Can I DRY this XSLT for nested categories? - xslt

Question

XSLT available is 1.0.
The XML and XSLT below is for building a dropdown navigation menu for nested categories. The level of categories may vary.
Sample XML:
<data>
<categories-nav>
<section id="11" handle="categories-1">Categories 1</section>
<entry id="65">
<name handle="air-rifles">Air Rifles</name>
<subcategories field-id="50" subsection-id="12" items="2">
<item id="66" quantity="1">
<name handle="rifles">Rifles</name>
<active>Yes</active>
<subcategories field-id="57" subsection-id="13" items="2">
<item id="67" quantity="1">
<name handle="b2-series">B2 Series</name>
<active>Yes</active>
</item>
<item id="112" quantity="1">
<name handle="junior-supergrade">Junior Supergrade</name>
<active>Yes</active>
</item>
</subcategories>
</item>
<item id="111" quantity="1">
<name handle="accessories">Accessories</name>
<active>Yes</active>
<subcategories field-id="57" subsection-id="13" items="0" />
</item>
</subcategories>
</entry>
<entry id="118">
<name handle="pistols">Pistols</name>
</entry>
<entry id="58">
<name handle="bb-softair-guns">BB Softair Guns</name>
</entry>
</categories-nav>
</data>
My current XSLT:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template name="categories-nav-entries" mode="navigation">
<li class="{name/#handle}-{#id}">
<xsl:value-of select="name"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="subcategories" mode="navigation"/>
</li>
</xsl:template>
<!-- level 1 -->
<xsl:template match="/data/categories-nav" mode="navigation">
<ul>
<xsl:apply-templates select="entry" mode="navigation"/>
</ul>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="/data/categories-nav/entry" mode="navigation">
<xsl:call-template name="categories-nav-entries" mode="navigation"/>
</xsl:template>
<!-- level 2 -->
<xsl:template match="/data/categories-nav/entry/subcategories" mode="navigation">
<ul>
<xsl:apply-templates select="item" mode="navigation"/>
</ul>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="/data/categories-nav/entry/subcategories/item" mode="navigation">
<xsl:call-template name="categories-nav-entries" mode="navigation"/>
</xsl:template>
<!-- level 3 -->
<xsl:template match="/data/categories-nav/entry/subcategories/item/subcategories" mode="navigation">
<ul>
<xsl:apply-templates select="item" mode="navigation"/>
</ul>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="/data/categories-nav/entry/subcategories/item/subcategories/item" mode="navigation">
<xsl:call-template name="categories-nav-entries" mode="navigation"/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
The only difference between the matches for the three different levels is repeated subcategories and item nodes.
I've successfully got the lis in their own named template, but is there a way I can avoid matching the three levels separately?
Also, it seems that because I'm using a mode on the initial match, I also have to use that mode on all subsequent matches - is that correct?
Edit: here's what I came up with after using relative paths as #michael's answer:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template name="categories-nav-list">
<li class="{name/#handle}">
<xsl:value-of select="name"/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="subcategories[#items > 0]"/>
</li>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="categories-nav">
<ul>
<xsl:apply-templates select="entry"/>
</ul>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="categories-nav/entry">
<xsl:call-template name="categories-nav-list"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="categories-nav//subcategories[item/active='Yes']">
<ul>
<xsl:apply-templates select="item"/>
</ul>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="categories-nav//subcategories/item[active='Yes']" priority="1">
<xsl:call-template name="categories-nav-list"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="categories-nav//subcategories/item" priority="0"/>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Answer 1

You don't need to put absolute paths in each #match attribute.
Why not something like this:
<xsl:template match="subcategories">
<ul>
<xsl:apply-templates select="item"/>
</ul>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="item">
<xsl:call-template name="categories-nav-entries"/>
</xsl:template>