Store Javascript return values in XSL variable

jramesh79 · July 28th, 2009, 11:11 AM

I have a XSL file which has Javascript function which does XSL Transformation of data retrieved from DB, and pass it to a variable in XSL.

When I try to call the javascript function BuildXMLFieldAttributes from inside a xsl:variable, LabelStyleAttributes it works in IE but not in Firefox or Safari.

How to call a javascript function from inside a XSL:Variable and store the return value? Is it possible or not?

Any help on this will be very much appriciated. Desperately in need of help. Sample code is given below for your reference.

Sample XSL file:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' ?>

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:ms="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" xmlns:js="urn:the-xml-files:xslt">

<ms:script language="Javascript" implements-prefix="js" >

<![CDATA[

function BuildXMLFieldAttributes(xmlField,strXMLAttributes)

{

//var XMLAttributes = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM"); //For IE

//XMLAttributes.loadXML(strXMLAttributes); //For IE

var XMLAttributes = new XMLHttpRequest(); //For Firefox or Safari

var oParser = new DOMParser();

XMLAttributes = oParser.parseFromString("strXMLAttributes", "text/xml");

return XMLAttributes;

}

]]>

</ms:script>

<xsl:output indent="yes"/>
<xsl:variable name="Components" select="Components/Component/row"></xsl:variable>

<xsl:template match="/">

<xsl:for-each select="$Components">

<xsl:variable name="LabelStyleAttributes" select="js:BuildXMLFieldAttributes(current(),strin g(@LabelStyles))"/>

<div class="tabletxt" style="height:150px;border:solid 1px black;">

<xsl:call-template name="BuildComponent"/>

</div>

</xsl:for-each>

</xsl:template>

<xsl:template name="BuildComponent">

<div id="lbl_{@FieldID}_{$lblCounterIdx}" nowrap='' class="tabletxt" style="position:absolute;width:{@iLabelWidth}px;he ight:{@iLabelHeight}px;top:{@iLabelTop}px;left:{@i LabelLeft}px;">

<xsl:element name="LABEL">

<xsl:attribute name="id">

<xsl:value-of select="concat('lbl_',@FieldID)"/>

</xsl:attribute>

<xsl:call-template name="ApplyAttributes">

<xsl:with-param name="Attributes" select="$LabelStyleAttributes/Attribute"/>

</xsl:call-template>

<xsl:value-of select="@iLabelDesc"/>

</xsl:element>

</div>

</xsl:template>

<xsl:template name="ApplyAttributes">

<xsl:param name="Attributes"/>

<xsl:for-each select="$Attributes">

<xsl:attribute name="{@Name}">

<xsl:value-of select="@Value"/>

</xsl:attribute>

</xsl:for-each>

</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

Sample XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>

<Components>
<Component>
<row TableName="LNAPPRSEARCH" FieldID="3608" FieldName="Loan Amount" FieldValue="" DescName="Loan Amount" iLeft="556" iTop="271" iHeight="50" iWidth="155" TypeTableUse="0" iControlType="0" iGroupId="0" GroupName="Loan Amount" iLabelDisplay="1" iLabelDesc="Loan Amount" iLabelLeft="362" iLabelTop="196" iLabelWidth="155" iLabelHeight="50" GrpIdentity="0" iCompTypeId="0" iReadonly="0" DataType="Float" iValidateType="0" blVerify="0" iRights="2" RecId="0" LabelStyles="<Attribute Name="Style" Value="FONT-FAMILY:Garamond; FONT-SIZE:15;" />" LoanId="164857" />
</Component>
</Components>

samjudson · July 28th, 2009, 11:30 AM

Note at the very start of your XSLT stylesheet:

xmlns:ms="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"
Does this not give you a hint as to why it works in Microsoft Internet Explorer, but not in Firefox or Safari? It is because you are using a proprietary Microsoft technology to run the Javascript, which does not exist in Firefox or Safari.

Martin Honnen · July 28th, 2009, 11:31 AM

The use of Javascript to implement extension functions in an XSLT stylesheet is to my knowledge only supported by IE respectively MSXML, not by the XSLT processor Firefox uses.

jramesh79 · July 29th, 2009, 02:14 AM

Thanks for your time... Samjudson and Martin.

Samjudson :
Can you please let me know which namespace should I use to get this working in Firefox and Safari.

Martin:
If javascript implementation of extension functions in a XSLT is not supported then what will be the best approach I can take...

Is it possible to call external JS function from inside XSLT to achieve the same...If so can you give me an example...

Please let me know the best approach I can take...Iam pretty new to Firefox and Safari browsers...

Thanks again for your time.

Martin Honnen · July 29th, 2009, 06:12 AM

I am afraid there is not really a solution with pure XSLT 1.0 and Mozilla browsers. You can't call Javascript functions from XSLT stylesheets with Mozilla/Firefox. Sometimes people use Javascript to achieve things that can be achieved (with some efforts) in pure XSLT 1.0 but what you seem to want to do, namely parsing some markup into a tree of nodes, is not something I would suggest to use pure XSLT 1.0 for. I would consider to process the XML you have outside of the browser to use more powerful tools to bring it into a form that can be processed with browsers or XSLT 1.0.

As for Safari, I have never heard that it allows you to call Javascript extension functions from XSLT but I have never investigated that. I think Safari uses libxslt as its XSLT processor and I am not very familiar with that either.