how to convert nested xml elements to elements with attributes

Question

I have this source XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<Document xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <StartOfTransmission>
        <SenderId>SENDERSID</SenderId>
        <ReceiverId>RECEIVERSID</ReceiverId>
        <TRANSDATE>13-09-2010</TRANSDATE>
        <TRANSTIME>12:00:00</TRANSTIME>
        <SenderReference>1234</SenderReference>
        <ReceiverReference/>
        <ApplicationReference>ORDHDR</ApplicationReference>
    </StartOfTransmission>
    <FileDetails>
        <GenerationNumber>12344</GenerationNumber>
        <VersionNumber>0001</VersionNumber>
        <FileCreationDate>25-04-2008</FileCreationDate>
    </FileDetails>
    <Order>
        <OrderHeader>
            <OrderDate>13-09-2010</OrderDate>
            <OrderTime>16:00:00</OrderTime>
            <OrderReference>Order Ref1</OrderReference>
            <RetailerId>132</RetailerId>
            <LocationDetails>
                <ANACode>5013546167507</ANACode>
                <CustomerLocationCode>16750</CustomerLocationCode>
            </LocationDetails>
        </OrderHeader>
    </Order>
</Document>

and I want it to use a version 2 style sheet to convert into this format

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<a:Document xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://127.0.0.1:8080 http://127.0.0.1:8080/tbattributesxml2.xsd"
          xmlns:a="http://127.0.0.1:8080">
    
    <a:StartOfTransmission SenderId="SENDERSID" ReceiverId="RECEIVERSID" transdatetime="2010-09-13T12:00:00.000" SenderReference="1234" ReceiverReference="" ApplicationReference="ORDHDR"/>
    <a:FileDetails GenerationNumber="12344" VersionNumber="0001" FileCreationDate="2008-04-25T00:00:00.000"/>
    <a:Order>
        <a:OrderHeader orderdate="2010-09-13T16:00:00.000" OrderReference="Order Ref1" RetailerId="132" DeliveryType="CARR" BackOrderFlag="N" OrderType="B" InternetOrderReference="Internet Ref">
            <a:LocationDetails ANACode="5013546167507" CustomerLocationCode="16750"/>
        </a:OrderHeader>
    </a:Order>
</a:Document>

I currently have this stylesheet but for some reason the LocationDetails element is getting formatted as a single block attribute and not its own element called LocationDetails with its own set of attributes. I have tried to follow the formatting set for the previous elements which works for those but i've hit a wall. As always, any help gratefully received.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
    xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
    xmlns:saxon="http://saxon.sf.net/"
    xmlns:a="http://127.0.0.1:8080"
    exclude-result-prefixes="xs"
    version="2.0" >
    
    <xsl:output method="xml" indent="no" />
    <xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
       
    <xsl:template match="Document" >
        <xsl:text>&#xA;</xsl:text>
        <a:Document xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://127.0.0.1:8080 http://127.0.0.1:8080/test/tbattributesxml2.xsd">
            <xsl:apply-templates/>
        </a:Document>
    </xsl:template>
    
    <xsl:template match="StartOfTransmission">
        <xsl:text>&#xA;&#x9;</xsl:text>
        <a:StartOfTransmission transdatetime="{replace(TRANSDATE, '(.{2})-(.{2})-(.{4})', '$3-$2-$1')}T{TRANSTIME}">
            <xsl:apply-templates select="* except(TRANSDATE, TRANSTIME)"/>
        </a:StartOfTransmission>
    </xsl:template> 
    
    <xsl:template match="StartOfTransmission/*">
        <xsl:attribute name="{name()}" select="."/>
    </xsl:template>  
    
    <xsl:template match="FileDetails">
        <xsl:text>&#xA;&#x9;</xsl:text>
        <xsl:variable name="dte" as="xs:string">
            <xsl:value-of select="concat(substring(FileCreationDate, 7, 4), '-', substring(FileCreationDate, 4, 2), '-', substring(FileCreationDate, 1, 2))"/>
        </xsl:variable>
        <xsl:variable name="dateTime" select="concat($dte,'T','00:00:00.000')"/>
        <a:FileDetails FileCreationDate="{$dateTime}">
            <xsl:apply-templates select="* except(FileCreationDate)"/>
        </a:FileDetails>      
    </xsl:template>
    
    <xsl:template match="FileDetails/*">
        <xsl:attribute name="{name()}" select="."/>
    </xsl:template>  
    
    <xsl:template match="Order">
        <xsl:text>&#xA;&#x9;</xsl:text>
        <a:Order>
            <xsl:apply-templates select="*" />
            <xsl:text>&#xA;&#x9;</xsl:text>
        </a:Order>
    </xsl:template>
    

    <xsl:template match="OrderHeader">
        <xsl:text>&#xA;&#x9;&#x9;</xsl:text>       
        <a:OrderHeader >
            <xsl:apply-templates select="*"/>
        </a:OrderHeader>
    </xsl:template>
    
