RE: Re: [xsl] Newbie - trying to extract specific values from XML file.

[cknell@xxxxxxxxxx]

Your description is very light on details and of a general nature, so in a general way, yes, it makes sense. On the other hand, I sense that you want specific advice which is impossible to give based on a general question.

The "best practice" approach to writing XSLT is to "apply-templates" at a point high in the document tree, usually something like this:

<xsl:template match="/">
  <xsl:apply-templates />
</xsl:template>

Then for each element you want to match, you write a template to output what you want as I illustrated in my replay. For those elements you wish to ignore, you write a template that outputs nothing, e.g. <xsl:template match="some-element-name-you-wish-to-ignore" />.

It may be helpful, if structure of your document permits, to write a single template to match an element such as your <Answer> element and put an <xsl:choose> element to discriminate between possible values. For example, instead of writing two templates as I did in my original answer, I might have done this:

<xsl:template match="Answer">
  <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="@name='Female' and TFValue='false'">
      <!-- your output goes here -->
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:when test="@name='ticdesc'">
      <xsl:value-of select="TextValue" />
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:when test="another test goes here'">
      <!-- your output goes here -->
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
      <!-- your default output goes here -->
    </xsl:otherwise>
  </xsl:choose>
</xsl:template>

but that is a little harder to understand, so I simplified it by making two templates.

More specific advice is not possible without a more specific question.
-- 
Charles Knell
cknell@xxxxxxxxxx - email



-----Original Message-----
From:     Julian Voelcker <asp@xxxxxxx>
Sent:     Fri, 19 Mar 2004 13:00:03 GMT
To:       xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:  Re: [xsl] Newbie - trying to extract specific values from XML file.

Hi Charles,

> <xsl:template match="Answer[@name='Female']">
>   <!-- Your code here -->
> </xsl:template>
> 
> <xsl:template match="Answer[@name='ticdesc']">
>   <xsl:value-of select="TextValue" />
> </xsl:template>

OK, I see what you are doing.

Is it better to split each named item up into a different templates?

In most cases I need to either add the value of a named item to a page 
or check the value of a named item (e.g. Female) and then adjust the 
content accordingly.

Sometimes when I am checking the value of a named item it can result in 
large chunks of content being changed that will in turn include other 
named values.

Does this make sense?

-- 
Cheers,

Julian Voelcker
United Kingdom



 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list




 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list