Convert XML to HTML using xslt

Question

I developed a java based command line utility that transform an xml into another xml file and generate HTML. In this program I used SAX parser to read the content of source xml into my java object then use JAXB to generate the XML. Right now I'm creating the HTMl file by populating a string for HTML content but it results in hardcoded html codes inside my java class. Based on my research I can do XML to HTML conversion using XSLT. I am new to XSLT. Can anyone help me? Please see samples below. Thanks

XML input:

<Groups>
   <Group>
    <GroupName>GroupA</GroupName>
    <Role>
        <RoleName>Correspondence Team B</RoleName>
        <Functions>
            <Function>CT2 Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL01_My Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL02_My Work</Function>
        </Functions>
    </Role>
</Group>

 <GroupName>GroupB</GroupName>
    <Role>
        <RoleName>Customer Service Rep</RoleName>
        <Functions>
            <Function>CSR Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL01_My Work</Function>
        </Functions>
    </Role>
</Group>
<Group>
    <GroupName>GroupB</GroupName>
    <Role>
        <RoleName>Dispute Advisor</RoleName>
        <Functions>
            <Function>DA Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL01_My Work</Function>
        </Functions>
    </Role>
</Group>
<Group>
    <GroupName>GroupA</GroupName>
    <Role>
        <RoleName>Correspondence Team</RoleName>
        <Functions>
            <Function>CT Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL01_My Work</Function>
        </Functions>
    </Role>
</Group>

<Group>
    <GroupName>GroupB</GroupName>
    <Role>
        <RoleName>Correspondence Team B</RoleName>
        <Functions>
            <Function>CT2 Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL01_My Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL02_My Work</Function>
        </Functions>
    </Role>
</Group>

Desired Html table format:

<table border=1>
    <tr>
        <th>Group Name</th>
        <th>Role Name</th>
        <th>Function Names</th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td rowspan=5>Group A</td>
        <td rowspan=2>Correspondence Team</td>
        <td>CT Work</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>HOL01_My Work</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td rowspan=3>Correspondence Team B</td>
        <td>CT Work</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>HOL01_My Work</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>HOL01_My Work</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td rowspan=0>Group B</td>
        <td rowspan=2>Customer Service Rep</td>
        <td>CSR Work</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>HOL01_My Work</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td rowspan=2>Dispute Advisor</td>
        <td>DA Work</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>HOL01_My Work</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td rowspan=2>Correspondence Team</td>
        <td>CT Work</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>HOL01_My Work</td>
    </tr>
</table>

This looks like a grouping problem to me, which is best tackled with XSLT 2.0 and Saxon 9 (saxon.sourceforge.net/#F9.4HE) these days. Are you able or willing to use XSLT 2.0? Or do you want to use the XSLT 1.0 processor that is part of the Sun/Oracle JRE? — Martin Honnen
– Martin Honnen, Commented Oct 9, 2012 at 10:10

Martin Honnen · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-09 14:59:52Z

Assuming XSLT 2.0 (which you can run with Java with the help of Saxon 9) you can use a stylesheet like

<xsl:stylesheet 
  version="2.0"
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
  xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
  exclude-result-prefixes="xs">

<xsl:output method="html" indent="yes" version="5.0"/>

<xsl:template match="/">
  <html lang="en">
    <head>
      <title>Test</title>
    </head>
    <body>
      <h1>Test</h1>
      <xsl:apply-templates/>
    </body>
  </html>
</xsl:template>


