using 2 sets of xml data from 1 xslt

davepass · April 1st, 2005, 05:57 PM

greetings,

I have an xslt page that will incorporate data from 2 separate xml files. I have references to these xml files set up as variables, $data1 and $data2. I can easily access data from either file by using:

Code:

<xsl:value-of select="$data1/node1/node2" />

or

Code:

<xsl:value-of select="$data2/node1/node2" />

my problem comes in when I try to use a template to match to either of these.

I'm trying to do:

Code:

<xsl:template name="header_baseinfo" match="$data1/node1/node2[@name='header']">
    <p>Computer Name: <xsl:value-of select="computername" /></p>
    <p>Report Name: <xsl:value-of select="reportname" /></p>
</xsl:template>

and then call this template (by name) inside the master page template. When I do this, I get an error telling me that I cannot use a variable name in the "match" attribute.

I know I could just as easily do:

Code:

<xsl:template name="header_baseinfo" >
    <p>Computer Name: <xsl:value-of select="$data1/node1/node2[@name='header']/computername" /></p>
    <p>Report Name: <xsl:value-of select="$data1/node1/node2[@name='header']reportname" /></p>
</xsl:template>

but this seems terribly inefficient. There's got to be a better way.

Any ideas?

mhkay · April 1st, 2005, 06:06 PM

Template rules aren't specific to a particular document, they match a pattern whatever document it appears in. You can control which documents are processed based on the nodes you select for processing in apply-templates. If you need different template rules that match the same pattern occurring in different documents, use modes.

But if you're calling a template by name, then the match pattern is completely ignored, so why specify it?

If you're worried about computing $data1/node1/node2[@name='header'] twice, then put the result in a variable.

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

davepass · April 1st, 2005, 06:31 PM

ok, so I did:

Code:

<xsl:template name="header_baseinfo">
    <xsl:variable name="base" select="$data1/node1/node2[@name='header']" />
    <p>Computer Name: <xsl:value-of select="$base/computername" /></p>
    <p>Report Name: <xsl:value-of select="$base/reportname" /></p>
</xsl:template>

and it seems to work fine. But this scenario seems to be closer to what I'm looking for:

Quote:

quote:If you need different template rules that match the same pattern occurring in different documents, use modes.

I have not been able to figure out how this attribute works (at least not for what I'm trying to do). Might you have an example you could point me to?