XSL general question - XML / XSL Discussion Boards

hi George,
thanks for the response. please can u guide me where and how can i use in my application(sample Banking). just i need the idea to implement the technology.

Thanks,
Rahi

If you look at what you do not have in life, you don't have anything,
If you look at what you have in life, you have everything... "

I cannot answer where and how since I don't know your application's requirements. XML is a generic technology, and I don't have the time to list all of its possible uses that you may entertain. Nevertheless, the .NET Framework uses a lot of XML technologies. For example, a dataset object relies on XML technology for database activities on and off-line.

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." --Winston Churchill

thanks once again for ur response. yeah! u r correct. it's a vast subject and u don't have any idea about the application. i will try to findout other way.

Thanks,
Rahi

If you look at what you do not have in life, you don't have anything,
If you look at what you have in life, you have everything... "

Hi Rahi,
Just like you, I'm new to .NET and had a similar question a couple of months ago. While I will not be able to provide a comprehensive answer as to when and where to use XML, I can tell what I've done with it, and maybe it'll help you see one of its uses. I've been working on the client side of an application that uses web services provided by a number of search engines. Before the user can start querying the search engines, he needs to specify some data, such as the names of the supported seach engines to use, the number of queries to submit per engine, the names of the files containing the queries, etc. Squeezing all these options into one interface along with the actual "start-stop-search feature" would make for a busy-looking GUI, especially since the ultimate client does not need to have access to all these options all the time--only to the start-stop-search feature and an options file containing all that info. So as not to hardcode the search options, I split the application in two: if the user has an options file (with all these options set), he can simply specify it in the dialog box and click the "Start Search" button. If there is no such file, he can click on the menu option that starts the other form with the GUI allowing him to fill in the data and create an options file. I use XML to store the data created by the options builder form into the options file. When the user specifies the options file (containing all this data); he only sees a very simple GUI, where he needs to specify the location of the options file and click the "Start Search" button. While the user doesn't mess with XML at all, the application does, since the format helps it access the data in a more organized manner, where I can extract the relevant data, say for the number of queries for Google, Yahoo, or MSN by extracting the data in the options file stored under the tag of "GoogleQueries", "YahooQueries", or "MSNQueries". Hope this makes it a little clearer for you. If not, you may want to grab a book (I used "C# Programming") and take a look at the examples given there.
Vladimir

Thanks for ur response. i got to know some what but u know to be frank i need some more information to apply XML techonolgy in my sample project. please can u tell me the author and publications for C# Programming book where i can find the examples?

Thanks once again for ur response,
Rahi

If you look at what you do not have in life, you don't have anything,
If you look at what you have in life, you have everything... "

You can check out "C# Cookbook" written by Jay Hilyard and Stephen Teilhet: there are a lot of useful examples there. Perhaps, you'll be able to find something that'll suit you.

Good luck!

Vladimir

Hi Shakhtyor,

Thanks for letting me know about this Book!

Thanks,
Rahi

If you look at what you do not have in life, you don't have anything,
If you look at what you have in life, you have everything... "

Hi,

I am new to XSL and I was hoping someone could help me with a problem I am having.

I have an Input.xml file to which I want to apply a xsl stylesheet Style.xsl. I also have a Template.xml file which I want to use as the base for the output file.

At the moment, here is what I have:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<InputRoot>
<elem name="a" AttName='11'></elem>
<elem name="b" AttName='22'></elem>
<elem name="c" AttName='33'></elem>
<elem name="d" AttName='44'></elem>
<elem name="e" AttName='55'></elem>
<elem name="f" AttName='66'></elem>
</InputRoot>


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<TemplateRoot>
<elem name="a" AttName='Ones'></elem>
<elem name="b" AttName='Twos'></elem>
<elem name="c" AttName='Threes'></elem>
<elem name="d" AttName='Fours'></elem>
<elem name="e" AttName='Fives'></elem>
<elem name="f" AttName='Sixes'></elem>
</TemplateRoot>


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

<xsl:variable name="Template" select="document('Template.xml')"/>

<xsl:template match="@* | node()">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="@* | node()"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="elem">
<xsl:variable name="iden" select="@name"/>
<xsl:variable name="attrVal" select="@AttName"/>
<xsl:variable name="newAttrName" select="$Template/TemplateRoot/elem[@name =$iden]/@AttName"/>

<xsl:element name="elem">
<xsl:attribute name="name">
<xsl:value-of select="@name"/>
</xsl:attribute>
<xsl:attribute name="{$newAttrName}">
<xsl:value-of select="$attrVal" />
</xsl:attribute>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<InputRoot>
<elem name="a" Ones="11"/>
<elem name="b" Twos="22"/>
<elem name="c" Threes="33"/>
<elem name="d" Fours="44"/>
<elem name="e" Fives="55"/>
<elem name="f" Sixes="66"/>
</InputRoot>

I seem to be doing this backwards, here is what I want

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<TemplateRoot>
<elem name="a" Ones="11"/>
<elem name="b" Twos="22"/>
<elem name="c" Threes="33"/>
<elem name="d" Fours="44"/>
<elem name="e" Fives="55"/>
<elem name="f" Sixes="66"/>
</TemplateRoot>

Any help would be greatly appreciated

-----------------
Genaro

picazo wrote:
I have an Input.xml file to which I want to apply a xsl stylesheet Style.xsl. I also have a Template.xml file which I want to use as the base for the output file.

