Question

Hi I require help parsing the following XML.

<xmeml>
<Doc>
    <Test>
        <Unit>abc</Unit>
        <Unit2>1234</Unit2>
    </Test>
    <Test>
        <Unit>bcd</Unit>
        <Unit2>2345</Unit2>
    </Test>
</Doc>
<Doc>
    <Test>
        <Unit>abc</Unit>
        <Unit2>3456</Unit2>
    </Test>
    <Test>
        <Unit>cde</Unit>
        <Unit2>3456</Unit2>
    </Test> 
</Doc>
<Doc>
    <Test>
        <Unit>abc</Unit>
        <Unit2>1234</Unit2>
    </Test>
    <Test>
        <Unit>def</Unit>
        <Unit2>4567</Unit2>
    </Test> 
</Doc>
<Doc>
    <Test>
        <Unit>abc</Unit>
        <Unit2>1234</Unit2>
    </Test>
    <Test>
        <Unit>efg</Unit>
        <Unit2>2345</Unit2>
    </Test> 
</Doc>
</xmeml>

ending up with the following

<xmeml>
<Doc>
    <Test>
        <Unit>bcd</Unit>
        <Unit2>2345</Unit2>
    </Test>
</Doc>
<Doc>
    <Test>
        <Unit>abc</Unit>
        <Unit2>3456</Unit2>
    </Test>
    <Test>
        <Unit>cde</Unit>
        <Unit2>3456</Unit2>
    </Test> 
</Doc>
<Doc>
    <Test>
        <Unit>def</Unit>
        <Unit2>4567</Unit2>
    </Test> 
</Doc>
<Doc>
    <Test>
        <Unit>abc</Unit>
        <Unit2>1234</Unit2>
    </Test>
    <Test>
        <Unit>efg</Unit>
        <Unit2>2345</Unit2>
    </Test> 
</Doc>
</xmeml>

I am attempting to create a XSLT doc to do this but as yet have not found one that works.
I should note that the required matching parameters within ‘Doc’ are , in this case “abc” and “1234′, In the real world these are variables and will never be a static searchable entity.

So in english my XSL would be like this:
For any parent containing both matching ‘Unit’ and ‘unit2’ values
delete all preceding parents ‘Test’ containing a duplicate value of ‘Unit’ and ‘Unit2’ except the last.

All help most appreciated
Thanks

Answer 1

Here’s a relatively simple way of doing it, although I’m fairly sure there’s a more efficient way using the Meunchian method. If performance isn’t an issue however, this is probably easier to follow:

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

  <xsl:template match="Test">
    <xsl:variable name="vUnit" select="Unit" />
    <xsl:variable name="vUnit2" select="Unit2" />
    <xsl:if test="not(following::Test[Unit = $vUnit and Unit2 = $vUnit2])">
      <xsl:call-template name="identity" />
    </xsl:if>
  </xsl:template>

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

The Test template simply checks if there’s a later Test element with the same values in Unit and Unit2, and if there isn’t, it outputs it as normal.