So I have some XML that looks like this

<Limbs>
  <Limb Name="Shoulder">
    <Value Movement="Flexion" Left="80" Right="100" />
    <Value Movement="Extension" Left="" Right="" />
    <Value Movement="Abduction" Left="80" Right="80" />
    <Value Movement="Adduction" Left="" Right="" />
  </Limb>
  <Limb Name="Elbow">
    <Value Movement="Flexion" Left="" Right="" />
    <Value Movement="Extension" Left="" Right="" />
    <Value Movement="Pronation" Left="" Right="" />
    <Value Movement="Supination" Left="" Right="" />
  </Limb>
</Limbs>

Transform that looks like this

<xsl:for-each select="/Limb">
<p>
<table width="300" border="1">
  <tbody>
   <tr>
    <td colSpan="4">
    <xsl:value-of select="@Name"/>
    </td>
   </tr>
   <tr/>
   <tr>
     <td width="150">Movement</td>
     <td width="50">Left</td>
     <td width="50">Right</td>
  </tr>
   <xsl:for-each select="*">
    <xsl:if test="(@Left != '') or (@Right != '') ">
    <tr>
    <td>
      <xsl:value-of select="@Movement"/>
        </td>
    <td>
    <xsl:value-of select="@Left"/>
    </td>
    <td>
    <xsl:value-of select="@Right"/>
    </td>
    </tr>
    </xsl:if>
   </xsl:for-each>
  </tbody>
</table>

--- Output ---

Shoulder
Movement Left Right
Flexion 80 100
Abduction 80 80

Elbow
Movement Left Right

-----

So it works fine and I get a table for each Limb node (2 in this example), except that if there are no values supplied for the elbow movements the table is printed out with the table headings and no rows. I want to make it such that the /Limb template outputs only if at least one child <Value> node has a 'Left' or 'Right' value other then empty string.

>So it works fine and I get a table for each Limb node

match="/Limb" will only match a Limb element at the outermost level of the document. No such element exists in your source, so I can't see how you get any output at all.

>I want to make it such that the /Limb template outputs only if at least one child <Value> node has a 'Left' or 'Right' value other then empty string.

Use

xsl:if test="Value[string(@Left) or string(@Right)"



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

I don't get where this xsl:if would go?

Its actually
<xsl:template match="Limbs">
  <xsl:for-each select="Limb">
    ....
    Generate Table
    Process <Value> child nodes into rows
  </xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>

I have this line
<xsl:if test="(@Left != '') or (@Right != '') ">
which does not display the row output if both values are empty, but that's not the question. I don't want to write out anything in the entire

<xsl:for-each select="Limb"></xsl:for-each>

loop if all the Left and Right attributes of <Value> are empty string (ie. No table heading).

Solved my own issue, but for those interested or who could suggest a better alternative here is the XSLT.

<xsl:template match="Limbs">
<xsl:for-each select="child::Limb[child::Value[@Left !='' or @Right != '']]">
<table width="300" border="1">
  <tbody>
   <tr>
    <td colSpan="4">
    <xsl:value-of select="@Name"/>
    </td>
   </tr>
   <tr/>
   <tr>
     <td width="150">Movement</td>
     <td width="50">Left</td>
     <td width="50">Right</td>
  </tr>
   <xsl:for-each select="*">
    <xsl:if test="(@Left != '') or (@Right != '') ">
    <tr>
    <td>
      <xsl:value-of select="@Movement"/>
        </td>
    <td>
    <xsl:value-of select="@Left"/>
    </td>
    <td>
    <xsl:value-of select="@Right"/>
    </td>
    </tr>
    </xsl:if>
   </xsl:for-each>
  </tbody>
</table>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>