pass an attribute of the context item to fn:id() - xslt

I would like to clarify the following behavior.
When using the fn:id() and passing the #attribute which is child of the context item, I get the empty sequence:
<xsl:template match="perfRes" mode="perfRes">
<xsl:variable name="listItem" select="$lists//id(#attribute)"/>
<xsl:template/>
When passing the same attribute, but as a variable, the result is correct:
<xsl:template match="perfRes" mode="perfRes">
<xsl:variable name="attribute" select="#attribute"/>
<xsl:variable name="listItem" select="$lists//id($attribute)"/>
<xsl:template/>
So I suppose that in the first case this #attribute refers not to the context item but to something else, to what?
P.S. The value of $lists is a document-node().

I think you want $lists/id(current()/#attribute) to select the #attribute of the matched perfRes element and pass it to the id function. Your current attempt $lists//id(#attribute) is equivalent to $lists/descendant-or-self::node()/id(#attribute) so it calls the id function on the #attribute of any descendant node of $lists.

Related

Comparing attribute values in XPath

I want to get the value of a specific node, specified by its id attribute. But the behaviour of my XSL parser, Saxon, is not how I expected it to work.
This is my XSL code:
<xsl:template match="synonyme">
<xsl:element name="corr">
<xsl:value-of select="#connecteur" />
<xsl:value-of select="/liste/connecteur[#id=#connecteur]/forme[1]" />
</xsl:element>
</xsl:template>
I just matched a tag named synonyme which has a connecteur attribute. My code outputs the value of this attribute.
I also want to output the value of another node which has an id attribute matching the connecteur attribute of my currently matched synonyme tag. But no results are ever found for this query, the second value-of always has empty output.
If I write, e.g. [#id='c160'], where c160 is the exact same thing that is output by the first value-of, it works! But not when comparing to the #attribute of my matched node. How can I fix this?
The XML is basically
<liste><connecteur id="c160"><forme>foo</forme></connecteur>
<connecteur id="c161"><synonyme connecteur="c160" /></connecteur>
</liste>
and the expected output in place of the synonyme is <corr>c160 foo</corr>.
The predicate you use:
[#id=#connecteur]
is looking for an element with two attributes - id and connecteur- with equal values. To look for an element with an id attribute whose value matches the value of the current element's connecteur value, you need to use:
[#id=current()/#connecteur]
See: https://www.w3.org/TR/xslt/#function-current
A better solution would be to define a key as:
<xsl:key name="ref" match="connecteur" use="#id" />
then use:
<xsl:value-of select="key('ref', #connecteur)/forme" />
to resolve the cross-reference.
See: https://www.w3.org/TR/xslt/#key

In XSLT, why do I need to do comparisons with variables instead of with attribute values (in a test expression)

I am parsing a document, with different behavior depending on whether the id attribute is an element of a collection of values ($item-ids in the code below). My question is, why do I need to assign a variable and then compare with that value, like this:
<xsl:template match="word/item">
<xsl:variable name="id" select="#abg:id"/>
<xsl:if test="$item-ids[.=$id]">
<xsl:message>It matches!</xsl:message>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
It seems to be that I should be able to do it like this, though it doesn't work:
<xsl:template match="word/item">
<xsl:if test="$item-ids[.=#abg:id]">
<xsl:message>It matches!</xsl:message>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
This is something I keep forgetting and having to relearn. Can anybody explain why it works this way? Thanks.
To understand XPath, you need to understand the concept of the context node. An expression like #id is selecting an attribute of the context node. And the context node changes inside square brackets.
You don't have to use a variable in this case. Here you can use:
<xsl:template match="word/item">
<xsl:if test="$item-ids[. = current()/#abg:id]">
<xsl:message>It matches!</xsl:message>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
The reason you can't just use $item-ids[. = #abg:id] is that inside the [], you are in the context of whatever is right before the [] (in this case $item-ids), so #abg:id would be treated as $item-ids/#abg:id, which isn't what you want.
current() refers to the current context outside of the <xsl:if> so current()/#abg:id should reflect you the value you want.
I think it's because the line
<xsl:if test="$item-ids[.=#abg:id]">
compares the value of $item-ids to the string '#abg:id' - you need to compare it to the value of #abg:id which is why you need to select that value into the $id variable for the test to work.
Does that help at all?
Edit: I've misunderstood the issue - the other answers are better than mine.

How to use an XSL variable as a condition to evaluate XPath?

