XML element to HTML attribute

Jim Mehl · February 22nd, 2016, 02:16 PM

I would like to turn an XML file with content like this:

Code:

    <Item>
    <Name>Alpha</Name>
    <URL>http://www.test.com</URL>
    </Item>

    <Item>
    <Name>Beta</Name>
    <URL></URL>
    </Item>

into an HTML file with content like this with XSLT.

Code:

    <a href="http://www.test.com">Alpha</a>

    <a>Beta</a>

I have tried any number of approaches with no success.
Any suggestions?

mhkay · February 22nd, 2016, 07:00 PM

Show us one thing that you tried, and show us how it failed. We need to know where you went wrong so that we can help you correct your misunderstandings.

Jim Mehl · February 22nd, 2016, 07:21 PM

OK, I tried the following and a few variations.

[code}
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>



<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="2.0"
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">

<xsl:output method="html" encoding="iso-8859-1" />

<xsl:template match="ItemList">
<html>
<head>
<title>Items</title>
<br/>
</head>
<body>
<xsl:apply-templates select="Item"/>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="Item">
<xsl:apply-templates select="Name"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="URL"/>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="Name">
<p>
<a>
<xsl:attribute name="href">
<xsl:value-of select="@URL"/>
</xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
</a>
</p>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="URL">
<xsl:value-of select="." />
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>
[/code}

mhkay · February 22nd, 2016, 07:42 PM

Let's assume that the XML you showed us has an ItemList element wrapped around it, and that there's no namespace declaration. Then you're almost there.

Generating a br element inside the HTML head element is bad HTML, but it's not bad XSLT.

This template:

Code:

<xsl:template match="Name">
<p>
<a>
<xsl:attribute name="href">
<xsl:value-of select="@URL"/>
</xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
</a>
</p>
</xsl:template>

is almost right, but URL is an element not an attribute so you don't want that '@' sign. It's on the same level as Name, so you need to address it as <code>../URL</code>. It can then be simplified to

Code:

<xsl:template match="Name">
<p><a href="{../URL}"><xsl:value-of select="."/></a></p>
</xsl:template>

Finally, in this template:

Code:

<xsl:template match="Item">
<xsl:apply-templates select="Name"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="URL"/>
</xsl:template>

you don't need to do anything with the URL at this level (you've handled it while processing the Name), so just cut out that second apply-templates.

Jim Mehl · February 22nd, 2016, 08:46 PM

Thanks Michael, that's a BIG help. I still have the the problem of eliminating the href='''' when the original URL element is null, but I suspect that's just a matter of an appropriate xsl:if in the right place.
You might want to consider including a bit more information about curly brackets in future editions,