RE: [xsl] splitting multiple occurrences of an element within another element

["Brian Benson" <bbenson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tom,

Thanks for the help.  Sorry, but I forgot to mention that a doclink can be
nested any level of elements deep inside the document.  I can't count on it
being directly under the document.  How can I change your code to find
doclinks no matter how many levels deep they are.

FYI, the code that I posted, finds all doclinks no matter how many levels
deep they are, but doesn't return other information that I need.




                                                                                                                                                
                      "Passin, Tom"                                                                                                             
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                      owner-xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxx        Subject:  RE: [xsl] splitting multiple occurrences of an element within another element 
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                      09/24/2003 01:17 PM                                                                                                       
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[Brian Benson]
> >
> I am trying to convert an xml file that looks like this
> ====================
> <database>
>      <document form='formname'>
>           <noteinfo unid='abc'/>
>           <doclink document='1'/>
>           <doclink document='2'/>
>      </document>
> </database>
>
> Into an xml file that looks like this
> =====================
> </database>
>      <document>
>           <form>formname</form>
>           <unid>abc</unid>
>           <doclink>1</doclink>
>      </document>
>
>      <document>
>           <form>formname</form>
>           <unid>abc</unid>
>           <doclink>2</doclink>
>      </document>
> </database>
>

There is no one right way to do this.  I think it is simplest to start
from the main discriminant that you have, which is the doclink.  Each
doclink is to get its own containing element.  The fact that the
container is called "document" and there is also a "document" element in
the source is just a coincidence - don't be driven by it.

 I would just apply-templates to a node set consisting of the doclinks.
Given a doclink, you know where the other related pieces of information
are, so it is easy to get them.

Here is a stylesheet that does just this -

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
             xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform";>

<xsl:variable name='documents' select='/database/document/doclink'/>

<xsl:template match="/">
<database>
             <xsl:apply-templates select='$documents'/>
</database>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match='doclink'>
             <document>
                         <form><xsl:value-of select='../@form'/></form>
                         <unid><xsl:value-of select
='../noteinfo/@unid'/></unid>
                         <doclink><xsl:value-of select='
@document'/></doclink>
             </document>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

You would not have to actually create a variable - you could put the
select expression inline - but this way makes the intent more clear.  Of
course, if any of the doclinks shows up in more than one place, you may
have to do something more complicated, depending on what you want the
result to be.

Your task here is perfectly suited to xslt.  The principles in use here
are -

1) Select a set of nodes to transform.

2) Write down the form of the desired output, specifying the location of
the data to be slotted into the results, and

3) step back and let the processor do its work.

Cheers,

Tom P

Cheers,

Tom P

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