XML / XSL

Different XSD representation of an element.

13-Jul-09 13:19

You've probably hit most of the reasons you might not want to use XML. Couple of other reasons to use XML - a) not having to write your own parsing code and b) XML files explicitly define the encoding they use.

This design decision doesn't seem to be so important that you want to take too much effort over it. Using XML's a no-brainer, really, IMO.

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

Comp_Users11-Jul-09 7:12

Comp_Users

11-Jul-09 7:12

Hi All,

I used an Altova XMLSpy tool generate an XSD file for my XML file.
The xsd equivalent for an simple xml element "Mfg" generated via the tool was

<xs:element name="Mfg">
<xs:simpleType>
     <xs:restriction base="xs:string">
     </xs:restriction>
   </xs:simpleType>
 </xs:element>

I found out that modifying the above xsd to the one below just works fine.

<xs:element name="Mfg" type="xs:string"/>

Just wanted to know if these 2 XSD representations for the xml element are the same or are they different.

Do the elements xs:simpleType, xs:restriction above have any signifance int he above mentioned scenario?
(Actually tried going through MSDN but conldn't infer much info).

It would be of great help if somebody points out the differences between the 2 if any and brief on it's significance.

Re: Different XSD representation of an element.

Stuart Dootson11-Jul-09 7:38

Re: Different XSD representation of an element.

11-Jul-09 7:38

They are exactly the same because the restriction specified doesn't actually restrict the base type (i.e. xs:string). Here's an example of a restriction on a string using a regular expression pattern that could be used as a variable or type name:

<xs:simpleType>
  <xs:restriction baseType="xs:string">
    <xs:pattern value="[A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9_]*"/>
  </xs:restriction>
</xs:simpleType>

[edit]I recommend downloading the Essential XML Quick Reference PDF[^], as it's a very easy to use reference to XML technologies, including XSD.[/edit]

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

Comp_Users13-Jul-09 0:54

Comp_Users

13-Jul-09 0:54

Oh. I see.

Thanks for the info.

how to use select result in another select [modified]

daveyerwin9-Jul-09 4:19

daveyerwin

9-Jul-09 4:19

<Root>

<Products>
<Item ItemColor="Red" ItemName="Item1"/>
<Item ItemColor="White" ItemName="Item2"/>
<Item ItemColor="Blue" ItemName="Item2"/>
</Products>

<Desciptions>
<Color ColorName="Red" ColorId="15"/>
<Color ColorName="White" ColorId="14"/>
<Color ColorName="Blue" ColorId="13"/>
</Desciptions>

</Root>

<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:for-each select="Products/Item">
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="ItemColor" /></td>

<td> ? Right here I want the ColorId of the
ColorName that matches ItemColor found by the previous select ?</td>

</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template match="/">

Thank You for reading this post.

modified on Friday, July 10, 2009 6:12 PM

Re: how to use select result in another select

Jeremy Likness9-Jul-09 7:40

Jeremy Likness

9-Jul-09 7:40

Throw the value into a variable then XPath with a condition on the variable, like this:

<xsl:for-each select="Products/Item">
<xsl:variable name="colorname" select="@ItemColor"/>
   <tr>
      <td><xsl:value-of select="$colorname"/></td>
      <td><xsl:value-of select="//Color[@ColorName=$colorname]/@ColorId"/></td>
   </tr>
</xsl:for-each>

Jeremy Likness
http://csharperimage.jeremylikness.com/

Re: how to use select result in another select

daveyerwin9-Jul-09 9:02

daveyerwin

9-Jul-09 9:02

Thanks , you have solved my problem and
enlightened me on the use of variables .
Very much appreciated .

Re: how to use select result in another select

Stuart Dootson9-Jul-09 13:03

Generating multiple files using XSLT 1.0

9-Jul-09 13:03

An alternative solution without variables:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="html"/>

<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:for-each select="//Products/Item">
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@ItemColor" /></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="//Desciptions/Color[@ColorName=current()/@ItemColor]/@ColorId"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

current() retrieves the context node of the scope surrounding the select attribute, i.e. the node currently selected by the for-each element in this case.

Here's another solution, using an XSLT key element. This approach is very useful when there's a large number of things to lookup in.

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="html"/>

<xsl:key name="color-name-to-id" match="//Desciptions/Color/@ColorId" use="../@ColorName"/>

<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:for-each select="//Products/Item">
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@ItemColor" /></td>
<td><xsl:value-of select="key('color-name-to-id', @ItemColor)"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

Fadi Yoosuf8-Jul-09 5:33

Fadi Yoosuf

8-Jul-09 5:33

Hi
I am doing a code generation app. using .Net 3.5.

