[xsl] Re: Re-arranging an XML file

[XSL-List Owner <xsl-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Mike --

You will improve the chances that you will receive prompt and helpful 
responses by:

  - asking specific enough questions that answers are possible. Describe
    what you are trying to do, how you approached it, what happened, and
    why you don't like the result you got

  - supplying small samples of files that illustrate your question or
    problem. For example, an XML file, an XSLT stylesheet, the result
    you got, and the result you want - all in miniature (and remembering
    that everything posted to XSL-List is archived in public)

-- Tommie


> Hi Wendell et. al,
>
> I've inserted the following in my XSL file, but it's being ignored.
>
> <xsl:template match="LastChangedBy">
>   <xsl:text>User: </xsl:text>
>   <xsl:apply-templates/>
>   <xsl:text>, </xsl:text>
> </xsl:template>
>
> Any ideas as to why? What I'm trying to do is to insert parts from
> both Artists and Albums into my output file, and to control their
> order of appearance.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Mike in SA
>
>
> Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:17:16 -0500
> >  To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >  From: Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >  Subject: Re: [xsl] Re: Re-arranging an XML file
> >  Message-ID:<20090121101725.GA29433@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> >
> >  Mike,
> >
> >  At 06:22 AM 1/21/2009, you wrote:
> > > As I mentioned in an earlier post: I'm new to XSL (I've got about 3
> > > hours experience) and am still trying to get my head around it, I have
> > > an XSL file that outputs in CSV format, but when I tried applying it
> > > to the script you sent (below) everything falls down.
> >
> >  Welcome to XSL!
> >
> >  This is indeed a long way from COBOL. You are probably best off
> >  thinking of it as a different kind of thing entirely. XSLT is to
> >  COBOL as automotive engineering is to wheelwrighting. Don't take this
> >  as a slight against COBOL: automobiles need wheels too. (Also, wheels
> >  are useful for many things besides automobiles.) It's just that
> >  automotive engineering assumes that the principles of wheel design
> >  are well understood, and indeed that there is an entire industry (an
> >  entire *tire* industry) we can rely on to give us wheels for our
> >  automobiles any time we need them.
> >
> > >   There are a few
> > > things I don't understand:
> > > - how can I output in CSV format?
> >
> >  CSV is a special kind of plain text output. In XSLT, when you ask
> >  "how can I output X"?, you need to keep in mind that any kind of
> >  output presumes two things, the logical and the "physical" (keeping
> >  in mind that as long as we're talking about bits on a disk,
> >  "physical" is itself questionable). That is, it's a question both
> >  about the organization of the output, and the physical form the 
> > output takes.
> >
> >  If you're talking about a CSV file on your disk, that's a physical
> >  form. To manage this side of the question, XSLT relies on external
> >  programs, called serializers (since they take tree-organized
> >  XSLT/XPath strucures and sequence their information into streams of
> >  characters written to files). Most XSLT processors come with one or
> >  more serializers. You need a serializer to write plain text, since it
> >  won't have to write any tagging (XML, HTML or what have you) based on
> >  the structures it sees in your XSLT results.
> >
> >  Commonly this can be done from your stylesheet using a top-level element:
> >
> >  <xsl:output method="text"/>
> >
> >  which tells the XSLT system to take care of it ("serialize this a
> >  plain text, please").
> >
> >  ... and then it's only a matter of getting your commas (or other
> >  delimiters) in the right place in your CSV (and managing any issues
> >  related to that, such as escaping commas in your data. Since this has
> >  to do with the organization or arrangement of your data (comma
> >  characters being used to organize the data internally), this job will
> >  be done by your XSLT proper.
> >
> > > - how do I remove the "<AddedAlbums> tag?
> > > - how can I include (for example) "LastChangedBy" labeling it
> > > something else? (eg "User")
> >
> >  These are really basic questions. Would you mind us referring you to
>  > some of the excellent available literature to explain it? You might
> >  appreciate one of the starter-level books by Jeni Tennison (she has
> >  volumes to cover both XSLT 1.0 and 2.0).
> >
> > > An example would be appreciated.
> >
> >  Here's an example:
> >
> >  <xsl:template match="AddedAlbums">
> >    <xsl:apply-templates/>
> >    <xsl:text>, </xsl:text>
> >  </xsl:template>
> >
> >  A stylesheet containing this template, assuming no other templates
> >  interfere with it, will result in output in which the "AddedAlbums"
> >  tags are removed, the data between those tags (the contents of the
> >  AddedAlbums elements) are processed (they will probably come through
> >  depending on what other templates are doing), and a comma is added
> >  after every bit of content that had been an 'AddedAlbums' element.
> >
> >  Notice that there is a *big* difference between removing AddedAlbums
> >  *tags* and removing the entire element (which in the XML includes its
> >  contents as well as its tags). You asked about removing the tags, so
> >  I'm assuming the content is still wanted.
> >
> >  Similarly:
> >
> >  <xsl:template match="LastChangedBy">
> >    <xsl:text>User: </xsl:text>
> >    <xsl:apply-templates/>
> >    <xsl:text>, </xsl:text>
> >  </xsl:template>
> >
> >  This does almost the same thing, removing the LastChangedBy tags,
> >  allowing the content to be processed, but prefixing it with the text
> >  "User: ", while also appending a comma.
> >
> >  I hope this helps. But I really think you need to dig into a good
> >  book. The way XSLT works is just not something you could guess based
> >  on what was possible twenty years ago....
> >
> >  Cheers,
> >  Wendell
> >
> >  ======================================================================
> >  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
> >  ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >    Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in SGML and XML
> >  ======================================================================


--

======================================================================
B. Tommie Usdin                        mailto:btusdin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street                           Phone: 301/315-9631
Suite 207                                    Direct Line: 301/315-9634
Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in XML and SGML
======================================================================