Re: [xsl] Counting indent level

[Nicholas Orr <nick@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 29/09/2008, at 11:38 AM, G. Ken Holman wrote:

> > I've got some XML that contains a list of items and groups, and each
> > group could contain either more items or more groups like so :
> >
> > <catalog>
> >        <item />
> >        <group>
> >                < group >
> >                < item />
> >                < item />
> >                < group >
> >                        < group >
> >                                < item />
> > etc
> >
> > So groups can contain either items or more groups or nothing.  Items
> > only exist at the root (catalog) of this part of the tree or inside
> > groups.  I'm outputting a single list of all of the items and group
> > currently using this :
> >
> > <xsl:for-each select="item|descendant::group|descendant::group/item">
>
> I expect you would have a more easily maintained stylesheet if you  
> had:

This entire xslt file is pretty simple, it's basically just that one  
for each and produces a single list of elements.  Is there any other  
advantages (other than easier maintenance) to use templates over the  
for-each?

> <xsl:template match="catalog">
>  <xsl:apply-templates select="*"/>
> </xsl:template>
> <xsl:template match="group">
>  <!--report on the group-->
>  <xsl:apply-templates select="item"/>
> </xsl:template>
> <xsl:template match="item">
>  <!--report on the item-->
> </xsl:template>
>
> > The reason for that is that a item node might also contain child  
> > nodes
> > that are also called <item> nodes that I don't want.  I only want a
> > item node that has it's immediate parent a group node.
>
> Every node (except the root node above the document element) has  
> only a single parent node, so I'm not sure what you mean by  
> "immediate parent".  Unless you meant to say "immediate ancestor"  
> which is the parent.
>
> Above you also state you want an item whose parent is catalogue and  
> not just those whose parent is group.  If I'm wrong, then you'll  
> have to change the above to the following to not process items that  
> are not a child of a group:
>
> <xsl:template match="catalog">
>  <xsl:apply-templates select="*"/>
> </xsl:template>

This is the same as the above, the first three lines at least - is  
that what you meant?

But yes, you're right, I want all of the items whose parent is either  
catalog or group as well as all of the groups.

> > (There may be an easier way to do that...)
>
> See above ... only items that are immediate children of the  
> catalogue or a group are processed.
>
> I am assuming that a group is never a descendant of an item as the  
> code above will not process the descendants of an item, whereas your  
> posited for-each statement would.

No, this isn't an issue, so the for-each works because the data won't  
ever have this.

> > I can change the for-each that I'm using, although it has to remain  
> > in
> > the same order, so I can't process them out of order.
>
> The code I give you above will process groups and items in document  
> order.

Ken, does this mean it will retain the overall order though?  I want  
to process them (from my original), as an export (like csv) in the  
same order so the export would mix and match items and groups :

item
group
group
item
item
etc

So it's one single export with both types mixed in the original  
order.  This is why I used a single for-each with the "or" to pick up  
everything in one go.  Plus the code to generate the export line item  
data is the same for both group and item, so I don't have to have  
separate templates for them.


> <xsl:value-of select="count(ancestor::group)"/>

This is what i was after, thanks.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,
Nick