show list as table in xsl-fo - xslt

Question

I'm trying to render this list as a table in xsl-fo
<ul class="tablelist">
<li class="a">A</li>
<li class="a">A
</li>
<li class="b">B
</li>
<li class="b">B
</li>
<li class="a">A</li>
<li class="b">B</li>
<li class="a">A</li>
</ul>
All the ones with class A in the left column, all the ones with class B in the right column.
My current solution:
<fo:table>
<fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="30mm"/>
<fo:table-column column-number="2" />
<fo:table-body>
<xsl:for-each select="li[#class='a']">
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell column-number="1">
<fo:block>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="li[#class='b']">
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell column-number="2">
<fo:block>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
</xsl:for-each>
</fo:table-body>
</fo:table>
... doesnt work, of course. What would I need to change?
Thanks for help!
EDIT:
Desired output in this case would be:
<fo:table>
<fo:table-body>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>
A
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>
B
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>
A
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>
B
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>
A
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>
B
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block>
A
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell>
<fo:block/
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
</fo:table-body>
</fo:table>
because there are four class="a" and three class="b"elements. So, 4 rows in total, in 4 rows the left cell is A and in three of those rows, the right column is B.
Hope, it is a bit clearer now!

Answer 1

Here's another way you could look at it:
XSLT 1.0
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output method="xml" version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<table>
<xsl:call-template name="generate-rows">
<xsl:with-param name="left" select="ul/li[#class='a']"/>
<xsl:with-param name="right" select="ul/li[#class='b']"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</table>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="generate-rows">
<xsl:param name="left"/>
<xsl:param name="right"/>
<xsl:param name="i" select="1"/>
<xsl:if test="$i <= count($left) or $i <= count($right)">
<row>
<cell><xsl:value-of select="$left[$i]"/></cell>
<cell><xsl:value-of select="$right[$i]"/></cell>
</row>
<xsl:call-template name="generate-rows">
<xsl:with-param name="left" select="$left"/>
<xsl:with-param name="right" select="$right"/>
<xsl:with-param name="i" select="$i + 1"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Answer 2

One option is to use position() to apply-templates to the element with the opposite class that's in the same position.
If you know that there will always be more a class elements than b class elements (or if you don't care what happens to the remaining b class elements), you could do something like this:
<xsl:template match="ul[#class='tablelist']">
<fo:table>
<fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="30mm"/>
<fo:table-column column-number="2" />
<fo:table-body>
<xsl:for-each select="li[#class='a']">
<xsl:variable name="pos" select="position()"/>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell column-number="1">
<fo:block>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell column-number="2">
<fo:block>
<xsl:apply-templates select="../li[#class='b'][position()=$pos]"/>
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
</xsl:for-each>
</fo:table-body>
</fo:table>
</xsl:template>
If you do care about those b class elements, when there are more b than a, you could do something like this:
<xsl:template match="ul[#class='tablelist']">
<fo:table>
<fo:table-column column-number="1" column-width="30mm"/>
<fo:table-column column-number="2" />
<fo:table-body>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="count(li[#class='a']) >= count(li[#class='a'])">
<xsl:apply-templates select="li[#class='a']" mode="createRow"/>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:apply-templates select="li[#class='b']" mode="createRow"/>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</fo:table-body>
</fo:table>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="li[#class='a']" mode="createRow">
<xsl:variable name="pos" select="position()"/>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell column-number="1">
<fo:block>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell column-number="2">
<fo:block>
<xsl:apply-templates select="../li[#class='b'][position()=$pos]"/>
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="li[#class='b']" mode="createRow">
<xsl:variable name="pos" select="position()"/>
<fo:table-row>
<fo:table-cell column-number="1">
<fo:block>
<xsl:apply-templates select="../li[#class='a'][position()=$pos]"/>
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
<fo:table-cell column-number="2">
<fo:block>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</fo:block>
</fo:table-cell>
</fo:table-row>
</xsl:template>