Question

I have a for-each and when there is nothing output by it I would like to display some default text.

If I have…

<xsl:for-each select='xpath'> Some content for each matching element result. </xsl:for-each>

What I would like is:

<xsl:for-each select='xpath'>
   <xsl:output-this-when-there-is-content> Some content for each matching element result. </xsl:output-this-when-there-is-content>
   <xsl:no-results-output> Some content for when the for-each finds no matches. </xsl:no-results-output>
</xsl:for-each>

Can anyone tell me how to do this, please?

Thanks,

Matt

Answer 1

Assuming you have:

<xsl:for-each select="xpath"> ...

The you can do something like:

<xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="xpath">
        <xsl:for-each select="xpath"> ...
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
        <xsl:text>Some default text</xsl:text>
    </xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>

To avoid the double test of the XPath (and duplication) you could probably use an xsl:variable, something like the following (syntax may be a little wrong, but the rough idea should be right).

<xsl:choose>
    <xsl:variable name="elems" select="xpath"/>
    <xsl:when test="$elems">
        <xsl:for-each select="$elems"> ...
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
        <xsl:text>Some default text</xsl:text>
    </xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>