Handling recursive XML Nodes using XSL

RichaM · June 16th, 2005, 07:21 PM

Hi... I have an XML of the form...

<client name="abc">
abc
   <client name="def">
   def
   </client>
   <client name="ghi">
   ghi
      <leaf-client name="jkl">
      jkl
      </leaf-client>
      <leaf-client name="mno">
      mno
      </leaf-client>
   </client>
</client>

I have to generate a hierarchical table of the form
abc
def ghi
       jkl mno

Could somebody provide a hint about how recursive nodes can be handled using XSL?

Thanks

mhkay · June 16th, 2005, 07:49 PM

Recursive nodes are generally handled using xsl:apply-templates.

But I don't think that's your problem here.

Your problem is seriously underspecified: it's impossible to tell from this example what the set of possible inputs is, and how inputs different from the one shown would be transformed.

In your example, a client either has children or has following siblings, it never has both. Will that always be the case?

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

RichaM · June 20th, 2005, 11:19 AM

Yes, I am afraid that this will always be the case. Each node can have the the same node 'client' or 'leaf-client' as a child. Any suggestions/hints would be greatly appreciated.

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by mhkay
Recursive nodes are generally handled using xsl:apply-templates.

But I don't think that's your problem here.

Your problem is seriously underspecified: it's impossible to tell from this example what the set of possible inputs is, and how inputs different from the one shown would be transformed.

In your example, a client either has children or has following siblings, it never has both. Will that always be the case?

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

meetnaveen4u · June 21st, 2005, 02:15 AM

Well i belive u need to see some examples regarding display of xml in treeview fashion using xslt. This might give u an idea on how to go for recursive program.

Thanks & Regards
Naveen.

RichaM · June 21st, 2005, 01:21 PM

Hi,

Thanks Naveen, I will loook that up too.

In the mean time I am posting the XSL I wrote. As can be seen parts are repetitive. Can somebody tell me if this generic parts can be written in a better manner.

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xsl">
<xsl:template match="/">
<HTML>
<BODY>
<TABLE BORDER="1" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="5">

<TR>
  <TH>Parent</TH>
  <TH>Client</TH>
</TR>

<TR>
  <TD>
    ON24
  </TD>

  <TD>
  <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="10">
  <xsl:for-each select="rootclient/client">
  <TR>
  <TD>
  <xsl:value-of select="@name"/>
  </TD>

  <TD>
  <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="5">
  <xsl:for-each select="client/client">
  <TR>
  <TD>
  <xsl:value-of select="@name"/>
  </TD>

  <TD>
  <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="5">
  <xsl:for-each select="client/client">
  <TR>
  <TD>
  <xsl:value-of select="@name"/>
  </TD>
  </TR>
  </xsl:for-each>
  <xsl:for-each select="client/leaf-client">
  <TR>
  <TD>
  <xsl:value-of select="@name"/>
  </TD>
  </TR>
  </xsl:for-each>
  <xsl:for-each select="leaf-client">
  <TR>
  <TD>
  <xsl:value-of select="@name"/>
  </TD>
  </TR>
  </xsl:for-each>
  </TABLE>
  </TD>

  </TR>
  </xsl:for-each>
  <xsl:for-each select="client/leaf-client">
  <TR>
  <TD>
  <xsl:value-of select="@name"/>
  </TD>
  </TR>
  </xsl:for-each>
  <xsl:for-each select="leaf-client">
  <TR>
  <TD>
  <xsl:value-of select="@name"/>
  </TD>
  </TR>
  </xsl:for-each>
  </TABLE>
  </TD>

  </TR>
  </xsl:for-each>
  </TABLE>
  </TD>
</TR>

</TABLE>

</BODY>
</HTML>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

mhkay · June 21st, 2005, 02:45 PM

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-xsl">

You really don't want to be using WD-xsl. It's an obsolete Microsoft-proprietary dialect, and it's almost impossible to get any information about it any more, let alone support. Switch to XSLT.

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