<xsl:template match="Groups">
  <table frame="border" rules="all">
    <thead>
      <th>Group Name</th>
      <th>Role Name</th>
      <th>Function Names</th>
    </thead>
    <tbody>
      <xsl:variable name="groups" as="element(group)*">
        <xsl:for-each-group select="Group" group-by="GroupName">
          <group name="{current-grouping-key()}" size="{count(current-group()/Role/Functions/Function)}">
            <xsl:for-each-group select="current-group()" group-by="Role/RoleName">
              <role name="{current-grouping-key()}" size="{count(current-group()/Role/Functions/Function)}">
                <xsl:copy-of select="current-group()/Role/Functions/Function"/>
              </role>
            </xsl:for-each-group>
          </group>
        </xsl:for-each-group>
      </xsl:variable>
      <xsl:apply-templates select="$groups/role/Function"/>
    </tbody>
  </table>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="group/role/Function">
  <tr>
    <xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="group"/>
    <xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="role"/>
    <td>
      <xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </td>
  </tr>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="group/role[1]/Function[1]" mode="group">
  <th rowspan="{../../@size}">
    <xsl:value-of select="../../@name"/>
  </th>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="group/role[position() gt 1]/Function |
                     group/role[1]/Function[position() gt 1]" mode="group"/>

<xsl:template match="group/role/Function[1]" mode="role">
  <th rowspan="{../@size}">
    <xsl:value-of select="../@name"/>
  </th>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="group/role/Function[position() gt 1]" mode="role"/>

</xsl:stylesheet>

to transform an input document like

<Groups>
   <Group>
    <GroupName>GroupA</GroupName>
    <Role>
        <RoleName>Correspondence Team B</RoleName>
        <Functions>
            <Function>CT2 Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL01_My Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL02_My Work</Function>
        </Functions>
    </Role>
</Group>

<Group>
 <GroupName>GroupB</GroupName>
    <Role>
        <RoleName>Customer Service Rep</RoleName>
        <Functions>
            <Function>CSR Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL01_My Work</Function>
        </Functions>
    </Role>
</Group>
<Group>
    <GroupName>GroupB</GroupName>
    <Role>
        <RoleName>Dispute Advisor</RoleName>
        <Functions>
            <Function>DA Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL01_My Work</Function>
        </Functions>
    </Role>
</Group>
<Group>
    <GroupName>GroupA</GroupName>
    <Role>
        <RoleName>Correspondence Team</RoleName>
        <Functions>
            <Function>CT Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL01_My Work</Function>
        </Functions>
    </Role>
</Group>

<Group>
    <GroupName>GroupB</GroupName>
    <Role>
        <RoleName>Correspondence Team B</RoleName>
        <Functions>
            <Function>CT2 Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL01_My Work</Function>
            <Function>HOL02_My Work</Function>
        </Functions>
    </Role>
</Group>
</Groups>

into HTML5 like

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html lang="en">
   <head>
      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
      <title>Test</title>
   </head>
   <body>
      <h1>Test</h1>
      <table frame="border" rules="all">
         <thead>
            <th>Group Name</th>
            <th>Role Name</th>
            <th>Function Names</th>
         </thead>
         <tbody>
            <tr>
               <th rowspan="5">GroupA</th>
               <th rowspan="3">Correspondence Team B</th>
               <td>CT2 Work</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td>HOL01_My Work</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td>HOL02_My Work</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <th rowspan="2">Correspondence Team</th>
               <td>CT Work</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td>HOL01_My Work</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <th rowspan="7">GroupB</th>
               <th rowspan="2">Customer Service Rep</th>
               <td>CSR Work</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td>HOL01_My Work</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <th rowspan="2">Dispute Advisor</th>
               <td>DA Work</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td>HOL01_My Work</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <th rowspan="3">Correspondence Team B</th>
               <td>CT2 Work</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td>HOL01_My Work</td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
               <td>HOL02_My Work</td>
            </tr>
         </tbody>
      </table>
   </body>
</html>

Thank you Guys for your reply. This is great Martin. I tried your code. At first, it throws error as... "net.sf.saxon.trans.XPathException:Unsupported HTML version: 5.0"... I just removed the specification of the HTML version in the xsl:output element from your code and it works. I learned that this error occurs only in Saxon9 but not in previous versions. Thank you so much.
I tested that stylesheet with Saxon 9.4 HE Java without getting any error so I am astonished that you say you get that error. But you are right, the HTML version is not needed for the stylesheet to output HTML.
I am using SaxonHE 9.4.0.6 to be exact and I am getting that error. So its not occuring in all Saxon 9. Thanks for the added info.
@MartinHonnen: Can you please take a look at stackoverflow.com/questions/30662205/…

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