Hi
I have an XML file which I am trying to view in a drop down list, basically I want the drop down list on an ASP.net page to select only distinct values from an element, example:
<BANKS>
<Bank>
    <bank>BANK1</bank>
    <branch>city1 </branch>
    <address1> </address1>
  </Bank>
  <Bank>
    <bank> BANK1</bank>
    <branch>city </branch>
    <address1>home </address1>
  </Bank>
  <Bank>
    <bank> BANK2</bank>
    <branch>city </branch>
    <address1>home </address1>
  </Bank>
</BANKS>

So basically I want my drop down list to provide me with the following options:
BANK1
BANK2


I have the following in an XSL file, but it’s still not working:
     <xsl:for-each select="/Banks/Bank[not(bank = preceding-sibling::Bank/bank)]">
         <xsl:sort select="bank" data-type="text" order="ascending"/>
          <xsl:value-of select="bank"/>

      </xsl:for-each>

Aspx:
<asp:DropDownList ID="ddl_Banks" runat="server" DataSourceID="XmlDataSource1"
    DataTextField="bank" DataValueField="nsc" Width="184px" ></asp:DropDownList>


        <asp:XmlDataSource ID="XmlDataSource1" runat="server"
         DataFile="~/Banks.xml" TransformFile="~/Banks.xsl"></asp:XmlDataSource>


Any ideas?

__________________
Thank You

Removing duplicates is a task that generally goes under the name "grouping". In XSLT 2.0 there is an <xsl:for-each-group> instruction that makes this easy. In 1.0 it's quite tricky but there is lots of advice available. Look up "grouping" in your favourite XSLT textbook, or go to http://www.jenitennison.com/xslt/grouping.

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

would you have an example, im very new to XSL.

Michael posted a link that has three grouping examples, what more do you want?

--

Joe (Microsoft MVP - XML)

If you're going to tackle grouping problems using XSLT then I would recommend getting yourself a book on the language and spending a few days studying it. Best choice depends on your programming experience and preferences - mine is a very comprehensive reference, Jeni Tennison's "Beginning XSLT 2.0" is a gentler introduction for beginners.

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

thanks a million