Re: [xsl] Re: sorting

Subject: Re: [xsl] Re: sorting
From: Joerg Heinicke <joerg.heinicke@xxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 00:39:30 +0200
> Since the attribute 'sort-col' is at the <table> level but the select of the <xsl:apply-templates> is at the
> <row> level, perhaps this is the problem? The XSLT engine thinks that the attribute is an attribute of
> row? Is this what you are saying?


Almost exact, but it's only similar:

In your old wrong code, the XSLT-processor searches for a @sort-column at the <column/>, because the predicate "[...]" refers to the element before the predicate. But the rest is ok. You found already a good solution with the variables. Another alternative would be an XPATH refering to the <table>-element, but I think the variable is the better way:

<xsl:apply-templates select="row">
<xsl:sort select="column[number(../../@sort-column)]" order="{../../@sort-order}"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>


Regards,

Joerg

OBD wrote:
Thanks for the input. However, I wasn't being clear about the line that didn't work:

<xsl:apply-templates select="row">
<xsl:sort select="column[number(@sort-column)]" order="{$sort-order}" />
</xsl:apply-templates>


The XML looks as follows:

<table sort-col="2" sort-order="ascending">
  <row>
  <column>A</column>
  <column>N</column>
  <column>Z</column>
 </row>
</table>

Since the attribute 'sort-col' is at the <table> level but the select of the <xsl:apply-templates> is at the <row> level, perhaps this is the problem? The XSLT engine thinks that the attribute is an attribute of row? Is this what you are saying?

The case where it does work is when the variable is assigned as follows:

<xsl:template match="table">
<xsl:variable name="sort-col" select="number(@sort-col)" />


and then inside the same template:

<xsl:apply-templates select="row">
<xsl:sort select="column[$sort-col]" order="{$sort-order}" />
</xsl:apply-templates>


so this guarantees that the 'sort-col' variable is set properly?

Thanks,
Stuart Zakon
Objects by Design



Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 01:23:05 +0200
From: Joerg Heinicke <joerg.heinicke@xxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [xsl] Re: sorting

OBD wrote:

That works. Thanks.
In case there is no sort column, will setting the variable $chosen to some
value like 0
disable the sort? This is desired so I don't have to use <xsl:if> to special
case the
sorting (there is a related thread on this topic but I want to confirm for
this example).

0 is ok. column[0] doesn't exist, so there is nothing to sort for and you should get the columns unsorted.



Also, I tried using an attribute directly  in the predicate instead of a
variable and it
didn't work. Is this supposed to work? Example:

<xsl:sort select="column[number(@sort-column)]"/>

It's absolutely correct XPATH. But it will not do what you want as you already have seen. Written in this way @sort-column refers to the column, i.e. the @sort-column's value of the column to sort for. And column is relative to the expression in the <xsl:for-each select="...">. I think your only way is to store the @sort-column's value in a variable.



Is this a valid predicate?  It is still better to use a variable, I believe,
because then
I could use <xsl:if> to set it to 0 if there was no sort-column attribute
and get the
benefits I described above, assuming it works that way.

Thanks,
Stuart Zakon

Regards,


Joerg








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Current Thread
  • [xsl] Re: sorting
    • OBD - Fri, 14 Jun 2002 12:18:29 -0400
      • <Possible follow-ups>
      • OBD - Mon, 17 Jun 2002 13:48:22 -0400
        • Joerg Heinicke - Tue, 18 Jun 2002 00:39:30 +0200 <=
        • Michael Kay - Tue, 18 Jun 2002 08:50:16 +0100