XML / XSL

Serialization Invalid cast exception

11-Jun-09 22:58

This is how I'd tend to write it - differences are:

I've used CSS, rather than inline styles - my preference
I've used the thead element for the header
I've split up the templates a bit more - if you had more than one report-item-definition in an XML file, that would be useful Also, it makes the context node more obvious, so you don't get issues like the one you had that George pointed out previously.
I've used <xsl:apply-templates select="argument"/> rather than <xsl:for-each select="..."> to output each row of the table. My feeling is that using apply-templates like this is probably better idiomatic XSL than using for-each

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" >

   <xsl:template match ="/">
      <html>
         <style>
            th { text-align: center }
            thead { background-color: #cccccc }
            h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: bold }
         </style>
         <head>
            <title>XML Stylesheet</title>
         </head>
         
         <body>
         <xsl:apply-templates select="report-item-definition"/>
         </body>
      </html>
   </xsl:template>

   <xsl:template match="report-item-definition">
      <h1><xsl:value-of select="item-title" /></h1>
      
      <xsl:apply-templates select="arguments"/>
   </xsl:template>

   <xsl:template match="arguments">
   
      <table width="700" border="1" align="center" style="font-family:verdana font-size:10pt">
   
         <thead>
            <tr>
               <th width="130"><b>Name</b></th> 
               <th><b>Type</b></th>
               <th><b>Default</b></th>
               <th><b>Display Name</b></th>
               <th><b>Description</b></th>
               <th><b>Visible</b></th>
               <th><b>Filter Type</b></th>
            </tr>
         </thead>
   
         <xsl:apply-templates select="argument"/>
         
      </table>
   </xsl:template>
   
   <xsl:template match="argument">
      <tr>
         <td><xsl:value-of select="name" /></td>
         <!--<td><xsl:value-of select="type" /></td>
         <td><xsl:value-of select="default" /></td>
         <td><xsl:value-of select="display-name" /></td>
         <td><xsl:value-of select="descriptions" /></td>
         <td><xsl:value-of select="visible" /></td>
         <td><xsl:value-of select="filter-type" /></td>-->
      </tr>
   </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

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

miniThomas10-Jun-09 20:39

miniThomas

10-Jun-09 20:39

Hi,

I am trying to serialize an object, I am getting exception as

"Unable to cast object Type A to Type B".

Please help me in finding soultion

Thanks,
Mini

Best Regards,
Mini Thomas

Cross Posted

led mike11-Jun-09 4:39

led mike

11-Jun-09 4:39

Don't cross post

Preserving white space in attribute values. (using MSXML)

Maximilien9-Jun-09 7:25

Maximilien

9-Jun-09 7:25

Howdy'

In one of our data XML files, we need to have attribute values preserve white space at the end.

For example :

 <!--  without space -->
<MyTag MyAttribute="a value" />

 <!--  with space -->
<MyTag MyAttribute="a value " />

Are two different attribute values.

I tried using the preserve white space attribute

pXMLDoc->preserveWhiteSpace = VARIANT_TRUE;

but that completely craps out the parsing of the file, for example, sometimes (well, always)
I get the wrong number of items in a node list (IXMLDOMNodeListPtr)

for example, in the following snippet, when preserveWhiteSpace is FALSE, the list count is 2 and when preserveWhiteSpace is TRUE, the list count if 5 (!)

<MESSAGE_LIST>
  <MESSAGE Id="10" Type="Info">
    <FRENCH>Message 10</FRENCH>
  </MESSAGE>
  <MESSAGE Id="11" Type="Info">
    <FRENCH>Message 11</FRENCH>
  </MESSAGE>
</MESSAGE_LIST>

Is there something I can do to MSXML to have the parsing behaviour that I want ? i.e. read significant spaces from an attribute value.

Thanks for any help, tips or hints.

Max.

This signature was proudly tested on animals.

Re: Preserving white space in attribute values. (using MSXML)

Stuart Dootson9-Jun-09 13:44

Re: Preserving white space in attribute values. (using MSXML) [modified]

9-Jun-09 13:44

Maximilien wrote:
for example, in the following snippet, when preserveWhiteSpace is FALSE, the list count is 2 and when preserveWhiteSpace is TRUE, the list count if 5 (!)

That's because there are text nodes in the list - they're the manifestation of the whitespace that's been preserved from the source XML.

I'm not sure that the preserve whitespace option affects attribute values anyway...

