Question

Is it possible to merge elements using XSLT.

If I have the following XML

<data> <item column='left' value='1' /> <item column='left' value='2' /> <item column='right' value='3' /> <item column='left' value='4' /> <item column='right' value='5' /> <item column='right' value='6' /> <item column='right' value='7' /> <item column='left' value='8' /> <item column='right' value='9' /> <item column='right' value='10' /> </data> 

I want the following output:

<data> <item left='1' right='3 /> <item left='2' right='5' /> <item left='4' right='6' /> <item left='8' right='7' /> <item left='' right='9' /> <item left='' right='10' /> </data> 

But I have absolutely no idea if this is possible using XSLT

Answer 1

This transformation:

 <xsl:stylesheet version='1.0'  xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform'>  <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration='yes' indent='yes'/>      <xsl:template match='data'>       <xsl:variable name='vNumLeft' select='count(item[@column='left'])'/>        <data>         <xsl:apply-templates select='*[@column='left']'/>         <xsl:apply-templates select=                 '*[@column='right'][position() > $vNumLeft]'/>       </data>     </xsl:template>      <xsl:template match='item[@column='left']'>       <xsl:variable name='vPos' select='position()'/>        <item left='{@value}'                      right='{../item[@column='right'][$vPos]/@value}'    />     </xsl:template>      <xsl:template match='item[@column='right']'>       <item left='' right='{@value}' />     </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet> 

when applied on the provided XML document:

 <data>     <item column='left' value='1' />     <item column='left' value='2' />     <item column='right' value='3' />     <item column='left' value='4' />     <item column='right' value='5' />     <item column='right' value='6' />     <item column='right' value='7' />     <item column='left' value='8' />     <item column='right' value='9' />     <item column='right' value='10' /> </data> 

produces the wanted result:

 <data>    <item left='1' right='3'/>    <item left='2' right='5'/>    <item left='4' right='6'/>    <item left='8' right='7'/>    <item left='' right='9'/>    <item left='' right='10'/> </data>