Re: [xsl] arbitrary depth element type conversion

Subject: Re: [xsl] arbitrary depth element type conversion
From: Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 10:56:24 -0500
Sebastian,

In addition to what David said, consider the following more succinct version of your algorithm:

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

  <xsl:template match="*">
    <div class="{name()}">
      <xsl:apply-templates/>
    </div>
  </xsl:template>

It does the same thing the same way. I often encourage newcomers to try writing things the long way, as it makes things more explicit. Here, the difference between the long way and the short way (using literal result elements and an attribute value template instead of xslt instructions for everything) is so dramatic, I thought it worthwhile making the opposite recommendation.

In particular (in the context of the question you first raised), note that no explicit statement requesting any values (i.e., any data content) is here, or called for -- look ma, no value-of -- in either this version or yours (as corrected by DC). That's because it's using, instead, the built-in template for text nodes, which looks like this, and which will fire, since you have nothing to override it:

<xsl:template match="text()">
  <xsl:value-of select="."/>
</xsl:template>

Trusting that this will work and getting the hang of "letting it happen" in XSLT's template-matching processing model is often an early hurdle, higher for some learners than others.

Cheers,
Wendell

At 07:12 AM 2/3/2006, you wrote:
I have almost got there with this stylesheet:

  <xsl:template match="document">
      <xsl:apply-templates select="child::*" />
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="*">
    <xsl:element name="div">
      <xsl:attribute name="class">
        <xsl:value-of select="name(.)" />
      </xsl:attribute>
      <xsl:value-of select="." />
      <xsl:apply-templates select="child::*" />
    </xsl:element>
  </xsl:template>

but the element contents of child elements are being duplicated in
parent elements:

  <div class="first">
    first
    first child of first
    second child of second
    <div class="first-child-of-first">
      first child of first
    </div>
    <div class="second-child-of-second">
      second child of second
    </div>
  </div>
  <div class="second">
    second
    first child of second
    first grandchild of second
    <div class="first-child-of-second">
      first child of second
      first grandchild of second
      <div class="first-grandchild-of-second">
        first grandchild of second
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
  <div class="third">
    third
  </div>


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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street                    Direct Phone: 301/315-9635
Suite 207                                          Phone: 301/315-9631
Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
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