Dear People,

Does anyone know how to use XSLT / XPATH to join 2 different sets of nodes and produce results??

For example, below is a source XML file. What I would like to do is:
--------------------------------
Spit out the FOOD_IDs where the associated FOOD_TYPE_ID is equal to "1".
--------------------------------

The format of the xml file below mimics the actual structure of the XML document I have at work (which doesn't deal with anything nearly as interesting as waffles and french toast - wish it did!).

I've been researching XSL and XPATH for a few days now and still have not managed to find a way to do this seemingly simple task.

So - since I'm at wit's end - I'm begging for help!

HELP!

Thank you,
Susan :o)










<breakfast_menu>

<food>
   <food_id>1</food_id>
   <name>Belgian Waffles</name>
   <price>$5.95</price>
   <description>two of our famous Belgian Waffles with plenty of real maple syrup</description>
    <calories>650</calories>
</food>

<food>
    <food_id>2</food_id>
    <name>Strawberry Belgian Waffles</name>
    <price>$7.95</price>
    <description>light Belgian waffles covered with strawberries and whipped cream</description>
    <calories>900</calories>
</food>

<food>
    <food_id>3</food_id>
    <name>French Toast</name>
    <price>$4.50</price>
    <description>thick slices made from our homemade sourdough bread</description>
    <calories>600</calories>
</food>



<food_type>
    <food_type_id>1</food_type_id>
    <food_id>1</food_id>
</food_type>

<food_type>
    <food_type_id>1</food_type_id>
    <food_id>2</food_id>
</food_type>

<food_type>
    <food_type_id>1</food_type_id>
    <food_id>3</food_id>
</food_type>


<food_type>
    <food_type_id>2</food_type_id>
    <food_id>3</food_id>
</food_type>

</breakfast_menu>

Susan :)

__________________
Susan :)

>Spit out the FOOD_IDs where the associated FOOD_TYPE_ID is equal to "1".

In your data a food ID can have more than one associated food type ID.

You don't actually need a join for this, you can write

//food_type[food_type_id=1]/food_id

That will give you duplicates - there is a whole literature on how to eliminate duplicates (search for "XSLT grouping") (it's easy in XPath 2.0 using distinct-values()).

A better use case for a join is to list the food names with food type id = 1, that is

//food[id = //food_type[food_type_id=1]/food_id]/name

But in XSLT you would normally use keys to do this, for readability and for performance.





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

Dear Michael Kay,

Thank you!! I was very close -- turns out I was off by one "/".

I'm glad you responded, because you set me off looking for info about keys and getting distinct values, and I've since learned an arsenal about XSLT/XPATH in the past couple of days. I've refined my original files and hope to get better at this.

Eventually :o).

Much gratitude,
Susan