Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with xsl

Comparing current node to previous node with XSLT and XPath

dw — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 13:47:08 -0800

I need an XPath expression that will allow me (in XSLT) to compare the value of an XML element in one node with the value of another element in a preceding node. So, given this faked up code:

<calendar>
<event>
<date>May 11</date>
<description>Mother's Day</description>
</event>
<event>
<date>May 12</date>
<description>Birthday</description>
</event>
<event>
<date>May 12</date>
<description>Board Meeting</description>
</event>
<calendar>

I want to use XSLT to return something that looks like this:

May 11
----------
Mother's Day

May 12
----------
Birthday
Board Meeting

The problem is, I can't figure out how to compare the value of date in the current node to date in the previous node.

I was trying
<xsl:if test="date != preceding-sibling::event/date"> but the problem is preceding-sibling is every sibling, and it defaults to the first sibling. I want the exact previous node -- if you're on X event node, compare the value of date to the value of date in X-1 event node. Since the total number of possible event nodes could be anywhere from 1 to infinite, I can't just write code that goes event[3] vs event[2].

I know there's a simple way to do this, but I've just about exhausted my Google-fu. Ideas?

XSL Simple Code

crapples — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:28:01 -0800

Filemaker Pro XSL Web Publishing Filter: I don't know XSL syntax at all, but what I want to do should be very simple. Details inside... All I want to do is take the page that FMP created with it's web publishing software (written in XSL) and add a link to a regular URL to the page. I tried a standard href line, as I would do in HTML, but it didn't work. What is the XSL language that will give me a link?

Thanks a lot! I can't find this online anywhere.

Good free/cheap XML-and-XSL application?

AmbroseChapel — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 16:22:03 -0800

Good free/cheap XML-and-XSL application? Two things have happened which affect my workplace.

One, a lot more people will need to work with XML and specifically with XSL transformations.

Two, Altova stopped distributing a free "Home" version of their XMLSpy app.

XMLSpy has its annoyances, but no-one could say it lacks features, even in the "Home" edition. Now, even the cheapest paid edition of the software is quite expensive for casual/incidental users -- it costs as much as Office.

Can anyone recommend an XML-wrangling app that's either free or cheap, and, hopefully, would let users select a particular XSLT processor to do the transformations?

Platform: Windows XP/2000.

xsl:saint-augustine -- help me get to grips with XSLT

AmbroseChapel — Tue, 14 Feb 2006 15:13:41 -0800

xsl:saint-augustine -- help me get to grips with XSLT I've been making this joke for a couple of years now. "Oh Lord, help me understand XSLT ... but not yet!".

But the time has come.

Part One: can someone help me find the best material online or in a book that made XSLT really fall into place for you? Particularly if you're a coder who was at first baffled by its syntax and kept trying to understand an XSL Template in terms of traditional programming concepts like "while" and "foreach" and "select * from foo where bar = baz". I figure that's the thing that's been holding me back. I'm trying to wrestle XSL into the stuff I already know and am comfortable with.

As an example, it drives me crazy that the code doesn't nest the way I expect it to. I want it to be like



while outerloop

    while innerloop 

        while yetanotherloop

        end

    end

end

but XSLT does that "apply-templates" thing and you're roaming around the page looking for the next bit of code.

Part Two: when you imagine XSLT transformations happening in your mind's eye, what does it look like? I'm a very visual person, and I've never really managed to get a vision which works for me of what's actually going on. I can "see" other programming languages working in my mind and it really helps. I'm hoping someone will post "XSLT is like using a ____ to do _____, you have to _____ or else you get _____" and I'll get an "Aha!" moment out of it.

Transforming XML with XSL

riffola — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 17:01:47 -0800

I need a new way of transforming XML with XSL. Till date I've used PHP's Sablotron, which I absolutely love and is simple to use, but my host keeps forgetting to enable and include it each time they recompile Apache, so I was wondering if someone here knows of a way to do the same with either Perl or JSP/Tomcat or even PHP as long as it is without Sablotron's xslt_create(). The PHP code I use is beautifully simple.



<?php

ob_start("ob_gzhandler");

   $tivonp = xslt_create();

   $result = xslt_process($tivonp, 'nowplaying.xml', 'nowplaying.xsl');

   echo $result;

   xslt_free($tivonp);

?>

I'm hoping there is a similar simple way to transform XML using XSL in other languages.

How can I automatically format an XML file?

John Shaft — Sun, 31 Oct 2004 13:14:09 -0800

XMLFilter: I need to format an XML file nicely, with the correct indentation and so forth. Unfortunately the file is all on one line. Any suggestions for a Windows user? I've been trying to get XML Cooktop to work, but if I open the entire file, I get a CCRYSTALTEXTVIEW error in the application, and if I cull the file down to only one record, and choose Tools > Format XML with indent attributes, it does nothing. I've tried copying from Firefox and IE, but that doesn't work neither.

How do I pass a variable from a URL to a XSL stylesheet?

riffola — Thu, 08 Jan 2004 17:19:40 -0800

How do I pass a variable from a URL to a XSL stylesheet? I'm using PHP with Sablotron to parse the static XML and XSL files. [More inside] I've been trying to find a way to get variables from the URL to the XSL style sheet so I can match a particular day in a week long weather report.

Say the url is:
http://riffola.com/weather/?location=11355&forecast&day=Friday

I can use PHP to get the right XML file using the location, but I dont know how to pass the day variable info to the XSL file.

Now I want to use that day variable from the URL to grab only Friday's weather report.

Here's a sample XML file of the weather report:
http://riffola.com/weather/cache/11355forecast.xml

As you can see <day d="2" t="Friday" dt="Jan 9"> has Friday in it, and I don't want to list any other day's details.

I want to use Sablotron to parse the XML and XSL. I can't find a way to do this. Is this even possible? Or should I just cave in and create 7 stylesheets for each day of the week?

I've had suggestions about creating a new XML from the cached file. I am not sure if that's going to be less effort than making 7 stylesheets for each day.