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RE: [xsl] Using xsl:variable and replace() to remove specific characters.

2008-04-28 08:20:34
I think you need to start by explaining to us, in English, what it is about
this semicolon that makes it undesirable: that is, under what circumstances
should a semicolon (or other obnoxious character) be removed?

Michael Kay
http://www.saxonica.com/ 

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Corfield [mailto:richard(_dot_)corfield(_at_)iop(_dot_)org] 
Sent: 28 April 2008 10:26
To: xsl-list(_at_)lists(_dot_)mulberrytech(_dot_)com
Subject: [xsl] Using xsl:variable and replace() to remove 
specific characters.

Hi

I've been using xslt on and off for a few years, but not for 
long enough to make me feel like I've moved on from 'novice' 
status yet. The problem I'm grappling with at the moment is 
really making feel like I don't understand even the fundamentals yet!

What I'm trying to do is process some xml of which this is a fragment:

<aff id="aj266199af2">
  <label>2</label>National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 
Chile<xref ref-type="fn" 
rid="aj266199afn4"><sup>9</sup></xref>; <ext-link 
ext-link-type="email" id="aj266199em4">email address 
here</ext-link> </aff>

<!-- snip -->
<fn id="aj266199afn4">
  <label>9</label>
  <p>The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility 
of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative 
agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
  </p>
</fn>


The problem is the trailing semi-colon between the <xref> & 
<ext-link> elements.

Previously to remove characters like this I have seen this 
sort of thing successfully employed elsewhere:

<xsl:variable name="searchStr" select="'[:;,\.\s]+$'"/> 
<xsl:variable name="replaceStr" select="''"/>

<!-- snip -->

<xsl:variable name="affilStr">
        <xsl:apply-templates 
select="key('key_allElementsById' , .)"/> </xsl:variable> 
<affil id="{.}">
        <xsl:value-of select="replace($affilStr , $searchStr 
, $replaceStr)"
/>


However the above xml snippet is dealt with by this:

<xsl:for-each select="//aff">
        <affil id="{label}">
           <xsl:apply-templates />
        </affil>
  </xsl:for-each>

... and this is the output:

<affil id="2">National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 
Chile<footnote pos="affil" id="9">The National Radio 
Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science 
Foundation operated under cooperative agreement by Associated 
Universities, Inc.</footnote>; </affil>

However if I try to employ the same method to remove the semi-colon:

<xsl:variable name="searchStr" select="';\s*$'"/> 
<xsl:variable name="replaceStr" select="''"/>

   <xsl:variable name="nameStr">
     <xsl:apply-templates/>
   </xsl:variable>
   <affil id="{label}">
           <xsl:value-of select="$nameStr"/>
        </affil>

The result is as follows:

      <affil id="2">National Radio Astronomy Observatory, 
ChileThe National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility 
of the National Science Foundation operated under cooperative 
agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.</affil>

We've lost the semi-colon (excellent!) but also structure of 
the xml, the <footnote> tags. :-(

Would anyone be able to comment on my approach and point out 
what would be a more sensible approach?

I'm using saxon to process the xml with xslt v2.

Many thanks

Richard

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