How do I split info into sections via XSLT?

February 23, 2007 3:29 PM

I need to take an XML list and split it into sections/subsections by keying off a child element. Samples and

I need to change my source XML into an XML output that will: (1) split out sections per children elements; (2) split out child sections per titles (e.g., alphabetically); and (3) title the child sections per alphabet (e.g, A, B, C...). Actually, it'll be easier to explain with these examples:

Example Source XML:


AAA
AAA definition
< !--where cat1, cat2, etc. specify which termdef go in which output section. some termdefs will be in multiple sections -->



ABB
ABB definition




BBB
BBB definition




BCC
BCC definition




Example Output XML:

AAA
AAA definition


ABB
ABB definition

ABB
ABB definition





BBB
BBB definition

AAA
AAA definition





BBB
BBB definition


BCC
BCC definition

Any ideas? I've been looking at this too long...

posted by sfkiddo to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

I'm not sure I understand the question, but if you know PERL, you might be able to do this with the XML::Simple module, or just parse it by hand using regex.
posted by nakedsushi at 4:01 PM on February 23, 2007

Response by poster: Arg: no wonder you didn't understand the question, my characters didn't escape for the code. Trying again. BTW, I'm using XSLT.

I need to change my source XML into an XML output that will: (1) split out sections per children elements; (2) split out child sections per titles (e.g., alphabetically); and (3) title the child sections per alphabet (e.g, A, B, C...). Actually, it'll be easier to explain with these examples:

Example Source XML:
<document>
<termdef>
<term>AAA</term>
<def>AAA definition</def>
<cat1/> <!--Where cat1, cat2, etc. specify which termdef go in which output section. Some termdefs will be in multiple sections -->
<cat3/>
</termdef>
<termdef>
<term>ABB</term>
<def>ABB definition</def>
<cat1/>
<cat2/>
</termdef>
<termdef>
<term>BBB</term>
<def>BBB definition</def>
<cat2/>
<cat3/>
</termdef>
<termdef>
<term>BCC</term>
<def>BCC definition</def>
<cat3/>
</termdef>
</document>

Example Output XML:

<document>
<section>
<title>Cat1 Defs</title>
<subsection>
<title>A Defs</title>
<termdef>
<term>AAA</term>
<def>AAA definition</def>
</termdef>
<termdef>
<term>ABB</term>
<def>ABB definition</def>
</termdef>
</subsection>
</section>

<section>
<title>Cat2 Defs</title>
<subsection>
<title>A Defs</title>
<termdef>
<term>ABB</term>
<def>ABB definition</def>
</termdef>
</subsection>
<subsection>
<title>B Defs</title>
<termdef>
<term>BBB</term>
<def>BBB definition</def>
</termdef>
</subsection>
<section>

<section>
<title>Cat3 Defs</title>
<subsection>
<title>A Defs</title>
<termdef>
<term>AAA</term>
<def>AAA definition</def>
</termdef>
</subsection>
<subsection>
<title>B Defs</title>
<termdef>
<term>BBB</term>
<def>BBB definition</def>
</termdef>
<termdef>
<term>BCC</term>
<def>BCC definition</def>
</termdef>
</subsection>
</section>
</document> ]]>
posted by sfkiddo at 4:06 PM on February 23, 2007

You can do this with Muenchian Grouping.
posted by philscience at 7:25 PM on February 23, 2007

Best answer: This should work:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:key name="categories" match="/document/termdef/*[name() != 'term' and name() != 'def']" use="name()"/>
  <xsl:key name="definitions-by-initial" match="/document/termdef" use="substring(term, 1, 1)"/>

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <document>
      <xsl:for-each select="document/termdef/*[name() != 'term' and name() != 'def'][generate-id() = generate-id(key('categories', name())[1])]">
        <xsl:sort select="name()" data-type="text" order="ascending"/>
        <section>
          <title><xsl:value-of select="concat(name(), ' Defs')"/></title>
          <xsl:variable name="category" select="self::*"/>
          <xsl:for-each select="/document/termdef[child::*[name() = name($category)]][generate-id() = generate-id(key('definitions-by-initial', substring(term, 1, 1))[child::*[name() = name($category)]][1])]">
            <xsl:sort select="term" data-type="text" order="ascending"/>
            <subsection>
              <title><xsl:value-of select="concat(substring(term, 1, 1), ' Defs')"/></title>
              <xsl:apply-templates select="key('definitions-by-initial', substring(term, 1, 1))[child::*[name() = name($category)]]"/>
            </subsection>
          </xsl:for-each>
        </section>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </document>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="termdef">
    <xsl:copy>
      <xsl:copy-of select="term|def"/>
    </xsl:copy>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>
posted by kyten at 9:48 PM on February 23, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks, kyten! I'll give that a try today.
posted by sfkiddo at 11:24 AM on February 24, 2007