Exclude Elements in Apply Templates

mail4kaja · November 25th, 2008, 09:27 AM

Hi,

I just want to know how can I write templates for selectives nodes and no output is generated for other nodes ( for which I have not written templates ).

<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="MyNode">
<p>MyNode</p>
</xsl:template>

Even if my input XML contains elements other-tham MyNode, those nodes/texts should not appear in my output. How can i achieve that? I cannot write empty templates for the un-used elements as I don't know the elements that can appear in my input XML. My input XML is a dynamically generated one.

Thanks in advance,

With regards,
Kaja Mohideen
http://www.vhost4all.com/

Martin Honnen · November 25th, 2008, 09:37 AM

xsl:apply-templates selects the nodes for processing so you could use

Code:

<xsl:template match="/">
 <xsl:apply-templates select="//MyNode"/>
</xsl:template>

if you want to ensure that only 'MyNode' elements are processed.

--
Martin Honnen
Microsoft MVP - XML

samjudson · November 25th, 2008, 09:46 AM

As you are probably aware the default built-in template will output any text nodes it finds, so adding the following will stop that:

Code:

<xsl:template match="text()" />

You're root template does nothing that the built-in template doesn't do, so is actually superfluous in this example, so the complete stylesheet would be:

Code:

<xsl:template match="MyNode">
 <p>MyNode</p>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="text()" />

/- Sam Judson : Wrox Technical Editor -/

mail4kaja · November 25th, 2008, 09:56 AM

Thanks for your replies.

if I want to select only few nodes, may be MyNode1, MyNode2...MyNodeN. How to do that ?

R Kaja Mohideen
http://www.vhost4all.com/

Martin Honnen · November 25th, 2008, 10:06 AM

Code:

<xsl:template match="/">
  <xsl:apply-templates select="//MyNode1 | //MyNode2 | //MyNodeN"/>
</xsl:template>

is certainly possible. I am not sure it is naturally a good generic way or approach however, it all depends on how your XML input is structured exactly and how your transformation result should look.
So it might be better to show us more details of the input you have and the result you want to create, then it is easier to suggest a solution for that than trying to provide generic solutions.

--
Martin Honnen
Microsoft MVP - XML

mhkay · November 25th, 2008, 10:22 AM

>if my input XML contains elements other-tham MyNode, those nodes/texts should not appear in my output.

If you can write the rule in English, you can write it in XSLT:

<xsl:template match="*">

</xsl:template>

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

mail4kaja · November 26th, 2008, 01:09 AM

If I'm having

<xsl:template match="*"/>

I'm not getting any output.

R Kaja Mohideen
http://www.vhost4all.com/

mrame · November 26th, 2008, 02:12 AM

As already Mike has said, <xsl:template match="*"/> will do nothing.
For your question, the template mentioned by Martin will work.
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:apply-templates select="//MyNode1 | //MyNode2 | //MyNodeN"/>
</xsl:template>

------
Rummy

mail4kaja · November 26th, 2008, 03:47 AM

I have templates for MyNode1 and MyNode2 (Note: My XML input is HIGHLY structured. MyNode1 and MyNode2 can appear at any level)

I have given "//MyNode1 | //MyNode2" for select attribute of apply-templates.

I'm not getting any output.

I'm a newbie for XSLT. Kindly help me.

Thanks,

R Kaja Mohideen
http://www.vhost4all.com/

mhkay · November 26th, 2008, 04:35 AM

You'll have to show us your code. You're clearly doing something badly wrong, perhaps you simply don't understand template rules. If you show us your stylesheet and source document then we will probably be able to see where your misunderstanding lies.

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