Here's some quick test code I wrote that demonstrates correct whitespace handling in attribute values - the value of the arp attribute of the test element is correctly read with a trailing space:

#include "stdafx.h"

#import <progid:Msxml2.DOMDocument.6.0> named_guids
#include <iostream>

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
   ::CoInitialize(0);
   MSXML2::IXMLDOMDocument3Ptr doc;
   doc.CreateInstance(MSXML2::CLSID_DOMDocument60);
   if (VARIANT_FALSE != doc->loadXML(_bstr_t(L"<test arp=\"test \">\n  Hello!\n</test>")))
   {
      MSXML2::IXMLDOMNodeListPtr nodes = doc->childNodes;
      MSXML2::IXMLDOMNodePtr thisNode = nodes->nextNode();

      if (thisNode)
         do 
         {
            std::cout << thisNode->nodeTypeString << " - " << thisNode->text << std::endl;
            MSXML2::IXMLDOMNamedNodeMapPtr attributes = thisNode->attributes;
            {
               MSXML2::IXMLDOMNodePtr thisAttribute = attributes->nextNode();
               if (thisAttribute)
                  do 
                  {
                     std::cout << "  " << thisAttribute->nodeName << " - \"" << _bstr_t(thisAttribute->nodeValue) << "\"" << std::endl;
                  } while (thisAttribute = attributes->nextNode());
            }

         } while (thisNode = nodes->nextNode());
   }
	return 0;
}

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

Maximilien10-Jun-09 3:26

Maximilien

10-Jun-09 3:26

Thanks, I will look at your sample and report back.

Smile | :)

---edit----
Yep, that works.

Thanks.

This signature was proudly tested on animals.

modified on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 9:52 AM

XML / XSL Substring

Brian_Mitchell8-Jun-09 6:16

Brian_Mitchell

8-Jun-09 6:16

I am trying to format my html table as i have a field labeled description with multiple lines and i was wondering is there anyway to format them using a substring function, i would also like them with bullet points any help?

<field name="Description" index="description">
    	This is a test script designed to illustrate DDML features.
	Read some data
	View the data
	Require some libraries (actually we don't, but it shows off some of the functionality)
	Do some funky Emax model stuff ...
	Sample code from <a href="http://www.e-booksdirectory.com/details.php?ebook=1791">An introduction to R</a>
  </field>

Above is a samble of what i want, for each line i want ot use a substring to read each line stick it in a bullet point and move onto the next untill they are also done.

also i need to find away to carry over the link to the html table.

below is sample of my stylesheet.

<table width="700" border="1" align="center" style="font-family:verdana 	font-size:10pt">

		<tr bgcolor = "#cccccc">
			<td width="130" align="center"><b>Title</b></td> 
			<td align="center"><b>Information</b></td>
		</tr>

			<xsl:apply-templates/>

</table>


></xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="field">
<tr>
<td><xsl:value-of select="@name" /></td>

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

</xsl:stylesheet>

I would appreicate any help possible, thank you

Re: XML / XSL Substring

Stuart Dootson8-Jun-09 23:10

8-Jun-09 23:10

One thing I see a problem with immediately - the <a> tag won't be included in the text for <field> - it's a nested tag.

Aside form that, this is roughly what you need:

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


   <xsl:template match="/">
      <xsl:apply-templates select="//field"/>
   </xsl:template>

   <!-- 
      Template for a field element. Apply template for each of its text nodes.
   -->
   <xsl:template match="field">
      <ul>
         <xsl:apply-templates select="text()"/>
      </ul>
   </xsl:template>

   <!-- 
      Template for text() in a field element. Apply the line-splitting algorithm to the text
   -->
   <xsl:template match="/field/text()">
      <xsl:call-template name="t">
         <xsl:with-param name="s" select="."/>
      </xsl:call-template>
   </xsl:template>
  
   <!-- 
      Template t takes one string parameter s. It takes off the first line
      then recurses, terminating when the input parameter is the empty string
   -->
   <xsl:template name="t">
      <xsl:param name="s"/>
      <!--
         Is there any text to process?
      -->
      <xsl:if test="string-length($s)>0">
         <!--
            first = text before the first line break (or null if it's the last, unterminated line)
         -->
         <xsl:variable name="first" select="substring-before($s, '&#xA;')"/>
         <xsl:choose>
            <!--
               Output first if it has content
            -->
            <xsl:when test="string-length($first)>0">
               <li><xsl:value-of select="$first"/></li>
            </xsl:when>
            <xsl:otherwise>
               <!--
                  Output the input string if it doesn't contain a line break
               -->
               <xsl:if test="substring($s,1,1)!='&#xA;'">
                  <li><xsl:value-of select="$s"/></li>
               </xsl:if>
            </xsl:otherwise>
         </xsl:choose>
         <!--
            Recurse, passing in the text after the first line break
         -->
         <xsl:call-template name="t">
            <xsl:with-param name="s" select="substring-after($s, '&#xA;')"/>
         </xsl:call-template>
      </xsl:if>
   </xsl:template>
   
</xsl:stylesheet>

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

CSS...