I have faced an issue when using a variable as a condition for XPath evaluation. I have the following template which works fine:
<xsl:template name="typeReasonDic">
<xsl:variable name="dic" select="$schema//xs:simpleType[#name = 'type_reason_et']"/>
<!-- do something with the variable -->
</xsl:template>
However, when I change it to look like this:
<xsl:template name="typeReasonDic">
<xsl:param name="choose_dic" select="#name = 'type_reason_et'"/>
<xsl:variable name="dic" select="$schema//xs:simpleType[$choose_dic]"/>
<!-- do something with the variable -->
</xsl:template>
it fails to find the desired node.
What I wish to get is a template with a default value for $choose_dic which can be overriden where necessary.
What am I missing here?
UPD: there is this link I found with the description of what I'm trying to do, but it doesn't seem to work for me.
You can't do this directly in XSLT 1.0 or 2.0 without an extension function. The problem is that with
<xsl:template name="typeReasonDic">
<xsl:param name="choose_dic" select="#name = 'type_reason_et'"/>
<xsl:variable name="dic" select="$schema//xs:simpleType[$choose_dic]"/>
<!-- do something with the variable -->
</xsl:template>
the <xsl:param> will evaluate its select expression a single time in the current context and store the true/false result of this evaluation in the $choose_dic variable. The <xsl:variable> will therefore select either all xs:simpleType elements under the $schema (if $choose_dic is true) or none of them (if $choose_dic) is false. This is very different from
<xsl:variable name="dic" select="$schema//xs:simpleType[#name = 'type_reason_et']"/>
which will evaluate #name = 'type_reason_et' repeatedly, in the context of each xsl:simpleType, and select those elements for which the expression evaluated to true.
If you store the XPath expression as a string you can use an extension function such as dyn:evaluate or the XSLT 3.0 xsl:evaluate element if you're using Saxon.
By doing
<xsl:param name="choose_dic" select="#name = 'type_reason_et'"/>
the XSL engine will try to evaluate "#name = 'type_reason_et'" as an XPath expression, and will assign the RESULT to your variable.
You should use the following variable declaration instead:
<xsl:param name="choose_dic">#name = 'type_reason_et'</xsl:param>
This is the default value, but you can override it when you call your template by using xsl:with-param.
XSLT is not a macro language where you might be able to concatenate your code at run-time from strings and then evaluate them dynamically. So in general for your purpose you would need an extension function to evaluate an XPath expression stored in a string or you need to look into a new XSLT 3.0 features like http://www.saxonica.com/documentation/xsl-elements/evaluate.xml.
What is possible in the scope of XSLT 1.0 or 2.0 is doing e.g.
<xsl:param name="p1" select="'foo'"/>
<xsl:variable name="v1" select="//bar[#att = $p1]"/>
where the param holds a value you compare to other value, for instance those in a node like an attribute or element node.

Go up one node and see if the parent node equates a particular node in XSLT

I want to see if the parent node of the current node I am referring to is equal to a particular value. I did it as follows but no use.
eg.
<v:name>
<v:age>
when at "age" I tried <xsl:if test='.. = v:name'>. But it is not correct. What is the correct way? Can someone help?
I am inside a template which is true for both v:name and v:age. There are v:age's which are not children of v:name. I want to ensure that v:age I am referring to is a child of a v:name. That is what I want inside the test attribute.
From a comment by the OP:
I am inside a template which is true for both v:name and v:age.
There are v:age's which are not children of v:name. I want to
ensure that v:age I am referring to is a child of a v:name. That
is what I want inside the test attribute
Use:
parent::v:name
And this in a xsl:if becomes:
<xsl:if test="parent::v:name">
<!-- Whatever processing is necessary. -->
</xsl:if>
Use <xsl:if test="../v:name = 'somevalue'></xsl:if> or <xsl:if test="parent::v:name = 'somevalue'></xsl:if>
I suspect that when you say you want to know if the parent node is "equal" to a particular value, you really mean that you want to know whether its name is equal to a particular value (this would be immediately clear if you gave examples of your input and output).
If my conjecture is correct, use <xsl:if test="parent::xyz">

Select xsl element based on index that is defined in a param

I want to select an element by index with the indexed number being passed in with a param, the param is being passed in via PHP. Here's what I am trying:
//PHP
$xslt->setParameter('','player',$player);
$xslt->importStylesheet( $XSL );
print $xslt->transformToXML( $data );
//xslt
<xsl:param name="player" data-type="number"/>
<template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="result[$player]/#name" />
</template>
And I know the value of the param is being passed correctly because I can just output the value of the param ($player) and it will output the correct value. If I hard code the indexed number "$player" to any number of index I want like below:
<template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="result[2]/#name" />
</template>
it works. So, what I am doing wrong here. Can you not use params/variables to select indexes?
It may be evaluating the value of your xsl:param as a string, rather than a number. You can try explicitly converting it to a number using the number() function.
<xsl:value-of select="result[number($player)]/#name" />
The predicate filter specifying a number is short-hand for [position()=$param]. You can use xsl:param inside the predicate filter, like this, and it will evaluate the xsl:param value as a number:
<xsl:value-of select="result[position()=$player]/#name" />
If I hard code the indexed number
"$player" to any number of index I
want like below:
<template match="/">
<xsl:value-of select="result[2]/#name" />
</template>
it works.
No, any compliant XSLT processor will not select anything.
result[2]/#name
is a relative expression against the current node, and the current node is the / -- document-node.
Any well-formed XML document has exactly one top element (never two), therefore
result[2]
is equivalent to:
/result[2]
and doesn't select anything.
Most probably you are dealing with another expression, which you haven't shown (or the template is not matching just /).
Also:
<xsl:param name="player" data-type="number"/>
this is invalid syntax. The <xsl:param> instruction doesn't have a data-type attribute.
In fact, in XSLT 1.0 there isn't any way to specify the type of variables or parameters.
This is why in:
result[$player]/#name
$player is treated as string -- not as an integer.
To achieve the "indexing" you want, use:
result[position()=$player]/#name
The position() function returns a number and this causes the other operand of the = operator to be converted to (and used as) number.