Re: [xsl] Getting a list of node Text()

[Abel Braaksma <abel.online@xxxxxxxxx>]

Nicholas Orr wrote:
> Yes, I agree.  The source I have no control over, other than to submit 
> error reports and hope for the best.  It's coming out of an app where 
> I don't control the output.
>
> But having investigated this I came to the same conclusion, and I'll 
> submit some reports about it and see what happens.

Nicholas, if you draw a blank on your error reports, i.e., if you *have* 
to remove the whitespace yourself, consider the following three options:

1. The FAQ entry: http://www.dpawson.co.uk/xsl/sect2/N8321.html#d11899e830
2. One of the two solutions below, which is rather straightforward, the 
second admittedly being a bit obfuscated while trying to minimize the code
3. XSLT 2 (convince your bosses to upgrade): replace($text, 
'\s*([^\s]+)\s*', '$1')

<!-- solution ONE, easy to read, but a bit verbose -->
   <xsl:template name="strip-ws">
       <xsl:param name="text" />

       <xsl:variable name="end" select="substring($text, 
string-length($text))" />
       <xsl:variable name="start" select="substring($text, 1, 1)" />

       <xsl:choose>
           <xsl:when test="normalize-space($start) = ''">
               <xsl:call-template name="strip-ws">
                   <xsl:with-param name="text" select="substring($text, 
2)" />
               </xsl:call-template>
           </xsl:when>
           <xsl:when test="normalize-space($start) = ''">
               <xsl:call-template name="strip-ws">
                   <xsl:with-param name="text" select="substring($text, 
1, string-length($text) - 1)" />
               </xsl:call-template>
           </xsl:when>
           <xsl:otherwise>
               <xsl:value-of select="$text"/>
           </xsl:otherwise>
       </xsl:choose>
      
   </xsl:template>

<!-- solution TWO, less verbose, uses booleans as count, less verbose, 
but harder to read -->
   <xsl:template name="strip-ws">
       <xsl:param name="text" />

       <xsl:variable name="test-start" 
select="normalize-space(substring($text, 1, 1)) = ''" />
       <xsl:variable name="test-end" 
select="normalize-space(substring($text, string-length($text))) = ''" />

       <xsl:if test="$test-start or $test-end">
           <xsl:call-template name="strip-ws">
               <xsl:with-param name="text" select="substring($text, 
$test-start + 1, string-length($text) - $test-end)" />
           </xsl:call-template>
       </xsl:if>
       <xsl:if test="not($test-start or $test-end)">
           <xsl:value-of select="$text"/>
       </xsl:if>

   </xsl:template>


HTH,
Cheers,
-- Abel