Dimitre wrote:
"Imrran Wahid" <devguy2003(_at_)yahoo(_dot_)com> wrote in message
news:20030209234334(_dot_)51979(_dot_)qmail(_at_)web9206(_dot_)mail(_dot_)yahoo(_dot_)com(_dot_)(_dot_)(_dot_)
Pardon me for asking what may be a simple question,
but I am not very well versed in xsl. How do I
translate the count to number of spaces( )?
The simplest (to understand) way is to have an xsl:variable
containing a sufficiently long string of spaces. Then take the exact
number of spaces using the substring() function.
Another way (when one doesn't know the maximum possible number of
spaces that will be needed) is to use a recursive named template --
e.g. one from exslt, or this one:
http://sources.redhat.com/ml/xsl-list/2001-07/msg01040.html
Or use the "iter" template from the FXSL library.
The last solution is the most generic and can be used to implement
any iteration of the type "Do something N times".
Just to add to Dimitre's suggestion: since Imrran is counting
ancestors to work out how many non-breaking spaces to add, it would be
a good idea to use one of the above methods to create an $indent
number of spaces (e.g. in an $indent-spaces global variable), and then
use xsl:for-each to iterate over the ancestors to multiply that number
of non-breaking spaces:
<xsl:for-each select="ancestor::*">
<xsl:value-of select="$indent-spaces" />
</xsl:for-each>
Another method that I use when formatting a tree is to pass down the
previous indent as a parameter from parent to child, adding an indent
on each step. Something like:
<xsl:template match="*">
<xsl:param name="indent" />
...
<xsl:apply-templates>
<xsl:with-param name="indent"
select="concat($indent, $indent-spaces)" />
</xsl:apply-templates>
...
</xsl:template>
Again, the $indent-spaces that you add to the indent at each level may
need to be constructed dynamically from a number using one of
Dimitre's suggestions above.
Cheers,
Jeni
---
Jeni Tennison
http://www.jenitennison.com/
XSL-List info and archive: http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list