Patent ID: 7720868

Claim:
A method for providing assistance with the creation of an extensible markup language (XML) path language (XPath) expression, the method comprising: monitoring keystrokes entered by a user at a computer; determining from the keystrokes whether an XPath expression is being created by the user based on whether characters typed by the user comprise a typed portion of an XPath expression entered by the user; in response to determining that an XPath expression is being created, dynamically identifying one or more valid XPath tokens for completing the XPath expression being created based on the typed portion of the XPath expression entered by the user; displaying to the user the typed portion of the XPath expression entered by the user and a user interface control having selectable items corresponding to the identified XPath tokens for completing the XPath expression being created, wherein: the user interface control is displayed adjacent to the typed portion of the XPath expression entered by the user that is being displayed to the user, and the selectable items corresponding to the identified XPath tokens that are displayed in the user interface control do not include the typed portion of the XPath expression entered by the user; updating the identified XPath tokens being displayed for completing the XPath expression being created by the user as the user continues to type additional characters into the typed portion of the XPath expression; receiving a selection of one of the selectable items displayed in the user interface control; and inserting the identified XPath token corresponding to the selected item into the XPath expression being created by the user in response to receiving the selection.