Retrieve XML attribute value using XSLT

Question

I have been tasked with building an XSLT file using a specific set of XML. The only problem is I have never used XSLT or XML. I have been digging through it for the last few hours and have hit my first real roadblock.

I need to return or print a value based on a given attribute in a specific XML node.

XML:

<Numbers>
    <Products productCode="RSD">
        <Value>54.99</Value>
        <Value>12.35</Value>
        <Value>8.00</Value>
        <Value>9.99</Value>
    </Products>
</Numbers>

I need my XSLT transform to produce a heading based on the productCode attribute (so that it can be placed in a table for better legibility). I am a JavaScript developer so in essence I am looking for the equivalent of

if(productCode === "RSD"){
    this.html("Product Heading");
}

I am completely out of my comfort zone here so any tips/pointers/advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank You!

What do you plan to do with the values? Place them in a table? — helderdarocha
– helderdarocha, Commented May 24, 2014 at 16:13
Yes, I plan on placing them in a table. The goal is to make our feed more legible. — Andrew Hill
– Andrew Hill, Commented May 24, 2014 at 16:15
I provided an example. You might be able to use it as a starting point. — helderdarocha
– helderdarocha, Commented May 24, 2014 at 16:27

helderdarocha · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-24 16:24:39Z

1

If you apply your source XML to this stylesheet:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
    <xsl:output indent="yes"/>

    <xsl:template match="Products[@productCode='RSD']">
        <h1>Product Heading</h1>
        <table border='1'>
            <xsl:apply-templates select="Value"/>
        </table>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="Value">
        <tr><td><xsl:value-of select="."/></td></tr>
    </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

It will generate this HTML fragment:

<h1>Product Heading</h1>
<table border="1">
   <tr>
      <td>54.99</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
      <td>12.35</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
      <td>8.00</td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
      <td>9.99</td>
   </tr>
</table>

The first template uses an XPath expression to match the nodes you are interested in. The contents of the template describe the structure of your result tree. <xsl:apply-templates/> recursively processes the rest of the tree, and if it finds any matching templates it will process them. It uses a relative XPath expression Value to select the nodes named <Value> in the current context (which is <Product>), and will process all four of them. The second template matches that selection and generates the <tr><td> nodes. <xsl:value-of> simply prints the string-value of the nodes (the XPath expression . selects the node in the current context, which in the second template is <Value>.

You can verify and experiment with your example in this Fiddle

answered May 24, 2014 at 16:24

helderdarocha

23.7k4 gold badges52 silver badges66 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

7 Comments

Andrew Hill Over a year ago

This is fantastic and is a huge help in the right direction. I imagine I will run into one or two more snags along the way so I may post a few more comments on here as the day goes by. Thanks for your help.

Andrew Hill Over a year ago

Question: How do I format-number on the XPath expression "."? Right now I am attempting to convert the values to a percentage so that 54.99 becomes 59.44%. I have attempted to use: <tr><td><xsl:value-of select="format-number(.,"%")"/></td></tr>

helderdarocha Over a year ago

If you just need to add the % you can simply place it as text, outside the select: <td><xsl:value-of select="."/>%</td>. You can use format-number to control the number of digits after the decimal point, and to multiply it by 100 (if you include a % inside it), but your data is already formatted, so it's not necessary.

Andrew Hill Over a year ago

Ah of course how simple.. I have clearly been looking at this too long.

helderdarocha Over a year ago

term[@length] prints the value of all the term elements in the current context that have a length attribute (containing any value). term/@length prints the value of the length attribute of the first term element in the context (if there is only one, it's what you want; if there are many elements in the context, and you want to select attributes from the others as well, you can use term[1]/@length, term[2]/@length, etc.

|

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Retrieve XML attribute value using XSLT

1 Answer 1

7 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

7 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related