Help needed to convert an XML file

rpalmer68 · June 17th, 2009, 08:39 AM

Hi,

I'm TOTALLY new to XML and need some help achieving something I'm sure is VERY simple to you all here....

I need to open an XML file my TV scheduling/recording software generates, read in some values and then output a new XML file in a new format using these values so my media center software can import the data.

Now I think XSLT is the way forward, but after much searching I just can't work out how to actually do this from a windows script.

So the source file looks like this;

Code:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?> 
- <capture>
  <ws_cardID>0</ws_cardID> 
  <ws_filename>(2009-06-13 16-55) TEN News At Five TEN.mpg</ws_filename> 
  <ws_fullfilename>D:\TV_Recordings\general\(2009-06-13 16-55) TEN News At Five TEN.mpg</ws_fullfilename> 
  <ws_name>TEN News At Five</ws_name> 
  <ws_start>Sat Jun 13 16:55:00 EST 2009</ws_start> 
  <ws_stop>Sat Jun 13 17:40:00 EST 2009</ws_stop> 
  <ws_duration>45</ws_duration> 
  <ws_channel>TEN</ws_channel> 
- <epg_item>
  <epg_title>TEN News At Five</epg_title> 
  <epg_subtitle /> 
  <epg_description>A full half hour of news with extensive coverage of local, national and international news and weather. [Program info # Ten]</epg_description> 
  <epg_channel>Network TEN Sydney</epg_channel> 
  <epg_start>Sat Jun 13 17:00:00 EST 2009</epg_start> 
  <epg_stop>Sat Jun 13 17:30:00 EST 2009</epg_stop> 
  <epg_duration>30</epg_duration> 
  <epg_category>News/CurrentAffairs</epg_category> 
  <epg_language>English</epg_language> 
  <epg_ratings /> 
  <epg_widescreen>false</epg_widescreen> 
  <epg_highdef>false</epg_highdef> 
  <epg_repeat>false</epg_repeat> 
  <epg_premiere>false</epg_premiere> 
  <epg_live>false</epg_live> 
  <epg_interactive>false</epg_interactive> 
  <epg_blackwhite>false</epg_blackwhite> 
  <epg_surround>false</epg_surround> 
  <epg_ac3>false</epg_ac3> 
  <epg_lastchance>false</epg_lastchance> 
  <epg_captions>false</epg_captions> 
  <epg_url /> 
  </epg_item>
  </capture>

And all I need to do is extract the appropriate fields and create this in an new file called "Original_Filename JRSideCar.xml"

Code:

<Title>
 <LocalTitle>TEN News At Five<LocalTitle>
 <RunningTime>45 min</RunningTime>
 <Description>A full half hour of news with extensive coverage of local, national and international news and weather. [Program info # Ten]</Description>
 <Genres>News/CurrentAffairs</Genres>
</Title>

Can anybody help me with this as I just don't know where to start??

Many thanks
Richard

samjudson · June 17th, 2009, 08:49 AM

Well it seems to you need to find some basic tutorials on how XSLT works, as this is quite basic. On the positive side you've correctly identified that XSLT will do what you want, which is a good start.

I'll post the following code, which hopefully you can digest and try to understand. I would recommend trying to understand each of the elements in this example so you can complete the rest of the solution yourself, rather than continuing to ask basic questions.

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
                xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
                version="1.0">
<xsl:output indent="yes"/>
   <xsl:template match="capture">
         <Title>
         <LocalTitle>
            <xsl:value-of select="ws_name"/>
         </LocalTitle>
         <RunningTime><xsl:value-of select="ws_duration"/></RunningTime>
         <Description><xsl:value-of select="epg_item/epg_description"/></Description>
         <Genres><xsl:value-of select="epg_item/epg_category"/></Genres>
      </Title>
   </xsl:template>
    
</xsl:stylesheet>

joefawcett · June 17th, 2009, 08:53 AM

I suggest you start with some online tutorials or one of Muchael Kay's books on XSLT.
It's not a language you can pick up as you go as it's a different way of doing things from that which most programmers are used to. The example you've shown is quite simple though and requires some literal elements and judicious use of xsl:value-of along wih the appropriate XPath needed to select the correct nodes. Here is a version 1.0 solution:

Code:


<xsl:stylesheetversion="1.0"xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:outputmethod="xml"indent="yes"/>
<xsl:templatematch="/">
<Title>
<LocalTitle>
<xsl:value-ofselect="capture/epg_item/epg_title" />
</LocalTitle>
<RunningTime>
<xsl:value-ofselect="capture/ws_duration" />
</RunningTime>
<Description>
<xsl:value-ofselect="capture/epg_item/epg_description" />
</Description>
<Genres>
<xsl:value-ofselect="capture/epg_item/epg_category" />
</Genres>
</Title>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

rpalmer68 · June 20th, 2009, 11:45 PM

Thanks for the replies,

I've managed to get my VB Script to use the msxml object and do the transformation using the above examples.

Many thanks
Richard