I wish to know if it is possible to generate multiple code files from a single xslt file.

I know that it can be accomplished in XSLT 2.0 using result-document tag.

Is it possible using XSLT 1.0 ?

Thanks
Fadi

Stuart Dootson8-Jul-09 7:27

8-Jul-09 7:27

Exslt[^] provides the exsl:document[^] element - but that only seems to be implemented in libxslt.

As you're using .NET, though, you could implement something like exsl:document using an Extension Object[^].

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

Fadi Yoosuf8-Jul-09 20:40

Fadi Yoosuf

8-Jul-09 20:40

Thank you Stuart

But can you clarify some more things?

My xml file is

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<bookstore>
  <book genre="autobiography" publicationdate="1981" ISBN="1-861003-11-0">
    <title>The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin</title>
    <author>
      <first-name>Benjamin</first-name>
      <last-name>Franklin</last-name>
    </author>
    <price>8.99</price>
  </book>
  <book genre="novel" publicationdate="1967" ISBN="0-201-63361-2">
    <title>The Confidence Man</title>
    <author>
      <first-name>Herman</first-name>
      <last-name>Melville</last-name>
    </author>
    <price>11.99</price>
  </book>
  <book genre="philosophy" publicationdate="1991" ISBN="1-861001-57-6">
    <title>The Gorgias</title>
    <author>
      <name>Plato</name>
    </author>
    <price>9.99</price>
  </book>
</bookstore>

My xslt file is

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:output="urn:output">

  <xsl:template match="bookstore">
    <bookstore>
      <xsl:for-each select="book">
        <book>
          <xsl:copy-of select="node()"/>
          <new-price>
            <xsl:value-of select="output:SaveOutput(@genre, node())"/>
          </new-price>
        </book>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </bookstore>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

C# code goes like

private void ExtensionTest()
{
            XslCompiledTransform xslt = new XslCompiledTransform();
            xslt.Load("extension.xslt");
            XsltArgumentList xslArg = new XsltArgumentList();

            OutputSaver obj = new OutputSaver();
            xslArg.AddExtensionObject("urn:output", obj);
            using (XmlWriter w = XmlWriter.Create("output.xml"))
            {
                xslt.Transform("books.xml", xslArg, w);
            }
}
 public class OutputSaver
 {
        public void SaveOutput(string fileName, string node)
        {
            StreamWriter s = new StreamWriter(fileName);
            s.Write(node);
            s.Flush();
        }
 }

Now I have 2 issues
* How to pass the xslt node content to SaveOutput method in c#
* How avoid specifying an output file in Trnasform method of XslCompiledTransform (This is to avoid generating an addtional file with the files generated using extennsion method)

Thank you
Fadi

Fadi Yoosuf8-Jul-09 20:45

Fadi Yoosuf

8-Jul-09 20:45

I got one more query. Will it be possible by embedding script in xslt?

I tried the following way

Xslt file

?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
    xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" exclude-result-prefixes="msxsl"
    xmlns:user="urn:myscripts"
>
    <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

  <msxsl:script language="C#" implements-prefix="user">
    <![CDATA[
    public void SaveOutput(string fileName)
    {
    
      System.IO.TextWriter t = new System.IO.StreamWriter(fileName);
      t.Write("got it");
      t.Flush();
    }
    ]]>
  </msxsl:script>


  <xsl:template match="@* | node()">
    <xsl:value-of select="user:SaveOutput('d:\testing.txt')"/>
        
    </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

My C# code is

private void ScriptTest()
{
    XsltSettings settings = new XsltSettings();
    settings.EnableScript = true;

    XslCompiledTransform trs = new XslCompiledTransform();
    trs.Load("Custom.xslt", settings, new XmlUrlResolver());
    StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(@"e:\samples.txt");
    trs.Transform(@"E:\\9.xml", null, writer);

    writer.Flush();
    writer.Close();
}

But when I run the code, I get en error like
IOException unhandled - The device is not ready

Thank you
Fadi

Stuart Dootson9-Jul-09 0:23

9-Jul-09 0:23

I remembered that there's an Exslt implementation for .NET[^] - you can use the exsl:document() support it contains[^].

Easier than trying to write your own...

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

XSL Sort

bbm2k35-Jul-09 9:31

bbm2k3

5-Jul-09 9:31

Hello all,

I am rendering my page using XSL.At place I am using sorting using xsl sort.But this need to be dynamic i e user can sort by some specific fiend by his own choice.

So I have to put select as dynamic which I am passing to xsl as a parameter as
<code><xsl:param name="SortName" select="Name" />
<xsl:param name="SortDataType" select="text" /></code>

Now I am accessing these parameter in xsl:sort tag as
<code> <xsl:sort select="$SortName" data-type='{$SortDataType}'/></code>

but its not working...

