examples how to use xpath Axes.

Descendants
In the following example; descendants of the form element are the div, title, author, year, and price elements




Here is Example:





If you want to find descendants of Div tag you need to use below syntax

//div[@id='browse-category']/descendant::*

If you want a specific element from descendants then use below syntax

Here i want to identify Payment link using descendant.

//div[@id='browse-category']/descendant::a[@data-category='Payment']

In the above example descendant will search for child elements and child's child elements as well.

UL is the child element for DIV and LI is the child element for UL and A is child element for LI. As we used descendant it will check for the matching element.



Following:
Selects everything in the document after the closing tag of the current node.


selects all elements after closing tag of P

//p[@class='fk-font-14']/following::*




Following-sibling:
Selects all siblings after the current node.
//div[@id='browse-category']/ul/li/following-sibling::*

if you want a specific element then

//form[@class='faqsearchform']/following-sibling::div



Preceding :
Selects all nodes that appear before the current node in the document, except ancestors, attribute nodes and namespace nodes

preceding-sibling
Selects all siblings before the current node

Here is the example:

//div[@id='browse-category']/preceding-sibling::form





Now Lets see a real time example how to use the above mentioned xpath Axes:

Below is scenario:

1. Navigate to flipkart
2. add two products to cart
3. I want to remove one product based on its name.

You might work on some site which are only work in IE..then there are no tools to generate xpath for you........

You have to write your own xpath to find the element...There are somany tools to identify XPATH in FF..like xpather, firepath and firebug..etc...

Here is a way to find the XPATH on IE...


STEPS TO INSTAL BOOKMARKLETS
1)Open IE
2)Type about:blank in the address bar and hit enter
3)From Favorites main menu select--->Add favorites
4) In the Add a favorite popup window enter name GetXPATH1.
5)Click add button in the add a favorite popup window.
6)Open the Favorites menu and right click the newly added favorite and select properties option.
7)GetXPATH1 Properties will open up. Select the web Document Tab.
8)Enter the following in the URL field.

javascript:function getNode(node){var nodeExpr=node.tagName;if(!nodeExpr)return null;if(node.id!=''){nodeExpr+="[@id='"+node.id+"']";return "/"+nodeExpr;}var rank=1;var ps=node.previousSibling;while(ps){if(ps.tagName==node.tagName){rank++;}ps=ps.previousSibling;}if(rank>1){nodeExpr+='['+rank+']';}else{var ns=node.nextSibling;while(ns){if(ns.tagName==node.tagName){nodeExpr+='[1]';break;}ns=ns.nextSibling;}}return nodeExpr;}

9)Click Ok. Click YES on the popup alert.
10)Add another favorite by following steps 3 to 5, Name this favorite GetXPATH2 (step4)
11)Repeat steps 6 and 7 for GetXPATH2 that you just created.
12)Enter the following in the URL field for GetXPATH2

javascript:function o__o(){var currentNode=document.selection.createRange().parentElement();var path=[];while(currentNode){var pe=getNode(currentNode);if(pe){path.push(pe);if(pe.indexOf('@id')!=-1)break;}currentNode=currentNode.parentNode;}var xpath="/"+path.reverse().join('/');clipboardData.setData("Text", xpath);}o__o();

13)Repeat Step 9.

You are all done!!

Now to get the XPATH of elements just select the element with your mouse. This would involve clicking the left mouse button just before the element (link, button, image, checkbox, text etc) begins and dragging it till the element ends. Once you do this first select the favorite GetXPATH1 from the favorites menu and then select the second favorite GetXPATH2. At his point you will get a confirmation, hit allow access button. Now open up a notepad file, right click and select paste option. This will give you the XPATH of the element you seek.




I read this article some where...i didnt remenber exactly from where i read this..it is working fine...i tried it..hope it will be useful for guys who are working on IE sites...

Verifying UI elements on a web page is probably the most common feature of your automated tests. Selenese allows multiple ways of checking for UI elements. It is important that you understand these different methods because these methods define what you are actually testing.

For example, will you test that...

For example, if you are testing a text heading, the text and its position at the top of the page are probably relevant for your test. If, however, you are testing for the existence of an image on the home page, and the web designers frequently change the specific image file along with its position on the page, then you only want to test that an image (as opposed to the specific image file) exists somewhere on the page.

For many Selenium commands, a target is required. This target identifies an element in the content of the web application, and consists of the location strategy followed by the location in the format locatorType=location. The locator type can be omitted in many cases. The various locator types are explained below with examples for each