i am new to XSLT ,can any one please suggest to me how to compare two elements coming from xml as string their values are:
<OU_NAME>Vision Operations</OU_NAME> --XML code
<OU_ADDR1>90 Fifth Avenue</OU_ADDR1> --XML code
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="OU_NAME='OU_ADDR1'"> --comparing two elements coming from XML
<!--remove if adrees already contain operating unit name
<xsl:value-of select="OU_NAME"/> <fo:block/>-->
<xsl:if test="OU_ADDR1 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR1"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="LE_ADDR2 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR2"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="LE_ADDR3 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR3"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="OU_TOWN_CITY !=''">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_TOWN_CITY"/>,
<fo:leader leader-pattern="space" leader-length="2.0pt"/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_REGION2"/>
<fo:leader leader-pattern="space" leader-length="3.0pt"/>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_POSTALCODE"/>
<fo:block/>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_COUNTRY"/>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_NAME"/>
<fo:block/>
<xsl:if test="OU_ADDR1 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR1"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="LE_ADDR2 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR2"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="LE_ADDR3 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR3"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="OU_TOWN_CITY !=''">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_TOWN_CITY"/>,
<fo:leader leader-pattern="space" leader-length="2.0pt"/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_REGION2"/>
<fo:leader leader-pattern="space" leader-length="3.0pt"/>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_POSTALCODE"/>
<fo:block/>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_COUNTRY"/>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
First of all, the provided long code:
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="OU_NAME='OU_ADDR1'"> --comparing two elements coming from XML
<!--remove if adrees already contain operating unit name <xsl:value-of select="OU_NAME"/> <fo:block/>-->
<xsl:if test="OU_ADDR1 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR1"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="LE_ADDR2 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR2"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="LE_ADDR3 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR3"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="OU_TOWN_CITY !=''">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_TOWN_CITY"/>,
<fo:leader leader-pattern="space" leader-length="2.0pt"/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_REGION2"/>
<fo:leader leader-pattern="space" leader-length="3.0pt"/>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_POSTALCODE"/>
<fo:block/>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_COUNTRY"/>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_NAME"/>
<fo:block/>
<xsl:if test="OU_ADDR1 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR1"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="LE_ADDR2 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR2"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="LE_ADDR3 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR3"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="OU_TOWN_CITY !=''">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_TOWN_CITY"/>,
<fo:leader leader-pattern="space" leader-length="2.0pt"/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_REGION2"/>
<fo:leader leader-pattern="space" leader-length="3.0pt"/>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_POSTALCODE"/>
<fo:block/>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_COUNTRY"/>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
is equivalent to this, much shorter code:
<xsl:if test="not(OU_NAME='OU_ADDR1)'">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_NAME"/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="OU_ADDR1 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR1"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="LE_ADDR2 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR2"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="LE_ADDR3 !='' ">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_ADDR3"/>
<fo:block/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="OU_TOWN_CITY !=''">
<xsl:value-of select="OU_TOWN_CITY"/>,
<fo:leader leader-pattern="space" leader-length="2.0pt"/>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_REGION2"/>
<fo:leader leader-pattern="space" leader-length="3.0pt"/>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_POSTALCODE"/>
<fo:block/>
<xsl:value-of select="OU_COUNTRY"/>
Now, to your question:
how to compare two elements coming from xml as string
In Xpath 1.0 strings can be compared only for equality (or inequality), using the operator =
and the function not()
together with the operator =
.
$str1 = $str2
evaluates to true()
exactly when the string $str1
is equal to the string $str2
.
not($str1 = $str2)
evaluates to true()
exactly when the string $str1
is not equal to the string $str2
.
There is also the !=
operator. It generally should be avoided because it has anomalous behavior whenever one of its operands is a node-set.
Now, the rules for comparing two element nodes are similar:
$el1 = $el2
evaluates to true()
exactly when the string value of $el1
is equal to the string value of $el2
.
not($el1 = $el2)
evaluates to true()
exactly when the string value of $el1
is not equal to the string value of $el2
.
However, if one of the operands of =
is a node-set, then
$ns = $str
evaluates to true()
exactly when there is at least one node in the node-set $ns1
, whose string value is equal to the string $str
$ns1 = $ns2
evaluates to true()
exactly when there is at least one node in the node-set $ns1
, whose string value is equal to the string value of some node from $ns2
Therefore, the expression:
OU_NAME='OU_ADDR1'
evaluates to true()
only when there is at least one element child of the current node that is named OU_NAME
and whose string value is the string 'OU_ADDR1'.
This is obviously not what you want!
Most probably you want:
OU_NAME=OU_ADDR1
This expression evaluates to true
exactly there is at least one OU_NAME
child of the current node and one OU_ADDR1
child of the current node with the same string value.
Finally, in XPath 2.0, strings can be compared also using the value comparison operators lt
, le
, eq
, gt
, ge
and the inherited from XPath 1.0 general comparison operator =
.
Trying to evaluate a value comparison operator when one or both of its arguments is a sequence of more than one item results in error.