Skip to main content

NextSibling

function NextSibling(ANode: TXMLNode): TXMLNode;

Example​

procedure ReadSecondChild(FirstChild: TXMLNode);
var
  Sibling: TXMLNode;
  KindName: UTF8String;
begin
  if (FirstChild = nil) or (FirstChild.Parent = nil) then Exit;

  Sibling := FirstChild.Parent.NextSibling(FirstChild);
  if Sibling <> nil then
    KindName := Sibling.ElementTypeName;
end;

Usage​

NextSibling returns the next raw sibling of a live child through its parent container, with strict provenance requirements.

Additional Technical Info​

NextSibling returns the node immediately after ANode in its parent's raw child list. The list includes attributes, text, whitespace, comments and structural nodes as well as elements. The last child returns nil.

Call the method on a concrete container, preferably exactly as ANode.Parent.NextSibling(ANode) after checking both references. The base TXMLNode implementation for non-container node classes simply returns nil. The container override dereferences ANode without a nil guard, so passing nil can raise an access violation.

The implementation is unusual: for a parented node it derives the index and result from ANode.Parent, not from the receiver's own list. Calling the method on some other container can therefore still navigate ANode's actual parent. Treat that as an implementation quirk, not a supported shortcut.

A top-level node has Parent nil. The native helper then searches for it in the receiver container's child list; scripts do not have the document's top-level list object, so using this method for top-level siblings can raise index must be >= 0. Use TNativeXML.FindFirst and FindNext for whole-document traversal.

ANode must be live and still registered in its recorded parent's list. Corrupted ownership can make an index of -1 select child zero, and stale references can fail unpredictably. The result is borrowed and can be invalidated by mutation, clear, load or document destruction.

This is raw sibling navigation, not next-element navigation. Check ElementType or use the filtered Elements view.

The example is source-reviewed only; no sibling was read.

External references

Created 2026-07-15