Question

I am working over sorting the Grand Parent based on a field in Father. The source file looks like

<Root>
    <AllData>
        <Data_not_to_be_sorted>
            <Additional_data1>
                <Some_test_data1/>
                <Some_test_data2/>
            </Additional_data1>
        </Data_not_to_be_sorted>
        <RealData>
            <Some_data1/>
            <Some_data2/>
            <GrandFather>
                <Data_required_as_it_is></Data_required_as_it_is>
                    <Father>
                        <Value>4</Value>
                        <Name>name in 4</Name>
                    </Father>
            </GrandFather>
            <GrandFather>
                <Data_required_as_it_is></Data_required_as_it_is>
                <Father>
                    <Value>3</Value>
                    <Name>name in 3</Name>
                </Father>
            </GrandFather>
        </RealData>
        <RealData>
            <Some_data1/>
            <Some_data2/>
            <GrandFather>
                <Data_required_as_it_is></Data_required_as_it_is>
                <Father>
                    <Value>2</Value>
                    <Name>name in 2</Name>
                </Father>
            </GrandFather>
            <GrandFather>
                <Data_required_as_it_is></Data_required_as_it_is>
                <Father>
                    <Value>1</Value>
                    <Name>name in 1</Name>
                </Father>
            </GrandFather>
        </RealData>
    </AllData>
</Root>

The XSLT code, I am using is as below:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>

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



<xsl:template match="RealData">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="Data_required_as_it_is"></xsl:apply-templates>
<xsl:apply-templates select="GrandFather">
<xsl:sort select="Father/Value" data-type="number"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>

</xsl:copy>

</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

The code is working well…My query is – Can I write a generic line for

Data_required_as_it_is. Imagine a situation where I have 20 different xml tags for “Data_required_as_it_is” so either I need write all of them manually or just write them in a generic way…

The output of the code is as below:

<Root>
    <AllData>
        <Data_not_to_be_sorted>
            <Additional_data1>
                <Some_test_data1/>
                <Some_test_data2/>
            </Additional_data1>
        </Data_not_to_be_sorted>
        <RealData>
            <Some_data1/>
            <Some_data2/>
            <GrandFather>
                <Data_required_as_it_is></Data_required_as_it_is>
                    <Father>
                        <Value>3</Value>
                        <Name>name in 3</Name>
                    </Father>
            </GrandFather>
            <GrandFather>
                <Data_required_as_it_is></Data_required_as_it_is>
                <Father>
                    <Value>4</Value>
                    <Name>name in 4</Name>
                </Father>
            </GrandFather>
        </RealData>
        <RealData>
            <Some_data1/>
            <Some_data2/>
            <GrandFather>
                <Data_required_as_it_is></Data_required_as_it_is>
                <Father>
                    <Value>1</Value>
                    <Name>name in 1</Name>
                </Father>
            </GrandFather>
            <GrandFather>
                <Data_required_as_it_is></Data_required_as_it_is>
                <Father>
                    <Value>2</Value>
                    <Name>name in 2</Name>
                </Father>
            </GrandFather>
        </RealData>
    </AllData>
</Root>

Answer 1

<xsl:template match="RealData">
      <xsl:copy>
          <xsl:apply-templates select="Data_required_as_it_is"></xsl:apply-templates>
          <xsl:apply-templates select="GrandFather">
              <xsl:sort select="Father/Value" data-type="number"/>
          </xsl:apply-templates>
      </xsl:copy>
  </xsl:template>

One could use a more generic code like this:

<xsl:template match="RealData">
    <xsl:copy>
        <xsl:apply-templates>
            <xsl:sort select="self::GrandFather/Father/Value" data-type="number"/>
        </xsl:apply-templates>
    </xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>

Note: This will sort any any non-GrandFather node before any GrandFather node and will do the specified sorting of GrandFather elements by their Father/Value elements.

In case it is desired that the non-GrandFather elements remain interspersed within the GrandFather elements, this can also be accomplished — ask another question if interested.