document.evaluate return question

Quick q:

Code (Text):

1.  
2. if (document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.FIRST_ORDERED_NODE_TYPE, null).singleNodeValue == "<b>You approach the massive omelette...</b>"){
3.     console.log("omelette content value found");
4.     document.forms[1].submit(); //leave
5. }
6.  

when I tested document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.FIRST_ORDERED_NODE_TYPE, null in console, it returned:

Code (Text):

1.  <b>You approach the massive omelette...</b>

however, the == expression keeps returning false when it is blatantly true. I figured the problem was that document.evaluate isn't returning a string of text to compare, so I tried:

Code (Text):

1. document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.FIRST_ORDERED_NODE_TYPE, null).singleNodeValue.toString();

and it returned:

Code (Text):

1. "[object HTMLElement]"

How do I get around this, in order to check the value of the xpath?

tl;dr can't figure out how to access value of document.evaluate'd xpath

Thanks!

 

The returned code is " <b>You approach the massive omelette...</b>" note the space at the beginning (and possible the end).

The code you are looking for is "<b>You approach the massive omelette...</b>" with no spaces.

This could well be your problem

 

Thanks for the response!
Totally my bad, I copied it wrong with the space.

Console logs on the page, with/without space:

Without space:

Code (Text):

1. document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.FIRST_ORDERED_NODE_TYPE, null).singleNodeValue ==  "<b>You approach the massive omelette...</b>"
2. false
3.  

With space:

Code (Text):

1.  
2. document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.FIRST_ORDERED_NODE_TYPE, null).singleNodeValue == " <b>You approach the massive omelette...</b>"
3. false

EDIT:

I read about the parameter for return type of xpath's document.evaluate hoping that changing XPathResult to the appropriate String parameter would work:

Code (Text):

1.  
2. document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.STRING_TYPE, null).singleNodeValue
3. Error: TYPE_ERR: DOM XPath Exception 52

XPath Exception 52? What the hell? Googled it,

What do I do in order to use the result of document.evaluate / make it a string? :-\

 

Thanks for the help!


The problem is that any functional code (ie:

Code (Text):

1. document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.FIRST_ORDERED_NODE_TYPE, null).singleNodeValue.toString().trim()

)

returns

Code (Text):

1. "[object HTMLElement]"

So that this statement is true:

Code (Text):

1. document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.FIRST_ORDERED_NODE_TYPE, null).singleNodeValue.toString().trim() == "[object HTMLElement]"
2. true

However, I want the actual value of the HTMLElement.

Also, for the other one,

Code (Text):

1. document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.STRING_TYPE, null).trim()

can't .trim() because it's not a string. if we .toString(); :

Code (Text):

1. document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.STRING_TYPE, null).toString()
2. "[object XPathResult]"

and then trim the string result:

Code (Text):

1. document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.STRING_TYPE, null).toString().trim();
2. "[object XPathResult]"

we get the same

Code (Text):

1. "[object XPathResult]"

Problem is that we can't use this as a string of text:

Code (Text):

1. document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.STRING_TYPE, null).toString().trim() == "<b>You approach the massive omelette</b>"
2. false
3.  

only comparable this [xpath] object:

Code (Text):

1. document.evaluate("//*[@id='content']/table/tbody/tr/td[2]/center/p[1]/b", document, null, XPathResult.STRING_TYPE, null).toString().trim() == "[object XPathResult]"
2. true

Thanks for the help, guys!