Open element gives problem with choose

Kenneth.Dougherty · December 28th, 2009, 04:57 PM

Hello,

If someone could be kind enough to help, I am having the following problem.

Given the following pseudo code, the goal is to switch the parent element based on some condition. The $variable also needs to be processed correctly. [$variable is a string passed by a java program and its value cannot be known ahead of time.]

**begin pseudo code **

<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="someTest">
<Element1 some attributes that call a variable {$variable} >
</xsl:when> [error occurs here]
<xsl:otherwise>
<Element2 some attributes that call a variable {$variable}>
</xsl:otherwise> [error occurs here]
</xsl:choose>

[Body of the code goes here. All of these are child elements of Element1 and Element2.]

<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="sameTestasAbove">
</ Element1>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
</Element2>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>

**end pseudo code **

The above code gives an error as it is expecting the closing tag for Element1 and Element2 before the closing tag of </when> and </otherwise>.

Using either <xsl:text> or <xsl:value of> with the disable-output-escaping set to "yes" fixes that problem [by using < and > rather than the brackets], but introduces the problem of literally processing the $variable instead of pulling in the desired value.

It would be possible to put the "body of the code" in both the when and otherwise statements, but this would lead to future updates occurring in two places. If possible, such a situation should be avoided.

Does anyone have another suggestion?

Thanks for the help.

samjudson · December 28th, 2009, 06:53 PM

Unfortunately you are approaching the problem in the wrong manner - i.e. in a manner which is not the correct approach for XSLT.

If you can put the XSLT instructions which are common to both the inners of Element1 an Element2 in a separate template then you can do something like this:

<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="a">
<Element1>
<xsl:call-template name="innerWorkings"/>
</Element1>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<Element2>
<xsl:call-template name="innerWorkings"/>
</Element2>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>

But as you wrote your example in pseudo code and we have no idea what your input or output should look like that is the best I can do at this stage.

mhkay · December 28th, 2009, 08:07 PM

You are thinking of a <x> as an instruction to create a start tag, and </x> as a separate instruction to create an end tag. That's an entirely incorrect mental model of the semantics of the language, and you will have conceptual difficulties writing XSLT code until you get it out of your head.

Sam has shown you one way to do this; another way (depending on the details) is

Code:

<xsl:element name="{if (a) then 'Element1' else 'Element2'}">
   ... create the attributes and content ....
</xsl:element>

Kenneth.Dougherty · December 29th, 2009, 09:27 AM

I put the rest of the code into a separate template, and the problem was solved. Thanks again.