xsl:if statements

[TheJoey]

<xml>
<bookname> google </bookname>
<bookname> doodle </blookname>
<bookname> koodle </bookname>

</xml>

i want to create a if statement in xsl:if that would get the firstletter of the bookname and create a attribute bookname="g"

thanks

[Dormilich]

what do you need an if statement for?

for extracting the first letter use XSLT's string functions (substring())

[TheJoey]

so it would be
<xsl:element name="bookname" <xsl:value-of select="substring([1])"/> </xsl:element>

this would get the first sentence wouldnt it?

[Dormilich]

nope. see here (http://www.w3.org/TR/xpath/#function-substring) how the substring function is called.

[TheJoey]

that way i have to input all the strings, isnt there a way i can get it automatically?

thought it might be possible with an array, could you provide an example, might it be possible like this
#

substring(bookname(".", .*)

[Dormilich]

the first parameter of substring() must evaluate as string, that is, every valid XPath giving you a string will do (i.e. no lists).
example
<xsl:value-of select="substring(., 5, 2)"/>

[TheJoey]

just dont understand how i can use that to get the first letter to apply it to an attribute...


<xsl:element name="bookname"><xsl:value-of select="substring(., 5, 2)"/></xsl:element> stuck at the (.,5,2) part

<xml>
<bookname> google </bookname>
<bookname> doodle </blookname>
<bookname> koodle </bookname>

</xml>
xpath isnt my strongest point and neither is the regex, but where im stuck is how do i exclude the rest of the string except for that first character?

Returns the substring from the start position to the specified length. Index of the first character is 1. If length is omitted it returns the substring from the start position to the end

Example: substring('Beatles',1,4)
Result: 'Beat'

Example: substring('Beatles',2)
Result: 'eatles'
this explained it alot but is there a 1, 1, * way of doing it?

[Dormilich]

substring('Beatles',1,1) => "B"

what the XPath looks like depends on your XSL.

[TheJoey]

So if i keep it
<xsl:element name="bookname"><xsl:value-of select="substring(1,1)"/></xsl:element>

so how would i then apply that to an attribute, would i just change the xsl:element to xsl:attribute name="bookname" type="firstletter"

[Dormilich]

so how would i then apply that to an attribute, would i just change the xsl:element to xsl:attribute

yes.

again, the substring() function expects a string/string node to be passed explicitly.

[TheJoey]

<xsl:for-each>
<xsl:element name="bookname"><xsl:attribute name="firstletter"><xsl:value-of select="substring(1,1)"/></xsl:attribute></xsl:element>
</xsl:for-each>

theorettly would work, could this be applied

[TheJoey]

<xsl:for-each>
<xsl:element name="bookname"><xsl:attribute name="firstletter"><xsl:value-of select="substring(1,1)"/></xsl:attribute></xsl:element>
</xsl:for-each>

theorettly would work, could this be applied

What i meant to say was if xsl:for-each and my attribute name settings are applied correctly?

[Dormilich]

first, get yourself an XSLT reference (e.g. w3schools [1] (http://w3schools.com/xsl/xsl_w3celementref.asp) and w3schools [2] (http://w3schools.com/xpath/xpath_functions.asp))

neither the call of <xsl:for-each>, nor substring() is correct.

I’d probably prefer <xsl:template> over <xsl:for-each>, but that depends on the whole picture.

[TheJoey]

I seem to read them, over and over.. but when it comes to applying to my xml, i cant do it.

reading that, i notice that the foreach isnt needed.
and the substring, is what im asking for help in as i do not know how to "automaticaly" identify the value within the <bookname>.

i was reading that substring beatles example before hand

edit: substring(bookname,1,1) i need something along this line

[Dormilich]

and the substring, is what im asking for help in as i do not know how to "automaticaly" identify the value within the <bookname>.

all you need (instead of "Beatles") is a valid XPath. but since I don’t know your XSL file, I can’t tell you what the XPath should be, because that depends on how you call it.

for instance
<xsl:template match="bookname">
<xsl:element name="whatever">
<xsl:attribute name="local-name()">
<xsl:value-of select="substring(./text(), 1, 1)"/>
</xsl:atribute>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:template>
would probably work

[TheJoey]

all you need (instead of "Beatles") is a valid XPath. but since I don’t know your XSL file, I can’t tell you what the XPath should be, because that depends on how you call it.

for instance
<xsl:template match="bookname">
<xsl:element name="whatever">
<xsl:attribute name="local-name()">
<xsl:value-of select="substring(./text(), 1, 1)"/>
</xsl:atribute>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:bookname>
would probably work

sorry for being new to this but could you explain local-name()?

[Dormilich]

local-name(), local-name(nodeset): Returns the name of the current node or the first node in the specified node set - without the namespace prefix


i.e. in your case local-name() = "bookname"

[TheJoey]

When testing it threw saxon, i got this error dorm.

XTSE0010: An xsl:template element must not contain an xsl:template element
XTSE0010: Element must be used only at top level of stylesheet


its not liking the <xsl:element> within template

[Dormilich]

its not liking the <xsl:element> within template

the error states something different. it complaines about <xsl:template> inside <xsl:template>

[TheJoey]

Ohh i can see this in my code

but how i can do it without multiple xsl:templates


<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:template match ="booktype">
<xsl:element name="booktype"><xsl:attribute name="type"/></xsl:element>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="bookname">
<xsl:element name="bookname">
<xsl:attribute name="bookname">
<xsl:value-of select="substring(./text(), 1, 1)"/>
</xsl:atribute>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:bookname>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

[Dormilich]

what about <xsl:apply-templates/>?

of course you can use multiple <xsl:template>, you just must not nest them.

PS. please fix the typo (or simply remove) <xsl:bookname>

[TheJoey]

i have one apply template and its on its own

<xsl:apply-templates select="bookname" />

[Dormilich]

you know that <xsl:apply-templates> is not a top-level element? besides, you didn’t post anything that contained it.

[TheJoey]

Thank you, i seemed to have fixed that issue, thank you, its now pointing to markup issues which seem clear thank you again dorm

[Dormilich]

FYI, top-level elements (http://www.w3.org/TR/xslt#stylesheet-element).