I have written an XSL script and everything works great except the sorting. I need the data to sort by <prtnbr> but cannot accomplish this unless I remove 2 columns of required data that is generated by attributes.

Here is a sample of the XML file:

<subject chapnbr="23" id="sj232000" sectnbr="20" subjnbr="00">
<dpfigure chg="u" figcnt="10" id="sj23200010">
<prtlist>
<prtrow><item>005</item><prtnbr>822-1071-001</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>010</item><prtnbr>372254-91</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>015</item><prtnbr>372254-93</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>020</item><prtnbr>622-4957-001</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
</prtlist>
</dpfigure>
</subject>

Here is part of the XSL file:

<xsl:apply-templates select="//subject">
    <xsl:sort select="prtnbr">
</xsl:apply-templates>



<xsl:template match="subject">
        <xsl:variable name="chsecsub">
            <xsl:value-of select="@chapnbr"/>
            <xsl:text>-</xsl:text>
            <xsl:value-of select="@sectnbr"/>
            <xsl:text>-</xsl:text>
            <xsl:value-of select="@subjnbr"/>
        </xsl:variable>
        <xsl:for-each select="dpfigure">
            <xsl:variable name="figcnt" select="@figcnt"/>
            <xsl:for-each select="prtlist/prtrow">
                <fo:table-row>
                    <fo:table-cell>
                        <fo:block>
                            <xsl:value-of select="prtnbr"/>
                        </fo:block>
                    </fo:table-cell>
                    <fo:table-cell>
                        <fo:block>
                            <xsl:value-of select="$chsecsub"/>
                        </fo:block>
                    </fo:table-cell>
                    <fo:table-cell>
                        <fo:block>
                            <xsl:value-of select="$figcnt"/>
                        </fo:block>
                    </fo:table-cell>
                    <fo:table-cell text-align="center">
                        <fo:block>
                            <xsl:value-of select="item"/>
                        </fo:block>
                    </fo:table-cell>
                    <fo:table-cell>
                        <fo:block>
                            <xsl:value-of select="qty"/>
                        </fo:block>
                    </fo:table-cell>
                </fo:table-row>
            </xsl:for-each>
        </xsl:for-each>
    </xsl:template>

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have been struggling with this for several days now.

Your problem is here:

<xsl:apply-templates select="//subject">
    <xsl:sort select="prtnbr">
</xsl:apply-templates>

You are sorting the subject elements only - in your sample there is only 1 subject element, so the order is insignificant.

Add <xsl:sort select="." /> after the <xsl:for-each select="prtlist/prtrow"> (the context of the sort is the collection of nodes to sort, in this case the prtrows).

/- Sam Judson : Wrox Technical Editor -/

Thank you so much for your quick response. I should have been a little more detailed on the input file. There are multiple subjects that I am combining into 1 master index and the combination of them all need to be sorted by part number.

Here is a more detailed XML input file:

<chapter chapnbr="23" id="ch23">
<section chapnbr="23" id="sc2320" sectnbr="20">
<subject chapnbr="23" id="sj232000" sectnbr="20" subjnbr="00">
<dpfigure chg="u" figcnt="10" id="sj23200010">
<prtlist>
<prtrow><item>005</item><prtnbr>822-1071-001</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>010</item><prtnbr>372254-91</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>015</item><prtnbr>372254-93</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>020</item><prtnbr>622-4957-001</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
</prtlist>
</dpfigure>
</subject>
<subject chapnbr="23" id="sj232000" sectnbr="20" subjnbr="10">
<dpfigure chg="u" figcnt="20" id="sj23200010">
<prtlist>
<prtrow><item>005</item><prtnbr>1071-001</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>010</item><prtnbr>72254-91</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>015</item><prtnbr>3254-93</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>020</item><prtnbr>62-4957-001</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
</prtlist>
</dpfigure>
</subject>
<subject chapnbr="23" id="sj232000" sectnbr="20" subjnbr="30">
<dpfigure chg="u" figcnt="30" id="sj23200010">
<prtlist>
<prtrow><item>005</item><prtnbr>MK1071-001</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>010</item><prtnbr>54AB-91</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>015</item><prtnbr>3254-LO</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
<prtrow><item>020</item><prtnbr>JT-4957-001</prtnbr><qty>1</qty></prtrow>
</prtlist>
</dpfigure>
</subject>
</section>
</chapter>

The desired output would be:

Part Number Ch/Sec/Sub Fig. Item Qty.

1071-001 23-20-10 20 105 1
3254-93 23-20-10 20 025 1
3254-LO 23-20-20 30 015 1
372254-91 23-20-00 10 010 1
372254-93 23-20-00 10 015 1
54AB-91 23-20-20 30 010 1
622-4957-001 23-20-00 10 020 1
623-4957-001 23-20-10 20 030 1
72254-91 23-20-10 20 015 1
822-1071-001 23-20-00 10 005 1
JT-4957-001 23-20-20 30 020 1
MK1071-001 23-20-20 30 005 1



Thanks so much in advance for all your help.

This is just to give you an idea of how you might do this (I'm not reproducing all your FO code):

<xsl:template match="chapter">

   <xsl:for-each select="descendant::prtrow">
     <xsl:sort select="prtnbr" />
     <row>
       <cell><xsl:value-of select="ancestor::chapter/@chapnbr"/></cell>
       <cell><xsl:value-of select="item"/></cell>
       <cell><xsl:value-of select="prtnbr"/></cell>
     <row>
   </xsl:for-each>

</xsl:template>

/- Sam Judson : Wrox Technical Editor -/

I have to say your the BOMB!!! Just a few code changes and it works great!! Thanks so much!!:D