xslt array problem

Question

I'm converting xml to json using xslt. The problem I'm having is: if a specific xml element dosn't have siblings it is not returned as an array.

        <xsl:if test="count(preceding-sibling::*[name() = name(current())]) = 0">
        <xsl:text>"</xsl:text><xsl:value-of select="name()" /><xsl:text>":</xsl:text>
        <xsl:if test="count(following-sibling::*[name() = name(current())]) &gt; 0">
            <xsl:text>[</xsl:text>
        </xsl:if>
    </xsl:if>

What I would like is if siblings of the parent have have the same element(s) as an array then this element must also be an array.

so what I would like is:

<element>
 <child_element>
  <grandchild_element>
     only one
  </grandchild_element>
 </child_element>
 <child_element>
  <grandchild_element>
     one
  </grandchild_element>
  <grandchild_element>
     two
  </grandchild_element>
 </child_element>

I would like the following output

{
    "element": {
        "child-element": [
            {
                "grandchild_element": "only one"
            }
        ],
        "child-element": [
            {
                "grandchild_element": "one" ,
                "grandchild_element": "two"
            }
        ]
    }
}

thanks

Provide input XML and desired output.

Kirill Polishchuk
– Kirill Polishchuk

2011-09-12 12:23:15 +00:00
Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 12:23 — Kirill Polishchuk
– Kirill Polishchuk, Commented Sep 12, 2011 at 12:23

Michael Kay · Accepted Answer · 2011-09-12 14:10:44Z

2

There have been quite a few attempts to define mappings between XML and JSON, and it's not a trivial problem. I would recommend that before attempting to code this conversion, you study some of the existing proposed mappings, and if you want to do a mapping that is different, you specify it carefully before you start coding.

One of the problems you are going to hit is that it you try and do it without knowledge of the schema, you will find it very hard to know when to output a single JSON object and when to output a single-member array. For example, if someone has one phone number, you'll output a single value, but if they have several, you will output an array: you can't know when you see a single phone number whether the recipient is expecting an array of phone numbers. This isn't a coding problem, it's a problem that there's not enough information in the XML instance to make the distinction.

answered Sep 12, 2011 at 14:10

Michael Kay

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2 Comments

tnt-rox Over a year ago

I understand that, but in this case i always want specific elements to be mapped as an array. in the above example the child-element's children.

tnt-rox Over a year ago

thanks, needed to get my head around it. Solution was creating an attribute in the xml that inferred an array.

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