Indexing elements by ancestor

bonekrusher · March 7th, 2008, 02:12 PM

Hi,

I am using XSL-FO (and FOP 0.94). I am looking for a way to index or count a <table> element based on its ancestor and display the number e.g. "Table 1".

Say I had an XML file like this:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ROOT>
    <SECTION_1>
        <TABLE>....</TABLE>
        <TABLE>....</TABLE>
    </SECTION_1>
    <SECTION_2>
        <TABLE>....</TABLE>
        <TABLE>....</TABLE>
        <TABLE>....</TABLE>
        <TABLE>....</TABLE>
        <TABLE>....</TABLE>
    </SECTION_2>
    <SECTION_3>
        <TABLE>....</TABLE>
        <TABLE>....</TABLE>
    </SECTION_3>
</ROOT>

Desired output:

Section 1

Table 1:
Table 2:

Section 2

Table 1:
Table 2:
Table 3:
Table 4:
Table 5:
.......

Some of my <table> elements are deep within the XML. The example above is to simplified. Any thoughts on best approach? Should I use keys? If so, how?

Thanks,

Bones

Martin Honnen · March 7th, 2008, 02:22 PM

Well you could try to set up the xsl:apply-templates in way that position() suffices:

Code:

<xsl:stylesheet
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
  version="1.0">

  <xsl:template match="ROOT/*">
    <xsl:value-of select="name()"/>
    <xsl:text>#10;</xsl:text>
    <xsl:apply-templates select=".//TABLE"/>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="TABLE">
    <xsl:value-of select="concat('Table ', position())"/>
    <xsl:text>#10;</xsl:text>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

If that is not possible then xsl:number should help: http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt#number

mhkay · March 7th, 2008, 02:30 PM

Why is the section element named SECTION_2? It seems a very odd choice. Why include the position number as part of the element name?

The normal solution to this would be

<xsl:number level="any" match="SECTION"/>

But because of your peculiar naming convention, it might need to be something more complex. Perhaps

<xsl:number level="any" match="*[starts-with(local-name(), 'SECTION_')]"/>

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

Martin Honnen · March 7th, 2008, 02:39 PM

I don't think there is a match attribute on the xsl:number element. from seems to work instead:

Code:

<xsl:template match="TABLE">
<xsl:number level="any" from="*[starts-with(local-name(), 'SECTION_')]"/>

bonekrusher · March 7th, 2008, 02:44 PM

Hi, Actually the naming convention is nothing like the example. I have about 90 top level elements that can have <table> as descendants. I need to count the <table> position ("Table: {Number}") from the top level element.

Consider these top level elements where "chapters" and I needed to count the tables in that chapter from a <table> template.

I am reworking a XSL-fo to use with FOP 0.94. My predecessor used a XSLT extension with Hash-tables. I know I can accomplish this with straight XSLT... I am just having a mental block right now.

bonekrusher · March 7th, 2008, 03:03 PM

Ok, I think I got it...If there is a better way, I would like to try it.

Code:

<xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="//SECTION_1 | //SECTION_2 | //SECTION_3">
       <xsl:text>Figure: </xsl:text>    
           <xsl:number level="any" match="node()::table"/>
    </xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise/>

Thanks for helping.

bonekrusher · March 7th, 2008, 03:20 PM

Nope.. this returns the tables numbers in document order... not by section....

mhkay · March 7th, 2008, 03:38 PM

Well, we all make mistakes: when I said match="SECTION" I meant from="SECTION", as Martin pointed out.

But this is complete garbage:

<xsl:when test="//SECTION_1 | //SECTION_2 | //SECTION_3">

It's saying "if there is a SECTION_1 or a SECTION_2 or a SECTION_3 anywhere in my document, then number the table, otherwise don't bother".

And with match="node()::table" you've not only repeated my error of getting the attribute name wrong, but you've now invented an axis called node()!

If by "top-level element" you mean a child of the document element, then you can use

<xsl:number level="any" from="/*/*"/>

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

bonekrusher · March 7th, 2008, 08:51 PM

Thanks Michael and Martin,

I believe I am over thinking the problem and not explaining my desired result.

Is it possible to use xsl:key to index each SECTION[child::table] by position and call that position up by its @id?

Thanks for the help.

bonekrusher · March 10th, 2008, 07:59 AM

After putting it down for a couple of days, I picked it up this morning:

<xsl:number level="any" count="//table[@tablenum[ancestor::section] = 'yes']" from="section"/>

Thanks Michael. I will need to add a <xsl:choose> for each "section", which works for me.

thanks again.