Howto handle a XML with namespaces?

Question

If I have this xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<env:Envelope>
<m:RgWsPublicFirmActRtUser>
      <m:firmActDescr>ΑΛΛΟ ΛΙΑΝΙΚΟ ΕΜΠΟΡΙΟ ΣΕ ΜΗ ΕΞΕΙΔΙΚΕΥΜΕΝΑ ΚΑΤΑΣΤΗΜΑΤΑ</m:firmActDescr>
      <m:firmActKind>2</m:firmActKind>
      <m:firmActKindDescr>ΔΕΥΤΕΡΕΥΟΥΣΑ</m:firmActKindDescr>
      <m:firmActCode>47191000</m:firmActCode>
   </m:RgWsPublicFirmActRtUser>

   <m:RgWsPublicFirmActRtUser>
      <m:firmActDescr>ΛΙΑΝΙΚΟ ΕΜΠΟΡΙΟ ΕΙΔΩΝ ΔΩΡΩΝ ΓΕΝΙΚΑ</m:firmActDescr>
      <m:firmActKind>2</m:firmActKind>
      <m:firmActKindDescr>ΔΕΥΤΕΡΕΥΟΥΣΑ</m:firmActKindDescr>
      <m:firmActCode>47191008</m:firmActCode>
   </m:RgWsPublicFirmActRtUser>
</env:Envelope>

And I use this XSLT:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">
  <html>
  <body>
  <h3>Δραστηριότητες</h3>
    <table border="1">
      <tr bgcolor="#9acd32">
        <th style="text-align:left">Δραστηριότητα</th>
        <th style="text-align:left">Αριθμός δραστηριότητας</th>
        <th style="text-align:left">Περιγραφή δραστηριότητας</th>
        <th style="text-align:left">Κωδικός δραστηριότητας</th>
      </tr>
      <xsl:for-each select="Envelope/RgWsPublicFirmActRtUser">
      <tr>
        <td><xsl:value-of select="firmActDescr"/></td>
        <td><xsl:value-of select="firmActKind"/></td>
        <td><xsl:value-of select="firmActKindDescr"/></td>
        <td><xsl:value-of select="firmActCode"/></td>
      </tr>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </table>
  </body>
  </html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

All works fine, but when I have a namespace in the input XML:

<env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:m="http://gr/gsis/rgwspublic/RgWsPublic.wsdl" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

Instead of no namespaces:

<env:Envelope>

The XSLT won't work

My problem is that the XML is received from a 3rd party and I can't control the content. I need to process it as it is. Maybe I can replace the big env:Envelope and the small env:Envelope within an inside server process, but is there anyway I can make the XSLT work without changing the XML?

Ian Roberts · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-23 13:09:25Z

1

To match namespaced elements in XSLT you have to declare a namespace prefix in the stylesheet for the same namespace URI, and use that prefix in your XPath expressions:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
      xmlns:env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
      xmlns:m="http://gr/gsis/rgwspublic/RgWsPublic.wsdl">

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <!-- ... -->
    <xsl:for-each select="env:Envelope/m:RgWsPublicFirmActRtUser">

(m: namespace URI taken from your comment). Namespace URIs do not have to be real URLs that a browser can fetch, they are simply treated as unique identifiers for the namespace. Some XML technologies use "URN" identifiers for their namespaces (like urn:example:namespace) instead of http URLs.

edited Jun 23, 2014 at 13:09

answered Jun 23, 2014 at 12:35

Ian Roberts

123k17 gold badges177 silver badges191 bronze badges

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

1 Comment

user2670708 Over a year ago

the m url is <m:rgWsPublicAfmMethodResponse xmlns:m="gr/gsis/rgwspublic/RgWsPublic.wsdl"> but its strange i cant find that url type of url

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Howto handle a XML with namespaces?

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related