How to Test For Dates Less Than a Certain Value

ritagr · March 14th, 2013, 06:41 PM

Hello,

I have a date element in my XML file.
For example:

Code:

        <DETAIL>
            <DETAILLINE>
                <SEQUENCE>000001</SEQUENCE>
                <DOS>
                    <MM>07</MM>
                    <DD>01</DD>
                    <YYYY>2011</YYYY>
                </DOS>
            </DETAILLINE>
            <DETAILLINE>
                <SEQUENCE>000002</SEQUENCE>
                <DOS>
                    <MM>01</MM>
                    <DD>01</DD>
                    <YYYY>2012</YYYY>
                </DOS>
            </DETAILLINE>
        </DETAIL>

I need to do something at the end after all the <DETAILLINE>s are processed. If I find any <DOS> that is less than 07/01/2011 then I need to print something.

My current code is the following but it's not working correctly as it will return true if ANY <YYYY> is less than 2012 and ANY <MM> is less than 07. I need it to return true if the position of the <YYYY> and the <MM> is the same.

Code:

<xsl:if test="/doc/EOB/DETAIL[descendant::DETAILLINE/DOS/YYYY[. &lt; '2012']] and /doc/EOB/DETAIL[descendant::DETAILLINE/DOS/MM[. &lt; '07']]" >

I was thinking of using the CONCAT function but am not sure of the syntax for this situation.

I'm working with XSLT 1.0.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Rita

mhkay · March 15th, 2013, 04:49 AM

Use number(concat(YYYY,MM,DD)) to convert to a number such as 20110107, then compare numerically.

ritagr · March 15th, 2013, 11:05 AM

Hi Michael,

Many thanks for your response.

I played round with it and finally got it to work by removing the "descendant::" parts in the line.

Code:

<xsl:if test="concat(/doc/EOB/DETAIL/DETAILLINE/DOS/YYYY, /doc/EOB/DETAIL/DETAILLINE/DOS/MM) &lt; '201107'">

Thanks,
Rita

ritagr · March 15th, 2013, 11:27 AM

Oops - nope!

That didn't work either.
With my latest code I just got the first value.

With "descendant::DETAILLINE/DOS/YYYY" etc. it returned a whole bunch of characters. I used FirePath to check my return result.

I need to check all the DETAILLINEs DOS only.

Thanks,
Rita

mhkay · March 15th, 2013, 12:50 PM

Sorry, I didn't read your code carefully enough to work out where your conceptual misunderstandings lie.

You want

Code:

<xsl:if test="/doc/EOB/DETAIL/DETAILLINE/DOS[number(concat(YYYY,MM)) &lt; 201107]">

Read that as "if there is a /doc/EOB/DETAIL/DETAILLINE/DOS such that number(concat(YYYY,MM)) < 201107 then...

wheras your version, with XPath 1.0, concatenates the first selected YYYY and the first selected MM and tests that.

ritagr · March 15th, 2013, 01:13 PM

Hi Michael,

Yes, that was it exactly - XSLT 1.0 just checked the first concatenation.
Your code example worked perfectly!

Thank you so much for your help - much appreciated!

Rita