Re: [xsl] XSL pattern needed for begin/end elements

[Mike Trotman <mike.trotman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If the begin and end elements are siblings at the same level then the 
problem is tractable and probably not too difficult to solve.

However if they can occur at different levels then this means that one 
of them is enclosed inside an element that excludes the other (I think).

Can you give any example of a case where the begin and end elements are 
not siblings at the same level?
I ask because:
a) I can't picture how this would make sense given the information that 
you require them to contain
b) If one of them does occur inside an element that excludes the other
   - what would you want to to with the excluded part of this elements 
content / tree?
   - If you start closing all the parent elements etc (and opening them 
again to match the orphaned end tags)
   then you are destroying the structure and meaning of the XML data 
which XSLT is designed to help preserve.

I.e. if they are not siblings at the same level then the XML data 
'structure' is totally inappropriate for XSLT
and the 1st thing you should do is process it using something else.

I have documents like this - and I process them by walking the DOM tree 
and maintaining a separate STACK of whatever I consider my current 
context to be.
(I am doing this to detect overlap between different document layers 
marked in exactly the way you describe.)

Tracy Atteberry wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm looking for an XSL pattern to solve the problem of going from XML
> that has separate begin and end elements to one that does not.
>
> Please, please note that I do not control either the source or target
> XML formats.  If I did, this would be much easier.
>
> Source XML snip:
>
> <doc>
>  <hyperlink_begin id=3D"111" end=3D"222">
>    <locator_url protocol=3D"http" host_name=3D"www.sf.net"/>
>  </hyperlink_begin>
>  <text_run>Click</text_run>
>  <text_run emphasis=3D"bold">here.</text_run>
>  <hyperlink_end id=3D"222" begin=3D"111"/>
> </doc>
>
> Target XML example:
>
> <cod>
>  <HyperLink xlink:href=3D"http://www.sf.net";>
>    Click <b>here.</b>
>  </HyperLink>
> </cod>
>
> In my case I can assume that associated begin and end hyperlink tags
> will occur as siblings -- though generally this is not the case and in
> fact, this is the reason the begin and end tags are unique elements.
>
> I have a template that /almost/ works so feel free to let me know why it
> fails OR suggest a completely different solution.
>
> Current XSL template snip:
>
> <xsl:template match=3D"//hyperlink_begin">
>    <xsl:variable name=3D"linkUrl">
>        <xsl:value-of select=3D"locator_url/@protocol"/>
>        <xsl:text>://</xsl:text>
>        <xsl:value-of select=3D"locator_url/@host_name"/>
>    </xsl:variable>
>    <xsl:variable name=3D"endID" select=3D"@end"/>
>    <xsl:element name=3D"HyperLink">
>        <xsl:attribute name=3D"xlink:href"><xsl:value-of
> select=3D"$linkUrl"/></xsl:attribute>
>        <xsl:apply-templates select=3D"(following-sibling::*) except
> (following-sibling::hyperlink_end[@id=3D$endID]/following-sibling::*)"/>
>    </xsl:element>
> </xsl:template>
>
> This produces the correct hyperlink but the template for text_run
> elements gets called twice this way -- once inside the hyperlink, then
> again as templates continue to be applied.
>
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!
>
> Tracy Atteberry
>
> PS. I'm using Saxon 8
>
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