Question

I have a huge xml file that I would like to split up into individual xml documents; each individual xml file is supposed to have an explicit namespace declaration where applicable as show in the “Desired Output” portion below. However, I keep getting the error “namespace error : Namespace prefix bd on keyword is not defined”

My question is, how can I explicitly tell my XSLT processor where to put namespace declaration in resulting output? I have gone through a couple of tutorials online, but I can’t quite figure out how to sort this out.

Partial XSLT Snippet

...
...
<xsl:template match="chapter">
  <bd:chapter>
    <xsl:apply-templates select="name" />
    <xsl:apply-templates select="page" />
  </bd:chapter>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="name">
  <bd:name>
    <xsl:value-of select="." />
  </bd:name>
</xsl:template>
...
...

Desired Output

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<books>
<bd:book xmlns:bd="http://www.bd.org.za/db" xmlns:cd="http://www.bd.org.za/cd">
    <bd:name>book01</bd:name>
    <bd:chapter>
      <cd:name>chapter01<cd:name>
      <bd:page>
    <cd:title></cd:title>
    <pd:description></pd:description>
      </bd:page>
    </bd:chapter>
</bd:book>
...
...
...
</books>

Update #1

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<books>
<book>
    <name>book01</name>
    <chapter>
      <name>chapter01<name>
      <page>
    <title></title>
    <description></description>
      </page>
    </chapter>
</book>
...
...
...
</books>

Update #2

@polishchuk Update2 give the following result

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root xmlns:pd="namespace2">
  <pd:Book xmlns:pd="http://namespace1.org/">
    <pd_1:Name xmlns:pd="namespace2" xmlns:pd_1="http://namespace1.org/">A</pd_1:Name>
    <pd:Description xmlns:pd="namespace2">A1</pd:Description>
  </pd:Book>
  <pd:Book xmlns:pd="http://namespace1.org/">
    <pd_1:Name xmlns:pd="namespace2" xmlns:pd_1="http://namespace1.org/">B</pd_1:Name>
    <pd:Description xmlns:pd="namespace2">B1</pd:Description>
  </pd:Book>
</root>

The only pace I would like the namespaces to appear is within the book node. Please see below

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <pd:Book xmlns:pd="http://namespace1.org/">
    <pd:Name >A</pd:Name>
    <pd:Description>A1</pd:Description>
  </pd:Book>
  <pd:Book xmlns:pd="http://namespace1.org/">
    <pd:Name>B</pd_1:Name>
    <pd:Description>B1</pd:Description>
  </pd:Book>
</root>

Answer 1

Suppose you have following XML:

<root>
  <book>
    <name>A</name>
    <description>A1</description>
  </book>
  <book>
    <name>B</name>
    <description>B1</description>
  </book>
</root>

Desired XML (with namespaces):

<root xmlns:bd="namespace1" xmlns:pd="namespace2">
  <bd:Book>
    <bd:Name>A</bd:Name>
    <pd:Description>A1</pd:Description>
  </bd:Book>
  <bd:Book>
    <bd:Name>B</bd:Name>
    <pd:Description>B1</pd:Description>
  </bd:Book>
</root>

Appropriate XSLT:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
                xmlns:bd="namespace1"
                xmlns:pd="namespace2"
                >
  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

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

  <xsl:template match="book">
    <bd:Book>
      <xsl:apply-templates />
    </bd:Book>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="name">
    <bd:Name>
      <xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </bd:Name>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="description">
    <pd:Description>
      <xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </pd:Description>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

You simply add namespaces in XSLT, then create nodes using namespace’s prefix.

Update 1:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
                xmlns:pd="namespace2"
                >
  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

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

  <xsl:template match="book">
    <bd:Book xmlns:bd="namespace1">
      <xsl:apply-templates />
    </bd:Book>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="name">
    <bd:Name xmlns:bd="namespace1">
      <xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </bd:Name>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="description">
    <pd:Description>
      <xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </pd:Description>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

Update 2:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
                xmlns:pd="namespace2"
                >
  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

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

  <xsl:template match="book">
    <Book xmlns="namespace1">
      <xsl:apply-templates />
    </Book>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="name">
    <Name xmlns="namespace1">
      <xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </Name>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="description">
    <pd:Description>
      <xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </pd:Description>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

Update 3:
This XSLT:

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

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

  <xsl:template match="book">
    <pd:Book xmlns:pd="namespace2">
      <xsl:apply-templates />
    </pd:Book>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="name">
    <pd:Name  xmlns:pd="namespace2">
      <xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </pd:Name>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="description">
    <pd:Description  xmlns:pd="namespace2">
      <xsl:value-of select="."/>
    </pd:Description>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

Output XML (like in your Update 2, I use MSXML 6.0), but for XML engine no matter where namespace is defined:

<root>
  <pd:Book xmlns:pd="namespace2">
    <pd:Name>A</pd:Name>
    <pd:Description>A1</pd:Description>
  </pd:Book>
  <pd:Book xmlns:pd="namespace2">
    <pd:Name>B</pd:Name>
    <pd:Description>B1</pd:Description>
  </pd:Book>
</root>