Waiting for your reply..

Re: XSL Sort

Stuart Dootson5-Jul-09 11:51

5-Jul-09 11:51

If SortName is the name of an element, try something like this:

<xsl:sort select="./*[name()=$SortName]"/>

[edit]Or if SortName is the name of an attribute, then use this:

<xsl:sort select="./@*[name()=$SortName]"/>

[/edit]

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

Rss Implemetation

ksss_maheshece3-Jul-09 2:05

ksss_maheshece

3-Jul-09 2:05

Hello friends,

How can i implement RSS feeds in wy website.
Thanks in ADvance.

With regards,
MAHESH.K

Re: Rss Implemetation [modified]

DoctorMick3-Jul-09 2:41

DoctorMick

3-Jul-09 2:41

Have you tried google yet?

ksss_maheshece3-Jul-09 2:55

ksss_maheshece

3-Jul-09 2:55

I've tried more and found out how to create xml.but i didn't get how to implement in my web page

modified on Friday, July 3, 2009 9:11 AM

Stuart Dootson3-Jul-09 3:44

3-Jul-09 3:44

An RSS feed will have an associated URL that will fetch the XML making up the RSS feed. You web site should respond to requests for that URL by returning the RSS's XML. Not tricky.

Java, Basic, who cares - it's all a bunch of tree-hugging hippy cr*p

K03063-Jul-09 18:53

K0306

3-Jul-09 18:53

Try this code for RSS feeds.

<div align="center">
<asp:XmlDataSource ID="XmlDataSource1" runat="server" DataFile="http://www.hindu.com/rss/07hdline.xml"
XPath="rss/channel/item"></asp:XmlDataSource>
 </div>
<div align="center">
<asp:DataList ID="DataList1" runat="server" BackColor="White" BorderColor="#DEDFDE"
BorderStyle="None" BorderWidth="1px" CellPadding="4" DataSourceID="XmlDataSource1"
ForeColor="Black" GridLines="Vertical" Width="500px">
<FooterStyle BackColor="#CCCC99" />
<SelectedItemStyle BackColor="#CE5D5A" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
<AlternatingItemStyle BackColor="White" />
<ItemStyle BackColor="#F7F7DE" />
<HeaderStyle BackColor="#6B696B" Font-Bold="True" ForeColor="White" />
<ItemTemplate>
<asp:Label Text="Title : " Font-Bold="true" ForeColor="blue" ID="lbltitle" runat="server"></asp:Label><%#XPath("title")%>
<hr color="#0099ff" />
<asp:Label Text="Link : " Font-Bold="true" ForeColor="blue" ID="Label1" runat="server"></asp:Label><a target="_blank" href='<%#XPath("link")%>' ><%#XPath("link")%></a>
<hr color="#0099ff" />
<asp:Label Text="Description : " Font-Bold="true" ForeColor="blue" ID="Label2" runat="server"></asp:Label><%#XPath("description")%><br />
<hr color="#0099ff" />
<asp:Label Text="Published Date : " Font-Bold="true" ForeColor="blue" ID="Label3" runat="server"></asp:Label><%#XPath("pubDate")%><br />
<hr color="#0099ff" /> <br />

</ItemTemplate>
</asp:DataList>
</div>

you should specify the DataFile and XPath in "asp:XmlDataSource" - you should get these information from any RSS provided websites.

ksss_maheshece3-Jul-09 21:50

ksss_maheshece

3-Jul-09 21:50

Thank u Mr.KKarthik2000. It is really helpful for me.Now only i get a clear concept of Rss.Thank u once again.I have no words to greet u.

desktop news ticker

dahras2-Jul-09 8:43

dahras

2-Jul-09 8:43

hello friends

i wanna make a dektop news ticker which rotates my personal news or message worldwide whenever that particular application is installed on any pc . DESKTOP NEWS TICKER by www.mioplant.com provides an easy way 2 build but i'm not getting that.

it uses some rss feeds and xml kind of fundas plz tell how to rotate the information which can be changed time 2 time anytime.

thanks

Running an exe file

Bram van Kampen1-Jul-09 14:52

Bram van Kampen

1-Jul-09 14:52

How do I start a win32 EXE on a client computer, via html sent from the server. (Background: I want a portion of a Site to be Only accessible from registered hardware. (technical Support Terminals etc, Not the General Public)All registered Hardware will have software installed to identify itself. Now How do I Run the bespoke Software from a HTML File.

Regards,
Smile | :)

Bram van Kampen

Re: Running an exe file

Stuart Dootson1-Jul-09 21:26