How to return a node-Set in XSLT 1.0

LeoMathew · September 1st, 2010, 08:09 AM

The following variable returns a node set

Code:

<xsl:variable name="styleColorLineItemsMovex" select="$lineItemsForManufacturerDeliveryLineItems[(@Color = $color) and (substring(@Style, 1, 9) = $style) and (@Attribute2 = $buyerStyle)]" />

But i want to put the above line in a call-template and pass the value back to a variable in a calling program.But the value returned is not a node set.

Can anyone tell what can be done to get the node-set?

Martin Honnen · September 1st, 2010, 08:24 AM

Your named template can do e.g.

Code:

<xsl:copy-of select="$varName"/>

and that way returns a result tree fragment. Then you need to use an extension function like exsl:node-set to turn the result tree fragment into a node-set e.g.

Code:

<xsl:variable name="v2">
  <xsl:call-template name="t1"/>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:for-each select="exsl:node-set($v2)//*">...</xsl:for-each>

mhkay · September 1st, 2010, 08:25 AM

It is not possible in XSLT 1.0 for a template to return references to nodes in the source document.

In fact, XSLT 1.0 doesn't speak of templates "returning" anything. It speaks of templates writing to the result tree.

One of the many reasons to move to 2.0...