Accessing RSS Link Data

Ozeroc · February 27th, 2009, 04:56 AM

Hello...

I recently received a reply for how to access an RSS feed using the document() function like so:

<xsl:apply-templates select="document(concat('https:///www.test.com/rss?', $var))" mode="rss"/>

What I'd like to do now is access the /rss/channel/item/link node that's returned, follow that link and get a specific node's data. For example, if I accessed the above URI with the variable 'dogs' it would provide some information and a link to another document for more info (RESTful...) That link is a URI to yet another tree that contains a node named 'breed" for which I need to extract the data.

Thanks

Rob

mhkay · February 27th, 2009, 05:22 AM

The document() function returns a document node, you can put this in a variable and then navigate from it. For example

<xsl:variable name="doc" select="document(.....)"/>
<xsl:value-of select="$doc/rss/channel/item/link"/>

You're asking questions that suggest you haven't really learnt the fundamental concepts of the language. Could I suggest you do some background reading?

Ozeroc · February 27th, 2009, 06:24 AM

Thanks for the answer. I appreciate it. I have bought your book (XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference) but couldn't find what I was looking for. I do realize that it is a reference book vs a tutorial. Can you recommend a tutorial (book, web site, etc...) that I might find helpful? Thanks.

Rob

mhkay · February 27th, 2009, 06:33 AM

For a more gentle introduction to XSLT 2.0, that doesn't go quite so deep as mine, you might find Jeni Tennison's book to your taste. She explains things well and has a knack of making things simple without over-simplifying.

Ozeroc · March 5th, 2009, 07:57 AM

Hi again...

Time for part 2 of this question. I've searched and searched and can't find the answer for this: In the example above you gave me good information on how to get to /rss/channel/item/link. Now what I need to do is get the data from a given node in the document that is accessed by the link URL. I've tried the following:

<xsl:variable name="doc" select="document(.....)"/>
<xsl:variable name="linkdat" select="document($doc/rss/channel/item/link)"/>
<xsl:value-of select="$linkdat/dog/breed"/>

and I get nothing. But if I try:

<xsl:variable name="doc" select="document(.....)"/>
<xsl:variable name="linkdat" select="document($doc/rss/channel/item/link)"/>
<xsl:value-of select="$linkdat"/>

it returns ALL the data contained in the nodes found in the document $linkdat. How can I just select just one node? Thanks in advance.

PS. Ordered the book but it hasn't arrived yet.

mhkay · March 5th, 2009, 08:51 AM

I can't tell you why /dog/breed selects nothing in the target document without seeing the target document. Presumably it is an incorrect path. It can be useful to do

<debug variable="linkdat">
<xsl:copy-of select="$linkdat"/>
</debug>

to help with debugging.

Ozeroc · March 5th, 2009, 09:26 AM

Here's the target document:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type='text/xsl' href='https://websvr:443/dogs.xsl' ?>
<dog xsi:schemaLocation="http://xml.dogs.com/dog https://websvr:443/breeds.xsd"
 xmlns:ns1="http://xml.dogs.com/ns1" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
xmlns:ns3="http://xml.dogs.com/ns3" xmlns=http://xml.dogs.com/names>
 <dogKey>NUI3MDdUYWJjZGVmZ2hpamtsbW5vcHFy</dogKey>
 <breed>Chow</breed>
 <weight>80.0</weight>
 </dog>

When I tried:

<debug variable="linkdat">
<xsl:copy-of select="$linkdat"/>
</debug>

It just returned all the data like before. In the case of the sample target document above this would be:

NUI3MDdUYWJjZGVmZ2hpamtsbW5vcHFyChow80.0

Thanks for all the help. I'm sure this will all sink in in time.

Rob

mhkay · March 5th, 2009, 09:55 AM

The elements dog and breed are in a namespace, so you need to use a prefix when referring to them:

<xsl:apply-templates select="$linkdat/d:dog/d:breed"
xmlns:d="http://xml.dogs.com/names"/>

Ozeroc · March 5th, 2009, 10:03 AM

That was it. Thanks again for the great help!

Rob