Re: [xsl] Variable in XPath

["Andrew Welch" <andrew.j.welch@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 6/27/07, Garvin Riensche <g.riensche@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I hope that anyone can help me with the following. I want to write a
> stylesheet that is used to check if an element (class) with a special ID
> which is given as variable from the commandline exists in the source or
> not. If no variable is supplied I want to test if there are "class"
> nodes at all. Of course it's no problem to check if a node with a
> special ID exists or not. But what do I use as default value of the
> variable so that all "class" nodes are selected if no variable is supplied.
>
> (not working) example:
> XML:
> <facts>
>    <class id="2" owner="1" name="A"/>
>    <class id="3" owner="1" name="B"/>
> <facts>
>
> XSLT:
>
> <xsl:variable name="id" select="attribute::*"/>
>
> <xsl:template match="//condition/and-condition">
> [...]
> <xsl:when test="doc('factbase.xml')/facts/class[@id eq $id]">
> [...]
>
> The test should be true if $id is set to "2" or "3" and if $id is not
> set at all. So, the key is the comparison "@id eq $id" and the default
> value of $id. "attribute::*" as default value is obviously wrong. Which
> default value do I have to use to test if class nodes exist at all?

Seems like a long-winded way of just saying you want to check if <class> exists:

<xsl:when test="doc('factbase.xml')/facts/class">

If you then want to do something specific if the @id eq $id then add a
condition inside the xsl:when.

A case of wood-for-the-trees?  (or one too many beers for me at lunch?)

--
http://andrewjwelch.com