<xsl:variable> strange results

daheri · September 22nd, 2010, 09:26 AM

Hi,

I'm quite new to xslt and have discovered some strange results when using the <xsl:variable>.
Look at these two variables.

Code:

Number 1:
<xsl:variable name="relatedFile" select="/mother/child/file" />
Number 2:
<xsl:variable name="relatedFile2">
 <xsl:value-of select ="/mother/child/file" />
</xsl:variable>

These two variables, even though instanciated a bit differently should hold exactly the same information right?

Next I want to use the variables to get an attribute of the node. Like this:

Code:

<xsl:value-of select"$relatedFile/@key" />
<xsl:value-of select"$relatedFile2/@key" />

But strangly, only relatedFile gives me the key. RelatedFile2 gives me nothing.
And even stranger, if i compare them like this:

Code:

<xsl:if test="$relatedFile=$relatedFile2"> yes they are equal! </xsl:if>

They are equal!

What is going on here??
Thanks for all your help!

Martin Honnen · September 22nd, 2010, 09:32 AM

The results are vastly different. The xsl:value-of creates a text node and in a variable that way you get a result tree fragment that contains a single text node. The xsl:variable with the select attribute simply selects some node(s) in your input tree.

daheri · September 22nd, 2010, 09:54 AM

Thanks for your reply.

Ok so they are then different. But how could I go about to sort out this thing then?

My XML has either a <file> or a <content>
I need to construct a variable that holds a path to the correct one. And the later i need to use it to get some attributes of the node.

Like this:

Code:

<xsl:variable name="relatedFile" select="/mother/child/file" />
<xsl:variable name="relatedContent" select="/mother/child/content" />

<xsl:variable name="path">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="$relatedFile !=''"><xsl:value-of select="$relatedFile" /></when>
<xsl:when test="$relatedContent !=''"><xsl:value-of select="$relatedContent" /></when>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>

<xsl:value-of select"$ultimateContent/@key" />

Martin Honnen · September 22nd, 2010, 10:02 AM

[code]
<xsl:value-of select="(/mother/child/file | /mother/child/content)[1]/@key"/>
[/code