newbie XPath problem

12-28-2004

Hi,

I have an XML file I'm trying to prep for viewing through a web-browser
using XSL. I have sucessfully applied the stylesheet to the XML file, and
it displays, but I'm unable to properly test element values using
<xsl:choose> and <xsl:when> control structures.

Here's an example of what my XML file looks like:
========= XML =========
<zonecheck>
<domain>
<fqdn>fully-qualified-domain-name.com</fqdn>
<arecords>
<valid>false</valid>
</arecords>
<mxrecords>
<valid>true</valid>
<address>152.89.132.250</address>
</mxrecords>
<nsrecords>
<valid>false</valid>
</nsrecords>
</domain>
<domain>
.....
.....
</domain>
</zonecheck>
========= XML =========
And here is the stylesheet:
======Stylesheet=======
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" type="text/xsl"
xmlns

sl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">

<html>
<head>
<title>DNS report</title>
</head>

<body>

<table>

<tr>
<th>Domain</th><th>A Records</th><th>MX Records</th><th>NS Records</th>
</tr>

<xsl:for-each select="zonecheck/domain">
<xsl:sort select="fqdn" />

<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="fqdn" /></td>

<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="arecords/valid = 'true'">
<td bgcolor="00ff33"><xsl:value-of select="arecords/valid"
/></td>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:when test="arecords/valid = 'false'">
<td bgcolor="ff0033"><xsl:value-of select="arecords/valid"
/></td>
</xsl:when>
<xsl

therwise>
<td><xsl:value-of select="arecords/valid" /></td>
</xsl

therwise>
</xsl:choose>

<xsl:choose>

</xsl:choose>

<xsl:choose>

</xsl:choose>

</tr>

</xsl:for-each>

</table>

</body>
</html>

</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>
======Stylesheet=======

The file displays in Mozilla (I care less about IE), but it never contains
any of the extra colors that the <xsl:choose> structure is trying to add (in
other words, it always uses the <xsl

therwise> option). As far as I can
tell, the problem is with my knowledge of XPath, and I'm wondering if some
XML genius out there can point out what I have done wrong in my stylesheet.

Thanks in advance...

Aidan

12-29-2004

> I have an XML file I'm trying to prep for viewing through a web-browser
> using XSL. I have sucessfully applied the stylesheet to the XML file, and
> it displays, but I'm unable to properly test element values using
> <xsl:choose> and <xsl:when> control structures.
>
Hi,

With your - most likely simplified - XML input, the tests ared done correctly. The problem is probably related to whitespaces in your real XML.

Try to wrap normalize-space() around the node-set you're testing:
<xsl:when test="normalize-space(arecords/valid) = 'true'">

Btw, you don't have to repeat the the whole 'xsl:choose' structure every time, there are other ways to do that: you could use a template or an attribute-set. e.g. something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns

sl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl

utput method="html" indent="yes"/>

<xsl:template match="/">

<html>
<head>
<title>DNS report</title>
</head>

<body>

<table>

<tr>
<th>Domain</th><th>A Records</th><th>MX Records</th><th>NS Records</th>
</tr>

<xsl:for-each select="zonecheck/domain">
<xsl:sort select="fqdn" />
<tr>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="fqdn" />
</td>
<td xsl:use-attribute-sets="style">
<xsl:value-of select="arecords/valid" />
</td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>

</table>

</body>
</html>

</xsl:template>

<xsl:attribute-set name="style">
<xsl:attribute name="bgcolor">
<xsl:if test="normalize-space(descendant::valid) = 'true'">00ff33</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="normalize-space(descendant::valid) = 'false'">ff0033</xsl:if>
</xsl:attribute>
</xsl:attribute-set>

</xsl:stylesheet>

Finally, since the coloring problem is related to visual appearance, I'd rather recommend to use Cascading stylesheets. example: you could add a class attribute to the 'td' element with values 'valid' or 'unvalid' and leave the coloring (or more complex visual appearance) over to CSS.

regards,

--
Joris Gillis (http://www.ticalc.org/cgi-bin/acct-v...i?userid=38041)

12-30-2004

Hi Joris,

Thank you for your enlightening reply...

I've achieved the effect I was aiming for by using <xsl:attribute-set> to
create id attribute's in the <td> tags, that were assigned the value of
their respective <valid> elements, and then used these to change the
background color via CSS.

Thanks again... you really helped me alot (opened my eyes to a multitude of
ways to get things done).

Regards,

Aidan

"Joris Gillis" <> wrote in message
news

...
>> I have an XML file I'm trying to prep for viewing through a web-browser
>> using XSL. I have sucessfully applied the stylesheet to the XML file,
>> and
>> it displays, but I'm unable to properly test element values using
>> <xsl:choose> and <xsl:when> control structures.
>>
> Hi,
>
> With your - most likely simplified - XML input, the tests ared done
> correctly. The problem is probably related to whitespaces in your real
> XML.
>
> Try to wrap normalize-space() around the node-set you're testing:
> <xsl:when test="normalize-space(arecords/valid) = 'true'">
>
>
> Btw, you don't have to repeat the the whole 'xsl:choose' structure every
> time, there are other ways to do that: you could use a template or an
> attribute-set. e.g. something like this:
>
> <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
> xmlns

sl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
>
> <xsl

utput method="html" indent="yes"/>
>
> <xsl:template match="/">
>
> <html>
> <head>
> <title>DNS report</title>
> </head>
>
> <body>
>
> <table>
>
> <tr>
> <th>Domain</th><th>A Records</th><th>MX Records</th><th>NS Records</th>
> </tr>
>
> <xsl:for-each select="zonecheck/domain">
> <xsl:sort select="fqdn" />
> <tr>
> <td>
> <xsl:value-of select="fqdn" />
> </td>
> <td xsl:use-attribute-sets="style">
> <xsl:value-of select="arecords/valid" />
> </td>
> </tr>
> </xsl:for-each>
>
> </table>
>
> </body>
> </html>
>
> </xsl:template>
>
> <xsl:attribute-set name="style">
> <xsl:attribute name="bgcolor">
> <xsl:if test="normalize-space(descendant::valid) = 'true'">00ff33</xsl:if>
> <xsl:if test="normalize-space(descendant::valid) =
> 'false'">ff0033</xsl:if>
> </xsl:attribute>
> </xsl:attribute-set>
>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
>
> Finally, since the coloring problem is related to visual appearance, I'd
> rather recommend to use Cascading stylesheets. example: you could add a
> class attribute to the 'td' element with values 'valid' or 'unvalid' and
> leave the coloring (or more complex visual appearance) over to CSS.
>
>
> regards,
>
> --
> Joris Gillis (http://www.ticalc.org/cgi-bin/acct-v...i?userid=38041)

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
"Memory leak" in javax.xml.xpath.XPath	Marvin_123456	Java	4	07-29-2005 03:49 PM
XPath: efficiency in xpath expressions	Tjerk Wolterink	XML	1	11-13-2004 06:03 PM
Are there any XPath parsers that generate XPath trees?	goog	XML	0	01-14-2004 01:47 PM
XPath that does not include other XPath	Anna	XML	0	07-31-2003 07:55 AM
Problem selecting a node with XPATH if attribute value contains backslashes - how to force XPATH string to be treated as literal?	Alastair Cameron	XML	1	07-08-2003 07:24 PM