# ParseException met when using Watir with xpath, please help

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parseexception-met-when-using-watir-with-xpath-please-help/173217>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [August 5, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parseexception-met-when-using-watir-with-xpath-please-help/173217 "2009-08-05T03:40:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jacqueline](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@jacqueline](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jacqueline)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 3:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parseexception-met-when-using-watir-with-xpath-please-help/173217/1 "2009-08-05T03:40:27Z")

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Hi all,  
I’m new here, and I met some problem while I was using Watir gem to  
automate my testcase.  
I want to use Watir with xpath, coding like this:

require “watir”

@ie = Watir::IE.new  
@ie.goto(“[www.g.cn](http://www.g.cn)”)#google in china  
@ie.text\_field(:xpath,“//input[@name=‘q’]”).set ‘test’

And there comes the following exceptions:  
D:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/rexml/parsers/treeparser.rb:90:in `parse’:  
#\<REXML::ParseException: Missing end tag for ‘u’ (got “a”)  
(REXML::ParseException)

Line:

Position:

Last 80 unconsumed characters:

\<a class=“gb3” style=“COLOR: green! important” onclick=“gbar.qs(this)”  
href="ht\>

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/rexml/parsers/baseparser.rb:320:in `pull’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/rexml/parsers/treeparser.rb:21:in `parse’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/rexml/document.rb:190:in `build’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/rexml/document.rb:45:in `initialize’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/ie-class.rb:713:in  
`new’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/ie-class.rb:713:in  
`create\_rexml\_document\_object’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/ie-class.rb:693:in  
`rexml\_document\_object’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/ie-class.rb:897:in  
`elements\_by\_xpath’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/ie-class.rb:890:in  
`element\_by\_xpath’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/container.rb:730:in  
`locate\_input\_element’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/input\_elements.rb:5:in  
`locate’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/element.rb:49:in  
`assert\_exists’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/element.rb:284:in  
`enabled?’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/element.rb:56:in  
`assert\_enabled’

D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/input\_elements.rb:323:in  
`set’

D:/zhilan/tbtest\_trunk/tbautotest/product/mytest/new\_main.rb:24

Then I changed to ebay site, everything went well.  
Does this problem come out because there are double byte characters in  
[g.cn](http://g.cn)? Maybe it’s a naive question, I’ve worked on this for sometime but  
still no progress,really hope someone will have solutions to this. Many  
thanks!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jacqueline](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@jacqueline](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jacqueline)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 6:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parseexception-met-when-using-watir-with-xpath-please-help/173217/2 "2009-08-05T06:03:57Z")

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We are now using a different xml parser for Watir (Nokigiri instead of  
Rexml). You might want to build from trunk (master) or else wait for our  
next release (which should be soon, but who knows?)

Bret

On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 8:40 PM, Gong J. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
wrote:

> `elements_by_xpath' D:/ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/watir-1.6.2/lib/watir/element.rb:49:in `set’

–  
Bret P.  
Lead Developer, Watir, [www.watir.com](http://www.watir.com)

Blog, [www.io.com/~wazmo/blog](http://www.io.com/~wazmo/blog)  
Twitter, [www.twitter.com/bpettichord](http://www.twitter.com/bpettichord)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jacqueline](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@jacqueline](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jacqueline)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parseexception-met-when-using-watir-with-xpath-please-help/173217/3 "2009-08-05T14:03:47Z")

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Thank you very much for your reply, maybe I would try Nokigiri(What does  
this word stand for?), for further learning or more progress on my  
automation…  
nevertheless, how could I build from trunk as you just said?

Yours,  
Jaqueline

Bret P. wrote:

> We are now using a different xml parser for Watir (Nokigiri instead of  
> Rexml). You might want to build from trunk (master) or else wait for our  
> next release (which should be soon, but who knows?)
> 
> Bret

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jacqueline](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/90db22/32.png) [@jacqueline](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jacqueline)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2009, 2:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/parseexception-met-when-using-watir-with-xpath-please-help/173217/4 "2009-08-05T14:50:11Z")

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Hi Bret,

I just begin to try Nokogiri1.3.3 now, it works fine for [g.cn](http://g.cn) ^_^  
bravo~~~. And it really speed up my scripts, hope the next release for  
Watir will come soon ^_^

Thanks,  
Jacqueline

Bret P. wrote:

> We are now using a different xml parser for Watir (Nokigiri instead of  
> Rexml). You might want to build from trunk (master) or else wait for our  
> next release (which should be soon, but who knows?)