Create Empty element using XSLT 1.0

In Saxon you have to change the output method to "html".

Example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
  <xsl:output method="html" indent="yes"/>
  <xsl:template match="/">
    <values>
      <field name="abc"></field>
      <field name="nch"></field>
    </values>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Here´s a workearound that works for vs2010.

Example 1:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>
  <xsl:template match="/">
    <values>
      <field name="abc">
        <xsl:value-of select="substring-before(' ',' ')"/>
      </field>
      <field name="nch">
        <xsl:value-of select="substring-before(' ',' ')"/>
      </field>
    </values>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Example 2:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>
  <xsl:template match="/">
    <xsl:element name="values">
      <xsl:element name="filed">
        <xsl:attribute name="name">abc</xsl:attribute>
        <xsl:value-of select="substring-before(' ',' ')"/>
      </xsl:element>
      <xsl:element name="filed">
        <xsl:attribute name="name">nch</xsl:attribute>
        <xsl:value-of select="substring-before(' ',' ')"/>
      </xsl:element>
    </xsl:element>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Output:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<values>
  <filed name="abc"></filed>
  <filed name="nch"></filed>
</values>

The difference between <x></x> and <x/> is purely lexical and generally cannot be controlled by the XSLT processor, because the final output is performed by the Serializer.

With some XSLT processors (using their built-in serializers), it may be possible to output the full form of an empty element. However, with other processors, such as Saxon, this isn't (easily) possible.