Use variables or other construct?

jacob · November 14th, 2005, 08:16 PM

Not too good with all the constructs yet, so I have a small issue with the following piece of XSLT...

Code:

<xsl:if test="count(references/reference) > 0">
    <td class="thumb" rowspan="2">
        <a href="{@full}" target="blank">
            <img class="thumb" src="{@thumb}" alt="{languages/this/string[@name='thumbalt']}" />
        </a>
    </td>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="count(references/reference) = 0">
    <td class="thumb" rowspan="1">
        <a href="{@full}" target="blank">
            <img class="thumb" src="{@thumb}" alt="{languages/this/string[@name='thumbalt']}" />
        </a>
    </td>
</xsl:if>

Clearly, it is not pretty, since there is a lot of redundant HTML. The only difference is the value of the rowspan attribute. I cannot find a way to get the same result as the above code with less redundant code.

Can I use variables somehow? Tried but could not override already assigned variables. I would have liked to be able to do something like this instead...

Code:

<xsl:variable name="spaning" select="1" />
<xsl:if test="count(references/reference) > 0">
    <xsl:variable name="spaning" select="2" />
</xsl:if>
<td class="thumb" rowspan="{$spanning}">
    <a href="{@full}" target="blank">
        <img class="thumb" src="{@thumb}" alt="{languages/this/string[@name='thumbalt']}" />
    </a>
</td>

Is there som construct I should learn about to solve problems like this?

Thanks, Jacob.

mhkay · November 14th, 2005, 09:06 PM

In 2.0

<xsl:variable name="rowspan"
select="if (references/reference) then 2 else 1"/>

In 1.0

<xsl:variable name="rowspan">
  <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="references/reference">2</xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>1</xsl:otherwise>
  </xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>

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

jacob · November 15th, 2005, 06:33 AM

Thanks Michael Kay... You seem to know it all. You information was very interesting; i.e. that it is possible within a variable scope to define conditional evaluation. Neat, though I am a little puzzled about 1.0 and 2.0.

The XSLT transformation, which I am doing is done through C# for a private web application and using the XslTransform class. The transformation is thus server-side and must therefore depend on which version the hosting server supports, right?

Does the version of XSLT follow the .NET version number or is that just a coincidence?

Thanks again, Jacob.

mhkay · November 15th, 2005, 07:55 AM

If you're using the XSLT processor that comes with .NET then it only supports XSLT version 1.0.

XSLT has nothing to do with Microsoft, so the version numbers are unrelated.

XSLT 2.0 has just reached Candidate Recommendation status so there are relatively few implementations yet: the one that most people are using is my own Saxon product. There's a version of this that's been ported to .NET but people use the Java version.

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

jacob · November 15th, 2005, 08:06 AM

Thanks, I see! Therefore, if I depend on a low-price web hotel for my private project, then I must focus on the 1.0 version, however, probably worth keeping an eye on 2.0.

I have come across Saxon lots of time when searching the internet, but I guess not suited for my small pet-project. Looks very cool.

Thanks for now, Jacob.