simple loop in xslt

Question

Having trouble figuring out a simple XSLT loop that counts and returns the name of the actor.

<stars>
  <star ID="001">Leonardo DiCaprio</star>
  <star ID="002">Matt Damon</star>
  <star ID="003">Jack Nicholson</star>
</stars>

This is what I made to give the result I wanted but if there was a fourth or fifth actor I would need to add to the code.

<xsl:value-of select="stars/star[@ID='001']"/>
<xsl:text>, </xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="stars/star[@ID='002']"/>
<xsl:text>, </xsl:text>
<xsl:value-of select="stars/star[@ID='003']"/>

Basically I need the loop to display the name of the star separated by a comma. Any help is appreciated.

Good question, +1. See my answer for the simplest solution of all. Note that not a single explicit conditional XSLT instruction or any xsl:for-each needs to be used. :) — Dimitre Novatchev
– Dimitre Novatchev, Commented Aug 12, 2011 at 13:09

Oded · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-12 10:38:42Z

2

Use a template instead of looping. XSLT processors are optimized for template matching.

<xsl:template match="star">
  <xsl:value-of select="." />
  <xsl:if test="position() != last()">
    <xsl:text>, </xsl:text>
  </xsl:if>
</xsl:template>

edited Aug 12, 2011 at 10:38

answered Aug 12, 2011 at 8:29

Oded

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1 Comment

Tim C Over a year ago

You'll probably need a check for the last star node to prevent an unnecessary comma being put on the end.

Emiliano Poggi · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-12 09:33:33Z

1

You can use repetition instruction (without any worry about performance):

<xsl:template match="stars">
    <xsl:value-of select="star[1]"/>
    <xsl:for-each select="star[position()>1]">
        <xsl:value-of select="concat(', ',.)"/>
    </xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>

gets:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson

answered Aug 12, 2011 at 9:33

Emiliano Poggi

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Comments

Dimitre Novatchev · Accepted Answer · 2011-08-12 13:07:38Z

1

This is probably one of the simplest transformations -- note that there is neither need for xsl:for-each nor for any explicit XSLT conditional instruction:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
 xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
 <xsl:output method="text"/>
 <xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>

 <xsl:template match="star[position() >1]">
  <xsl:text>, </xsl:text><xsl:apply-templates/>
 </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

when applied on the provided source XML document:

<stars>
    <star ID="001">Leonardo DiCaprio</star>
    <star ID="002">Matt Damon</star>
    <star ID="003">Jack Nicholson</star>
</stars>

the wanted, correct output is produced:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson

answered Aug 12, 2011 at 13:07

Dimitre Novatchev

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