Re: [xsl] Re: WDDX Recordset generic simplification

[Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Eric,

At 08:27 PM 11/7/2006, you wrote:

> > I have an excerpt of a wddx data being generated from query data in
> > ColdFusion 5 and I need to simplify the structure with an intermediate
> > xsl transform so that I can consume the simplified form in a mail merge
>
> [snipped]
>
> I realize the following code does not work but it is the
> pull/procedural approach I keep getting stuck heading towards:
>
> <xsl:template match="var/recordset">
>         <xsl:variable name="rowCount" select="@rowCount"/>
>         <xsl:variable name="fieldNames" select="@fieldNames"/>
>         <xsl:for-each from="1" to="$rowCount" index="row">
>                 <xsl:element name="{../@name}">
>                         <xsl:for-each list="$fieldNames" index="col">
>                                 <xsl:element name="{$fieldNames[$col]}">
>                                         <xsl:value-of 
> select="field[@name=$col]::child[position()=$row]"/>
>                                 <xsl:element>
>                         </xsl:for-each>
>                 </xsl:element>
>         </xsl:for-each>
> </xsl:template>
>
> Can anyone point me towards a better approach using a push/functional
> approach to make simplification of wddx recordsets contextually
> generic?

First, a simple question: are you using XSLT 2.0?

The reason I ask is that in XSLT 1.0 you can't generate nodes in the 
result by iterating over a set of numbers, which is effectively what 
you are trying to do here. xsl:for-each doesn't accept "from" and 
"to" attributes, as its purpose is to select a set of *nodes* (from 
the source tree) and operate with each of them in turn as the current 
node. (In this, it's really just a shortcut to allow you to do this 
locally without calling a new template rule, which is what you'd 
ordinarily do.)

Due to its expanded data model, however, in XSLT 2.0 you can say

<xsl:for-each select="1 to $rowCount">...</xsl:for-each>

and (due to the semantics of the 'to' operator) operate over a 
sequence of numbers (integers, actually), 1 to whatever $rowCount is.

Hence, in XSLT 2.0 the correction would be a simple syntax tweak.

In XSLT 1.0, however, you would have to execute this recursively, 
calling a template from itself and counting up to or down from 
$rowCount with a parameter as you did so, to effect a stop condition. 
(There are examples from that in the XSL FAQ.)

Cheers,
Wendell



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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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