Hi Michael,

you worte:

"If you can translate the data to something that talks about real semantic objects (employees, prices, and bicycles, not rows, cells and values) it will become much clearer what you are trying to do."

I will try explain what I need to sort. I have attempted to produce a grid below which is similar to the output I am currently getting. I have 4 columns: Total, All Users (people who said yes to a survey question), Non Users (people who said no to a survey question), Solus Users (people who only use a particular brand).

Then I have the rows such as ************ and Age. Please disregard Rows since this is only a test. Within each row we have in this case information about demographics.

So for each column we have a corresponding <DataValue> element which contain the value for the row/column relatinship. If we take the Total column and Age row, we will see that the last row reads:
          Total
65+ 9066.51

Even though this is the highest number it is displayed last. I would like to be able to sort it so that the highest number of each row starts first (Descenging order).

Please note that in this case we are talking about the Total column.

Now, suppose the users want the rows of the All Users column to be sorted. This row would have to the first since it has the highest number:
          Total All USers
35-44 8527.03 5952

However, in the normal layout it is the 3rd row. And then I would like to be able to apply the same principle for the Non Users / Solus Users columns.

Is this possible to do ??

This is the current layout:


                Total All Users Non Users Solus Users
Rows
      Total 46685 30119.2 16565.8 9269.81
************
      All Men 22753 13989.2 8763.77 4596.47
      All Women 23932 16130 7802.02 4673.34
Age
      15-24 6954.27 2989.77 3964.5 852.762
      25-34 8662.48 5728.38 2934.1 1597.11
      35-44 8527.03 5952.29 2574.74 1812.4
      45-54 7593.98 5680.51 1913.46 1727.01
      55-64 5880.71 4107.67 1773.04 1373.49
      65+ 9066.51 5660.57 3405.95 1907.04

If I sort by All Users, this should be the result:

                Total All Users Non Users Solus Users
Rows
      Total 46685 30119.2 16565.8 9269.81
************
      All Men 22753 13989.2 8763.77 4596.47
      All Women 23932 16130 7802.02 4673.34
Age
      35-44 8527.03 5952.29 2574.74 1812.4
      25-34 8662.48 5728.38 2934.1 1597.11
      45-54 7593.98 5680.51 1913.46 1727.01
      65+ 9066.51 5660.57 3405.95 1907.04
      55-64 5880.71 4107.67 1773.04 1373.49
      15-24 6954.27 2989.77 3964.5 852.762

I hope it is a bit more clear what I have to do and I would appreciate your help.

Cheers,

Claudio

Hi Michael,

I am sorry but I think my explanation is not clear again since I have had no replies and I do not know how to make it clearer. I just wish there was a way to sort by the <DataValue> tag.

Cheers,

Claudio

Michael,

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

I understand when you say that this xml document (schema) is one that captures no semantics, however, some people see the use of terms like Variable and Value as being semantic, albeit related to our industry. These are common terms describing data in statistical circles. This is equivalent to things like Prices etc.

Furthermore, the current schema prevents unnecessary repetition of information: the table structure, particularly, columns/rows. There isn't a way to do this without repetition of information.

However, I am stuck and have not been able to sort by data values !!

I am looking at your suggestion to use several phases executing within a single stylesheet but I am finding hard to figure out how to do that. I am not sure where to create the variable in my xslt document and how to populate it with the current output and then how to sort in the second phase.

"""
The general pattern is:

<xsl:variable name="temp1">
  <xsl:apply-templates select="/" mode="phase1"/>
</xsl:variable>

<xsl:template match="/">
  <xsl:apply-templates select="exslt:node-set($temp1)" mode="phase2"/>
</xsl:template>
"""

Cheers,

Claudio

I'm sorry, I've tried to point you in the right direction, but I simply don't have time to take you to the destination step by step.

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/
Author, XSLT Programmer's Reference and XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference