Question

the Code:

NSString *linkStr=@"http://www.voanews.com/content/obama_pledges_aid_to_drought_stricken_farmers/1484380.html";
NSData *data = [[NSData alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:linkStr]];

// Create parser  
TFHpple *xpathParser = [[TFHpple alloc] initWithHTMLData:data];  

//Get all the cells of the 2nd row of the 3rd table   
NSArray *elements  = [xpathParser searchWithXPathQuery:@"//p[@class='article_date']"];  

// Access the first cell  
if ([elements count] > 0) 
{
    TFHppleElement *element = [elements objectAtIndex:0];  

    // Get the text within the cell tag  
    NSString *content = [element content];    
    NSLog(@"VOA = %@",content);       //Result : print NULL
}


[xpathParser release];  
[data release]; 

but I use the XPath Helper query the “//p[@class=’article_date’]” ,it’s ok, but in my code the content is null

Answer 1

Running your code example, if I change [element content] for [element text], my output is:

VOA = August 11, 2012

In its Github repo, they mention (at USAGE section):

[e text]; // The text inside the HTML element (the content of the
first text node)

And looking at the source code of the CONTENT method it uses objectForKey, where TFHppleContentKey = "nodeContent". See:

static NSString * const TFHppleNodeContentKey = @"nodeContent"

// Returns this tag's innerHTML content.
- (NSString *) content
{
    return [node objectForKey:TFHppleNodeContentKey];
}

It seems that it’s safe to use [element text] instead of [element content] in your example.

I hope it helps.