Re: [xsl] table type output in text fromat in a complex xml file.

[Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Praveen,

At 03:28 AM 10/2/01, you wrote:
> Now , my question is --- is it possible to write a xsl style sheet to
> produce that many html table like appearances(without borders-just a open
> table look)  in text format?This is just an investigation and i wanted to
> know whether it is possible.

Yes it is possible.

> 1) we have to use only XSLT. we cannot use  XSL  Formatting   objects.

Fine. XSLT has a "text" output method that will serve.

>  2) we know that <xsl:text> command can be used for small files where u can
> get only one table. we use it inside template match ="/"  etc. code. now, if
> i have to produce some 10 to 20 tables like that in the same style sheet in
> text format, what do i do?

I'm not sure I follow this: you seem to be describing a problem that I 
don't believe exists. Maybe if you post a bit of code to illustrate your 
question....

In general, however, the only hard thing about creating plain-text "tables" 
will be in padding the string values that you generate (probably with 
spaces) so they are the right length. You can find information on string 
padding in the list archives, FAQ etc. (Try jenitennison.com too.)

(Depending on your data and how fancy you want/need to get, there may be 
other tricky things, like finding a maximum value so you know how big to 
make a table cell. But I think it's too early to worry about that.)

It also may be worth considering doing this in two passes. Since you 
already have logic to generate tables in HTML, maybe you want code that 
will just take those (X)HTML tables and make plain-text tables out of them. 
Then you don't need to replicate all the logic of laying the stuff out (at 
the price of running two passes).

I hope that helps,
Wendell



> can anyone enlighten me , whether it is possible in XSLT?
>
> thanks and regards,
> praveen
>
>
>  XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list


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