My first XSLT

prithvi28 · September 29th, 2006, 01:27 PM

Hi,
I am developing my first XSLT scripts. I have 2 questions. Any help will be appreciated.
1. I have a phone number element in the input XML which must be reformatted. The phone # apperas multiple times(mobile , work, home). I have the following to transform the phone number which is working fine:

Code:

    <xsl:for-each select="n1:mobile">
                                        <xsl:variable name="curr_val" select="."/>
                                        <xsl:variable name="del_char" select="'()-'"/>
                                        <xsl:variable name="replace_char" select="''"/>
                                        <xsl:variable name="translate_result" select="translate($curr_val, $del_char, $replace_char)"/>
                                        <xsdLocal:MobilePhone>
                                            <xsl:value-of select="$translate_result"/>
                                        </xsdLocal:MobilePhone>
                                </xsl:for-each>

Now my question is, is there a way to reuse this transformation by having it saved in some common place accessible to multiple XSLT files? Do I have to rewrite this code for every phone element?

2.I have another field for system time. The current specifications don't say the format of the time. I have to convert that to GMT timezone. How can I do this.

I tried to find something on internet. So far didn't find anything.

Thnaks,

mhkay · September 29th, 2006, 02:19 PM

On the first question, try to get into the habit of using xsl:apply-templates rather than xsl:for-each. Put the code for handling phone numbers in a separate template, and apply-templates whenever you want to invoke it. The details depend on whether the various phone numbers use the same element name or different element names, but the general approach works either way. If you want to invoke the template from more that one stylesheet, put it in a separate module which you can pull in using xsl:import or xsl:include.

On the second question, there's a lot of support for date and time manipulation in XSLT 2.0, but none in 1.0. If you're using a 1.0 processor you have to do it the hard way, or by calling out to another language.

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

prithvi28 · October 2nd, 2006, 07:22 AM

Thanks mhkay. I created the templates for formattign different phone numbers and date. I am using an import statement as I I needed formatting in multiple files.
I replaced the above piece of script with

Code:

<xsl:for-each select="n1:phone">
                                    <xsl:for-each select="n1:mobile">                                        
                                        <xsdLocal:MobilePhone>
                                                <xsl:call-template name="format_phone">
                                                    <xsl:with-param name="in_phone" select="."/>
                                                </xsl:call-template>
                                        </xsdLocal:MobilePhone>
                                    </xsl:for-each>
                                </xsl:for-each>

Regarding for-each, did you mean I should be able to completely get rid of them ?
Thanks,

mhkay · October 2nd, 2006, 08:54 AM

Yes, it's a good idea to try to write stylesheets that don't use xsl:for-each at all. WHen you've achieved that, you will understand xsl:apply-templates, and you will then be able to judge when it's appropriate to use apply-templates and when it's better to use for-each. The danger for beginners is using for-each because it feels more familiar.

I would write this code:

<xsl:for-each select="n1:phone">
                                    <xsl:for-each select="n1:mobile">
                                        <xsdLocal:MobilePhone>
                                                <xsl:call-template name="format_phone">
                                                    <xsl:with-param name="in_phone" select="."/>
                                                </xsl:call-template>
                                        </xsdLocal:MobilePhone>
                                    </xsl:for-each>
                                </xsl:for-each>

as

<xsl:apply-templates select="n1:phone"/>

<xsl:template match="n1:phone">
  <xsl:apply-templates select="n1:mobile"/>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="n1:mobile">
  <xsdLocal:MobilePhone">
    ... code from your named template format-phone ...
  </xslLocal:MobilePhone>
</xsl:template>

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