Saving XML Values to Variable Using XSLT

Question

I am trying to save values from an XML doc into a variable. I am aware you can do the following:

<xsl:variable name="variableName" select="xml/node/*"/>

Below is my XML code:

<xml>
<graph2>
    <averageHighTemperatures>
        <January>8.3</January>
        <February>8.5</February>
        <March>11.1</March>
        <April>13.5</April>
        <May>17.1</May>
        <June>20.0</June>
        <July>22.6</July>
        <August>22.5</August>
        <September>19.3</September>
        <October>15.3</October>
        <November>11.2</November>
        <December>9.1</December>
    </averageHighTemperatures>
</graph2>
</xml>

How can I select the value of each month by specifying the node in the XML doc?

Below is my XSL:

    <xsl:variable name="var" select="xml/graph2/averageHighTemperatures/*"/>

    <table>
        <xsl:for-each select="xml/graph2/averageHighTemperatures">
        <tr>
            <td><xsl:value-of select="January $var"/></td>
            <td><xsl:value-of select="February $var"/></td>
        </tr>
        </xsl:for-each>
    </table>

In the above, "January" and "February" are only being used to present the value wanted.

So, you are just trying to figure out how to select the specific month from your $var? In the example, you are just trying to indicate that you would only want January and February's temps: <td>8.3</td><td>8.5<td> ? If so, it would be helpful to add an example of the desired output. Your example XSLT is a little confusing, since it isn't clear whether you want "January" and "February" to appear in the output, or if you are just indicating that is the month's value that you want to be able to select. — Mads Hansen
– Mads Hansen, Commented Jan 26, 2019 at 16:36

Mads Hansen · Accepted Answer · 2019-01-26 16:44:15Z

1

Since the month names are the element names, you could select them with a predicate filter matching the local-name():

<xsl:transform version="2.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <xsl:variable name="var" select="xml/graph2/averageHighTemperatures/*"/>

    <table>
        <xsl:for-each select="xml/graph2/averageHighTemperatures">
            <tr>
                <td><xsl:value-of select="'January ', $var[local-name()='January']"/></td>
                <td><xsl:value-of select="'February ', $var[local-name()='February']"/></td>
            </tr>
        </xsl:for-each>
    </table>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:transform>

If you are going to perform multiple lookups, then a better/faster way to select by name would be to use xsl:key and the key() function:

<xsl:transform version="2.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
  <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:key name="var" match="xml/graph2/averageHighTemperatures/*" use="local-name()"/>

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <table>
        <xsl:for-each select="xml/graph2/averageHighTemperatures">
            <tr>
                <td><xsl:value-of select="'January ', key('var', 'January')"/></td>
                <td><xsl:value-of select="'February ', key('var', 'February')"/></td>
            </tr>
        </xsl:for-each>
    </table>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:transform>

answered Jan 26, 2019 at 16:44

Mads Hansen

67.6k12 gold badges119 silver badges154 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

6 Comments

gcpreston Over a year ago

That works perfectly thank you. I do have a question regarding the points in the polyline. The line at the moment looks like a crater with a rather than a mountain. I am aware this is because the Y value is plotted 100 (height) - XML value (8) = 92 which is a greater value than say, 100 - XML value (22) = 78. How can I perform an inversion to have the value of 22 plotted above the lesser XML values?

Mads Hansen Over a year ago

The easiest way to invert the numbers is to multiply by -1, or even just add a "-" when generating the output, but it's difficult to advise without more context. Maybe ask in a separate question with more details describing the issue and examples of desired outcome.

michael.hor257k Over a year ago

This is weird (for lack of a better word): why are you doing xsl:for-each on a single node? And why are you not doing xsl:for-each on the multiple child nodes, instead of repeating the code for every one of them?

Mads Hansen Over a year ago

That was in the OP original code sample. Just showing how to answer the question without rewriting the whole thing. Not sure if it was being used to set the context node (for shorter XPaths to keep things DRY), if the real data would have multiple averageHighTemperatures elements, etc. Generally, I would replace an xsl:for-each with xsl:apply-templates.

michael.hor257k Over a year ago

@MadsHansen Take a look at OP's last three questions.

|

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Saving XML Values to Variable Using XSLT

1 Answer 1

6 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

6 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related