Re: [xsl] XSLT 1.0: Grouping Adjacent Elements in Embedded Lists

[Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Joe,

I haven't tested this, but I think you're almost there.

At 03:21 PM 11/4/2004, you wrote:
> I'm pretty sure I have to edit this part to account for the case when 
> preceding-sibling is <EM_OL_LI>
>
>         <xsl:if test="not(preceding-sibling::*[1][self::OL_LI])">
>               <p>
>                  <ol>
>                     <xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="li"/>
>                  </ol>
>               </p>
>            </xsl:if>
>
> But my attempts have been fruitless.

I think you're correct, though. Or to refine slightly: it's not the special 
case of an OL_LI that has a preceding EM_OL_LI, but rather that the *first* 
OL_LI in the group is the special case.

That is, you want this kick-off (the creation of the p and ol wrappers and 
the initiation of the "walk" you perform to occur for the first OL_LI, but 
no others.

This would be a simple matter of changing your test to:

<xsl:if test="not(preceding-sibling::OL_LI)">
  <p>
    <ol>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="li"/>
    </ol>
  </p>
</xsl:if>

which is to say "if there's no OL_LI before this one, start my list" 
instead of "if the immediately preceding sibling is not an OL_LI, start my 
list".

Now, if your lists aren't wrapped at all, but are completely flat and 
appear mixed in with other elements (such as paragraphs or whatever) you 
might need a test that says "if the immediately preceding sibling is not an 
OL_LI or an EM_OL_LI, start my list". That would be

<xsl:if test="not(preceding-sibling::*[1][self::OL_LI|self::EM_OL_LI])">
  <p>
    <ol>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="li"/>
    </ol>
  </p>
</xsl:if>

> And if someone could explain to me the difference between [self::OL_LI] 
> and [OL_LI] that would be an added educational bonus. Thanks!

"OL_LI" in XPath is short for "child::OL_LI", so the difference here is the 
same as the difference between [self::OL_LI] (the predicate tests true for 
context nodes that are OL_LI elements) and [child::OL_LI] (the predicate 
tests true for context nodes that have OL_LI children).

The expression "*[self::X|self::Y]" returns a child element ("*" being 
short for "child::*") that is either an X or a Y (the predicate returns a 
union of the set of X elements that are the context node and the set of Y 
elements that are the context node -- i.e. the context node if it's an X or 
a Y, nothing if it's something else).

I hope this helps,
Wendell


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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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