how to merge element using xslt? - xslt

Question

I have an reference type of paragraph with element.
Example
Input file:
<reference>
<emph type="bold">Antony</emph><emph type="bold">,</emph> <emph type="bold">R.</emph>
<emph type="bold">and</emph> <emph type="bold">Micheal</emph><emph type="bold">,</emph> <emph type="bold">V.</emph>
<emph type="italic">reference title</emph></reference>
Output received now:
<p class="reference"><strong>Antony</strong><strong>,</strong> <strong>R.</strong>
<strong>and</strong> <strong>Micheal</strong><strong>,</emph>
<emph type="bold">V.</strong> <em>reference title></em></p>
Required output file:
<p class="reference"><strong>Antony, R. and Micheal, V.</strong> <em>reference title</em></p>
My xslt scripts:
<xsl:template match="reference">
<p class="reference"><xsl:apply-templates/></p>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="emph">
<xsl:if test="#type='bold'">
<strong><xsl:apply-templates/></strong>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="#type='italic'">
<em><xsl:apply-templates/></em>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
What needs to be corrected in xslt to get the <strong> element single time like the required output file?
Please advice anyone..
By,
Antny.

Answer 1

This is an XSLT 1.0 solution:
<xsl:stylesheet
version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
>
<xsl:output method="xml" encoding="utf-8" />
<!-- the identity template copies everything verbatim -->
<xsl:template match="node() | #*">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="node() | #*" />
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<!-- this matches the first <emph> nodes of their kind in a row -->
<xsl:template match="emph[not(#type = preceding-sibling::emph[1]/#type)]">
<xsl:variable name="elementname">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="#type='bold'">strong</xsl:when>
<xsl:when test="#type='italic'">em</xsl:when>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:if test="$elementname != ''">
<!-- the first preceding node with a different type is the group separator -->
<xsl:variable
name="boundary"
select="generate-id(preceding-sibling::emph[#type != current()/#type][1])
" />
<xsl:element name="{$elementname}">
<!-- select all <emph> nodes of the row with the same type... -->
<xsl:variable
name="merge"
select=". | following-sibling::emph[
#type = current()/#type
and
generate-id(preceding-sibling::emph[#type != current()/#type][1]) = $boundary
]"
/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="$merge" mode="text" />
</xsl:element>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
<!-- default: keep <emph> nodes out of the identity template mechanism -->
<xsl:template match="emph" />
<!-- <emph> nodes get their special treatment here -->
<xsl:template match="emph" mode="text">
<!-- effectively, this copies the text node via the identity template -->
<xsl:apply-templates />
<!-- copy the first following node - if it is a text node
(this is to get interspersed spaces into the output) -->
<xsl:if test="
generate-id(following-sibling::node()[1])
=
generate-id(following-sibling::text()[1])
">
<xsl:apply-templates select="following-sibling::text()[1]" />
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
It results in:
<reference>
<strong>Antony, R. and Micheal, V.</strong>
<em>reference title</em>
</reference>
I'm not overly happy with
<xsl:variable
name="merge"
select=". | following-sibling::emph[
#type = current()/#type
and
generate-id(preceding-sibling::emph[#type != current()/#type][1]) = $boundary
]"
/>
if someone has a better idea, please tell me.

Answer 2

Here is my method, which uses recursive calls of a template to match elements with the same type.
It first matchs the first 'emph' element, and them recursively calls a template matching 'emph' elements of the same type. Next, it repeats the process matching the next 'emph' element of a type different to the one currently matched.
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output method="html" encoding="utf-8"/>
<!-- Match root element -->
<xsl:template match="reference">
<p class="reference">
<!-- Match first emph element -->
<xsl:apply-templates select="emph[1]"/>
</p>
</xsl:template>
<!-- Used to match first occurence of an emph element for any type -->
<xsl:template match="emph">
<xsl:variable name="elementname">
<xsl:if test="#type='bold'">strong</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="#type='italic'">em</xsl:if>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:element name="{$elementname}">
<xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="match">
<xsl:with-param name="type" select="#type"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>
</xsl:element>
<!-- Find next emph element with a different type -->
<xsl:apply-templates select="following-sibling::emph[#type!=current()/#type][1]"/>
</xsl:template>
<!-- Used to match emph elements of a specific type -->
<xsl:template match="*" mode="match">
<xsl:param name="type"/>
<xsl:if test="#type = $type">
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="following-sibling::*[1]" mode="match">
<xsl:with-param name="type" select="$type"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Where this currently fails though, is that it doesn't match the whitespace in between the 'emph' elements.