    <xsl:template match="OrderHeader/*">
        <xsl:attribute name="{name()}" select="."/>
        
    </xsl:template>  
    
    <xsl:template match="LocationDetails">
        <xsl:text>&#xA;&#x9;&#x9;&#x9;</xsl:text>
        <a:LocationDetails>
            <xsl:apply-templates select="ANACode"/>
        </a:LocationDetails> 
        
    </xsl:template>
    
    <xsl:template match="LocationDetails/*">
        <xsl:attribute name="{name()}" select="*"/>
    </xsl:template> 
    
</xsl:stylesheet>

This is the incorrect output, the missing orderdate/ordertime to orderdate conversion in the OrderHeader element can be ignored in any answer, its the locationdetails that is the problem.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<a:Document xmlns:a="http://127.0.0.1:8080" xmlns:saxon="http://saxon.sf.net/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://127.0.0.1:8080 http://127.0.0.1:8080/test/tbattributesxml2.xsd">
    <a:StartOfTransmission transdatetime="2010-09-13T12:00:00" SenderId="SENDERSID" ReceiverId="RECEIVERSID" SenderReference="1234" ReceiverReference="" ApplicationReference="ORDHDR"/>
    <a:FileDetails FileCreationDate="2008-04-25T00:00:00.000" GenerationNumber="12344" VersionNumber="0001"/>
    <a:Order>
        <a:OrderHeader OrderDate="13-09-2010" OrderTime="16:00:00" OrderReference="Order Ref1" RetailerId="132" LocationDetails="501354616750716750"/>
    </a:Order></a:Document>

Siebe Jongebloed · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-20 12:10:35Z

1

Option 1

Give LocationDetails template a priority

  <xsl:template match="LocationDetails" priority="2">
    <xsl:text>&#xA;&#x9;&#x9;&#x9;</xsl:text>
    <a:LocationDetails>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="ANACode"/>
    </a:LocationDetails> 
  </xsl:template>

Option 2:

Change this template

  <xsl:template match="OrderHeader/*">
    <xsl:attribute name="{name()}" select="."/>
  </xsl:template>

to this:

  <xsl:template match="OrderHeader/*[not(self::LocationDetails)]">
    <xsl:attribute name="{name()}" select="."/>
  </xsl:template>

answered Jul 20, 2022 at 12:10

Siebe Jongebloed

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3 Comments

Conal Tuohy Over a year ago

Yes raising the template's priority is the key to solving this question! NB also changing the match attribute of the LocationDetails template from LocationDetails to OrderHeader/LocationDetails is a third way to elevate its priority above the more generic OrderHeader/* template. The rules for template priorities are defined here: w3.org/TR/xslt20/#conflict

blm99 Over a year ago

Hi, adding priority="2" results in this the attributes being blank populated <a:LocationDetails ANACode="" CustomerLocationCode=""/></a:OrderHeader>

blm99 Over a year ago

also needed to change the * to "." in here <xsl:template match="LocationDetails/*"> <xsl:attribute name="{name()}" select="*"/> </xsl:template>

michael.hor257k · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-20 12:35:18Z

Not really an answer, just a general note regarding your approach. AFAICT, the bulk of the required transformation could be carried out using only two generic templates:

XSLT 2.0

<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0" 
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:a="http://127.0.0.1:8080">
<xsl:output method="xml" version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>

<xsl:template match="*[*]">
    <xsl:element name="a:{name()}">
        <xsl:apply-templates/>
    </xsl:element>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="*">
    <xsl:attribute name="{name()}" select="."/>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

Applied to your example input, this will return:

Result

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<a:Document xmlns:a="http://127.0.0.1:8080">
   <a:StartOfTransmission SenderId="SENDERSID"
                          ReceiverId="RECEIVERSID"
                          TRANSDATE="13-09-2010"
                          TRANSTIME="12:00:00"
                          SenderReference="1234"
                          ReceiverReference=""
                          ApplicationReference="ORDHDR"/>
   <a:FileDetails GenerationNumber="12344"
                  VersionNumber="0001"
                  FileCreationDate="25-04-2008"/>
   <a:Order>
      <a:OrderHeader OrderDate="13-09-2010"
                     OrderTime="16:00:00"
                     OrderReference="Order Ref1"
                     RetailerId="132">
         <a:LocationDetails ANACode="5013546167507" CustomerLocationCode="16750"/>
      </a:OrderHeader>
   </a:Order>
</a:Document>

Now you just need to add a few more specific templates to handle the exceptions - for example:

<xsl:template match="TRANSDATE">
    <xsl:attribute name="transdatetime" select="concat(replace(., '(.{2})-(.{2})-(.{4})', '$3-$2-$1T'), ../TRANSTIME)"/>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="TRANSTIME"/>

In addition, I cannot see the sense in specifying indent="no" and then adding your own indentation using xsl:text.

i'll take out the indentation at the end. its visually easier for me to compare the generated output with the intended output if the indentations are all the same.

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