Java tutorial
//package com.java2s; import org.w3c.dom.Document; import org.w3c.dom.Element; import javax.xml.xpath.XPath; import javax.xml.xpath.XPathConstants; import javax.xml.xpath.XPathExpressionException; import javax.xml.xpath.XPathFactory; public class Main { public static String getFirstValueFromXPath(Element parent, String xpath) throws Exception { try { XPath xPath = XPathFactory.newInstance().newXPath(); return (String) xPath.compile(xpath).evaluate(parent, XPathConstants.STRING); } catch (XPathExpressionException xpee) { throw new Exception(xpee.getMessage()); } } public static String getFirstValueFromXPath(Document parent, String xpath) throws Exception { try { XPath xPath = XPathFactory.newInstance().newXPath(); return (String) xPath.compile(xpath).evaluate(parent, XPathConstants.STRING); } catch (XPathExpressionException xpee) { throw new Exception(xpee.getMessage()); } } }