So you are trying to use 2 XML files in the XSLT right? There may be support for that in XSLT 2.0 I am not sure. Even if there is there may not be an engine that supports it yet, I don't know. However:

picazo wrote:
I also have a Template.xml file which I want to use as the base for the output

That is what the XSLT is for so you may just be over complicating your solution. You should only need the XSLT file and a single XML input file.

led mike

picazo wrote:

<xsl:template match="@* | node()">
  <xsl:copy>
    <xsl:apply-templates select="@* | node()"/>
  </xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>

This code is really your problem. You should try matching differently. Instead of doing this, try replacing it with:

<xsl:template match="/">  
  <TemplateRoot>
    <xsl:for-each select="InputRoot/elem">
       <xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
    </xsl:for-each>
  </TemplateRoot>
</xsl:template>

The code may not be exactly correct because I was too lazy to test it. I think it's a neat idea to mix two XML files, but it depends on your requirements. In most cases, you would want to adjust the XSL instead of having a template XML file outside, like led mike suggested.

Hi guys,

I've only ever worked with XML, never really designed, so I'm looking for a little advice. I need to design four request message types (and corresponding replies, but that later). I would like to use a standard enclosing document, with a message type attribute or element that then defines how the recipient must treat the rest of the message. I don't know where to start, what guidelines to use for structure, where attributes and where elements etc. Any advice and tips will be appreciated.

Try searching for "XML Schema Best Practices".

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook

www.troschuetz.de

Brady Kelly wrote:
I don't know where to start

Representing data in XML is not that far removed from traditional programming. Design your data just as you would in a C structure. Now that structure can be mostly mirrored in XML.

Brady Kelly wrote:
I would like to use a standard enclosing document, with a message type attribute or element that then defines how the recipient must treat the rest of the message

Take a look at the high level design of SOAP.

Brady Kelly wrote:
where attributes and where elements etc

There is no cookbook approach. The best advice would be to NOT mix "actual data". Meaning don't put some data in text nodes and others in attributes. So if you use text nodes for data then attribute usage should be limited to Metadata usage. Conversely if you are going to have much metadata then using text nodes for the real data might make the XML more readable.

I hope that helps at least a little Smile | :)

led mike

HELP EACH OTHER TO GROW TOGETHER.

You should post a question or an issue if you want an answer.

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." --Winston Churchill

Without access to the source code this is impossible (well legally anyway and depending on the setup illegally as well).

I have no idea what I just said. But my intentions were sincere.

I've got some data already formatted in xml format stored in a single excel cell. I want to export the formatted xml data held in this single cell as a full xml document using excel vba.

Does anyone know how to do this?

Al

You would use MSXML to parse or transform your XML. Use the following link to get started:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/xml/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dno2k3ta/html/odc_xmlinoffice2003_summarydoc.asp[^]

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." --Winston Churchill

Thanks George. I'll take a good look at this.

Al

Hey guys, I was wondering how do I change the settings of a webpage programatically if the page is using an external styles sheet (lets say styles.css).

If I would like to...lets say change the background color in the load event of the page or perhaps the button click event...right now I'm doing that in the html mode by assigning the value directly to the inline style element.

But I'll be creating external style sheets, and would like to grab the values from their programatically in code behind.

Can some one point me to the right direction??

Thanks
~TINA

i don't really understand u, but you can change "styles" using javascript, another way its you read first the css file, and then apply your external styles.

If you are talking about toggling between to different style sets, for example, the easiest way I have found is to change the "class" attribute via javascript. Of course, you should have already created these "classes" in an internal or external style sheet(s).

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." --Winston Churchill

Hello!

Ive got a configfile looking something like this:

name="test"
host="164.9.193.32"
protocol="1.2.3.4" port="89"
application="c:\test\test.exe"
useDefaultCredentials="false"

Im trying to update the config with this:

XmlNode node = null;
XmlNode attrNode = null;
for (int i = 0; i < nodeList.Count; i++)
{
node = nodeList.Item(i);
attrNode = node.Attributes.GetNamedItem("host", "");
attrNode.Value = NewHostValue;
attrNode = node.Attributes.GetNamedItem("port", "");
attrNode.Value = NewPortValue;
attrNode = node.Attributes.GetNamedItem("protocol", "");
attrNode.Value = NewProtocolValue;
attrNode = node.Attributes.GetNamedItem("application", "");
attrNode.Value = NewApplicationValue;
}

But after this is run the data comes out in a single row without newlines.

<assembly name="test" host="164.9.193.32" protocol="1.2.3.4" port="89" application="c:\test\test.exe" useDefaultCredentials="false" />

Im having a hard time coming up with a good way to keep the old look, anyone got an idea?

/regards

-- modified at 9:16 Friday 12th January, 2007

Disregard that. You might have to use an XSL transform to introduce linebreaks.

led mike

okay, what would that look like?