Jamal Abdul Nasir8-Jun-09 3:11

Jamal Abdul Nasir

8-Jun-09 3:11

--> can v apply CSS on XML sheet?

--> if ya den how?

J A Nasir K

Christian Graus8-Jun-09 18:08

8-Jun-09 18:08

This is a stupid question. Even if it was written in English, it would still be stupid. How is a plain XML document displayed, that it would interact with CSS ?

Christian Graus

Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista.

"! i don't exactly like or do programming and it only gives me a headache." - spotted in VB forums.

I can do things with my brain that I can't even google. I can flex the front part of my brain instantly anytime I want. It can be exhausting and it even causes me vision problems for some reason. - CaptainSeeSharp

Stuart Dootson8-Jun-09 22:27

8-Jun-09 22:27

Christian Graus wrote:
How is a plain XML document displayed, that it would interact with CSS ?

Not such a stupid question, Christian - see this example[^]...

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

Christian Graus9-Jun-09 11:17

9-Jun-09 11:17

OK, so the XML basically gets treated as XHTML ? I'd have expected to use XSLT to create that sort of a view.

Stuart Dootson9-Jun-09 13:02

9-Jun-09 13:02

Christian Graus wrote:
OK, so the XML basically gets treated as XHTML

Something like that - I guess each of the elements gets treated a bit like a DIV in HTML, i.e. no implied display semantics.

The 'original' stylesheet language was DSSSL, which was designed for use with SGML (ancestor of XML and HTML). Looking at this DSSSL sample[^], you can (kind of) see a resemblance to CSS. So, I guess there's a parallel link between SGML -> XML/XHTML/HTML on the one side and DSSSL -> CSS on t'other.

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

Stuart Dootson8-Jun-09 22:25

8-Jun-09 22:25

Yes - see here[^]

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

Another boring XML question. URGENT

Jamal Abdul Nasir2-Feb-10 7:58

Jamal Abdul Nasir

2-Feb-10 7:58

thanks alot sir...

J A Nasir K

Etienne_1237-Jun-09 6:15

Etienne_123

7-Jun-09 6:15

Hi
I have 2 XML files. The one looks like the following at the top:

  <?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes" ?> 
- <NewDataSet>

And the other one as follows:

  <?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes" ?> 
- <dsParrys_offoice_furniture xmlns="http://tempuri.org/dsParrys_offoice_furniture.xsd">

I use the following in my XAML to bind to them:

<!--XmlDataProvider used to populate treeview-->
        <XmlDataProvider x:Key="dpNewDS" XPath="*"/>

        <!--ProductRange template-->
        <HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="ProductRange" ItemsSource="{Binding XPath=*}">
            <WrapPanel>
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding XPath=ProductRangeDesc}"/>
            </WrapPanel>
        </HierarchicalDataTemplate>

        <!--Products template-->
        <HierarchicalDataTemplate DataType="Products" ItemsSource ="{Binding XPath=Products}">
            <WrapPanel>
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding XPath=Product}"/>
            </WrapPanel>
        </HierarchicalDataTemplate>

As well as these lines in the code behind file:
NOTE: I specify the path to the XML files using an OpenFileDialog

System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog ofd = new System.Windows.Forms.OpenFileDialog();
            if (ofd.ShowDialog() == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
            {
                string fileName = ofd.FileName;
                XmlDataProvider dp = this.FindResource("dpNewDS") as XmlDataProvider;
                dp.Source = new Uri(fileName);
            }

Now when I select the FIRST XML file my treeview binds fine, but when I select to the 2nd one (the one with the XMLNS defined), it does not bind correctly.
Is there something I should change in my XAML when binding to the 2nd XML file?

Christian Graus8-Jun-09 18:07

8-Jun-09 18:07

Don't say it's urgent. It's not, we really don't care. Did you cross post this, or did you fail to post it in the WPF forum ?

Etienne_1238-Jun-09 23:00

Etienne_123

8-Jun-09 23:00

If you don't have an answer to post, why bother to reply? Seriously. And don't refer to "we" when its just you replying, please.
This HAS got to do with XML by the way, as well as WPF. When I post this sort of question in the WPF forums I get told that I should post it in the XML forum, now when I post it here I get told I should post it in the WPF forum.

Christian Graus9-Jun-09 14:54

9-Jun-09 14:54

Well, I'm sorry that someone told you that, because it seems to me that it has to do with how WPF parses XML, not just XML. So, you'll have more luck in the WPF forum. And I suggest that entirely to try to help you find an answer.

I said 'we' because I'm referring to community standards. It's rude to tell us that your question is urgent. If you can't wait for a free answer, find a way to pay for one.