RE: [xsl] Is it possible to create xsl:sort from input parameters using XSLT 2.0 (Saxon)?

["Michael Kay" <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The select attribute expects an XPath expression, so that's fine. The order,
data-type, and case-order attributes are AVTs, so the expression must go
within curly braces.

An alternative approach to this kind of problem is to generate the "source"
stylesheet programmatically. You can't do this "inline" as you attempted (a
stylesheet can't modify itself), but you can write one stylesheet that
writes another as its output.

If you do need to handle a variable number of sort keys, it can in theory be
done by repeated sorting on one sort key at a time, starting with the last
one. (I remember watching people doing that with punched cards....). But
this may be inefficient. 

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/ 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nick Glenister [mailto:NGlenister@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: 27 July 2006 14:33
> To: 'xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
> Subject: RE: [xsl] Is it possible to create xsl:sort from 
> input parameters using XSLT 2.0 (Saxon)?
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Thanks for the reply, it make perfect sense. I will try the 
> following instead which will limit me to a maximum of three 
> sorts but is probably more than enough in practice.
> 
> <xsl:for-each select="$tempRoot/product">
>     <xsl:choose>
>         <xsl:when test="boolean($sortField)=true">
> 
>             <xsl:sort select="$sortField/SortField[1]"
> order="$sortField/SortField[1]/@Order"
> data-type="$sortField/SortField[1]/@DataType"
> case-order="$sortField/SortField[1]/@CaseOrder" />
> 
>             <xsl:sort select="$sortField/SortField[2]"
> order="$sortField/SortField[2]/@Order"
> data-type="$sortField/SortField[2]/@DataType"
> case-order="$sortField/SortField[2]/@CaseOrder" />
> 
>             <xsl:sort select="$sortField/SortField[3]"
> order="$sortField/SortField[3]/@Order"
> data-type="$sortField/SortField[3]/@DataType"
> case-order="$sortField/SortField[3]/@CaseOrder" />
> 
>         </xsl:when>
>     </xsl:choose>
> </xsl:for-each>
> 
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Nick
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Huditsch, Roman (LNG-VIE) [mailto:Roman.Huditsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: 27 July 2006 13:55
> To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: [xsl] Is it possible to create xsl:sort from 
> input parameters using XSLT 2.0 (Saxon)?
> 
> 
> Hi Nick,
> 
> As far as I can tell, it is not possible to generate 
> <xsl:sort> instructions that way, since the <xsl:sort>s in 
> your example would only apply to your inner for-each loop.
> Is a two-pass solution also suitable for you?
> 
> best regards,
> Roman
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Nick Glenister [mailto:NGlenister@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> > Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2006 1:01 PM
> > To: 'xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
> > Subject: [xsl] Is it possible to create xsl:sort from input 
> parameters 
> > using XSLT 2.0 (Saxon)?
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am trying to create dynamic sorts in my XSLT file so the end user 
> > can select different fields to sort the data on then rerun the XSLT.
> >
> > The XSLT is called from a vb.net app where the chosen sort 
> fields are 
> > passed as XML into a param called sortField:
> >
> > <SortFields>
> >       <SortField DataType="number" CaseOrder="lowercasefirst"
> > Order="ascending">lenderid</SortField>
> >       <SortField DataType="number" CaseOrder="lowercasefirst"
> > Order="ascending">generalproductid</SortField>
> > </SortFields>
> >
> > Using the following XSL:
> >
> >       <xsl:for-each select="$tempRoot/product">
> >               <xsl:choose>
> >                       <xsl:when test="boolean($sortField)=true">
> >                               <xsl:for-each 
> > select="$sortField/SortFields/SortField">
> >                                       <xsl:sort select="."
> > order="@Order"
> > data-type="@DataType" case-order="@CaseOrder" />
> >                               </xsl:for-each>
> >
> >                       </xsl:when>
> >               </xsl:choose>
> >       </xsl:for-each>
> >
> >
> > which (in my head at least) would result in something akin too:
> >
> >       <xsl:for-each select="$tempRoot/product">
> >               <xsl:sort select="lenderid" order="ascending"
> > data-type="number" case-order="lowercasefirst"/>
> >               <xsl:sort select="generalproductid" order="ascending"
> > data-type="number" case-order="lowercasefirst"/>
> >       </xsl:for-each>
> >
> >
> > The main input XML document which is being transformed looks like 
> > this:
> >
> > <root>
> >       <product>
> >               <lenderid>1234</lenderid>
> >               <generalproductid>12344321</genrealproductid>
> >               <lendername>fred</lendername>
> >                ...
> >       </product>
> >       <product>
> >               ...
> >       </product>
> > </root>
> >
> >
> > Having tried doing it I'm now pretty sure that this isn't 
> possible as 
> > I get a compile error on the xsl:sort order as it is expecting 
> > ascending or descending.
> >
> > Is there any other way of achieving this?
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Nick
> >
> >
> >
> >
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