Question

I have a question on how to access the nodes from the XML using XSL.

I have a xml like this:

<Table>
<Row>
   <Cell Type="Main" Id="980">Test22</Cell>
   <Cell Type="SubElement">Test22 Sub Element1</Cell>
</Row>
<Row>
   <Cell Type="Main" Id="123">Test</Cell>
   <Cell/>
</Row>
<Row>
   <Cell Type="SubElement">Test Sub Element1</Cell>
   <Cell Type="Element">xyz</Cell>
</Row>
<Row>
   <Cell Type="SubElement">Test Sub Element2</Cell>
   <Cell Type="Element">abc</Cell>
</Row>
<Row>
   <Cell Type="Main" Id="456">Test1</Cell>
   <Cell/>
</Row>
<Row>
   <Cell Type="SubElement">Test1 Sub Element1</Cell>
   <Cell Type="Element">awe</Cell>
</Row>
<Row>
   <Cell Type="SubElement">Test1 Sub Element2</Cell>
   <Cell Type="Element">scd</Cell>
</Row>
</Table>

Now, I need to get the 1st Row’s Id (i.e. Cell[Type=’Main’]/@Id) from the 2nd & 3rd Row’s Element Cell (1st row is the parent row for 2nd & 3rd row).
Similarly I need to access 4th Row’s Id (i.e. Cell[Type=’Main’]/@Id) from the 5th & 6th Row
(4th row is the parent row for 5th & 6th row).

I tried using xsl:variables but I couldn’t assign values dynamically.

Please advise. Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Use the following expression within a template that is processing a SubElement or Element:

../preceding-sibling::Row[Cell/@Type='Main'][1]/Cell/@Id

For example:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
    <xsl:output method="text"/>
    <xsl:strip-space elements="*" />
    <xsl:template match="Cell[@Type[.='SubElement' or .='Element']]">
        [<xsl:value-of select="concat(., '; Parent ID: ',
                ../preceding-sibling::Row[Cell/@Type='Main'][1]/Cell/@Id)"/>]
    </xsl:template>
    <xsl:template match="Cell"/>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Outputs (spaces removed):

[Test Sub Element1; Parent ID: 123]
[xyz; Parent ID: 123]
[Test Sub Element2; Parent ID: 123]
[abc; Parent ID: 123]
[Test1 Sub Element1; Parent ID: 456]
[awe; Parent ID: 456]
[Test1 Sub Element2; Parent ID: 456]
[scd; Parent ID: 456]