Hi all:

Input XML:
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xt="http://www.jclark.com/xt"
   xmlns:common="http://exslt.org/common" xmlns:xalan="http://xml.apache.org/xalan" width="100%"
   height="100%">

<defs></defs>
</svg>

XSLT:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"

    xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<xsl:template match="/">

            <xsl:apply-templates/>

    </xsl:template>


    <xsl:template match="svg">
        <xsl:apply-templates/>
    </xsl:template>


    <xsl:template match="defs">


                <xsl:apply-templates/>

        </xsl:element>

    </xsl:template>


    <xsl:template match="g">

            <xsl:apply-templates/>

    </xsl:template>


</xsl:stylesheet>

But it's ignoring everything after "/" it never goes onto svg, therefore never goes into defs...etc.

any ideas? thanks.

Your template matches nodes with local name "svg" in no namespace, you want to match nodes with local name "svg" in namespace http://www.w3.org/2000/svg. Making this the default namespace doesn't work, you need to use an explicit prefix. Search for "XSLT default namespace" for plenty of information on this pitfall.

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

So now, everyTime I need to refer to svg in my xslt i need to specify the namespace? or maybe i did not understand what you were trying to explain me. Also, I have removed this line from my input document and it seems to work...any ideas? thanks.

<!DOCTYPE svg
  PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd">

Yes, in XSLT 1.0, to refer to an element in a namespace you must use a prefix that is bound to that namespace. In XSLT 2.0 you can use the xpath-default-namespace attribute on the xsl:stylesheet element.

Removing the DOCTYPE declaration has the effect of removing the default namespace declaration, which puts the svg elements in the null namespace.

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

How would I refer to element b?

<svg>
  <a>
    <b>
    </b>
  </a>
</svg>

I tried svg:a:b but didnt work.

You need to read a basic XSLT tutorial, particularly on XPath, a few seconds searching would have shown that paths are broken down into steps separted by /. So you need: .
If the document uses namespaced elements then you'll have to apply the rules stated by Dr. Kay previously.

This is a good resource for these sorts of questions:

http://www.dpawson.co.uk/xsl/sect2/sect21.html

--

Joe (Microsoft MVP - XML)

Also, for basic tutorials, this one is nice (though maybe a little out of date?):

http://www.zvon.org/xxl/XSLTutorial/...mple1_ch1.html

Just keep hitting next when you are done with a lesson:) I helped me a lot.

Thank you so much for your help. I tried a/b/c but didnt work, what it did work tho was a:c or a:b any ideas why?

I think it was explained earlier in the thread that if your elements are in a namespace then to select them in XPath you need to use a namespace prefix.

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