Repeat the first node from XML file using XSL
xml, xslt, xslt-2.0
Solution
Here is a solution, that, unlike the currently-accepted answer, processes correctly data with various, unknown in advance lengths -- see further an update that handles unlimited number of columns, too:
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output method="text"/>
<xsl:variable name="vMax1">
<xsl:call-template name="maxLength">
<xsl:with-param name="pNodes" select="/*/*/*[1]"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="vMax2">
<xsl:call-template name="maxLength">
<xsl:with-param name="pNodes" select="/*/*/*[2]"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="vLongest1" select=
"/*/*/*[1][string-length() = $vMax1][1]"/>
<xsl:variable name="vLongest2" select=
"/*/*/*[2][string-length() = $vMax2][1]"/>
<xsl:variable name="vUnderscores1" select=
"concat('__',
translate($vLongest1,translate($vLongest1, '_', ''),
'_________________________________________________________')
)"/>
<xsl:variable name="vUnderscores2" select=
"concat('__',
translate($vLongest2,translate($vLongest2, '_', ''),
'_________________________________________________________')
)"/>
<xsl:variable name="vBlanks1"
select="translate($vUnderscores1,'_', ' ')"/>
<xsl:variable name="vBlanks2"
select="translate($vUnderscores2,'_', ' ')"/>
<xsl:variable name="vTitle1" select=
"concat('[',/*/*/*[1],']',
substring($vBlanks1,1,
string-length($vBlanks1)-string-length(/*/*/*[1]))
)"/>
<xsl:variable name="vTitle2" select=
"concat('[',/*/*/*[2],']',
substring($vBlanks2,1,
string-length($vBlanks2)-string-length(/*/*/*[2]))
)"/>
<xsl:template match="Row">
<xsl:value-of select=
"concat('
', $vTitle1, $vTitle2)"/>
<xsl:value-of select=
"concat('
',$vUnderscores1, ' ', $vUnderscores2, '
')"/>
<xsl:value-of select=
"concat(F1,
substring($vBlanks1,1,
string-length($vBlanks1)-string-length(F1)),
' ',
F2,
substring($vBlanks1,1,
string-length($vBlanks1)-string-length(F2)),
'
'
)"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="maxLength">
<xsl:param name="pNodes" select="/.."/>
<xsl:for-each select="$pNodes">
<xsl:sort select="string-length()"
data-type="number" order="descending"/>
<xsl:if test="position() = 1">
<xsl:value-of select="string-length()"/>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="Row[1]|text()"/>
</xsl:stylesheet>
When this transformation is applied on the provided XML document:
<Data>
<Row>
<F1>Created By</F1>
<F2>City</F2>
</Row>
<Row>
<F1>John Doe</F1>
<F2>Los Angeles</F2>
</Row>
<Row>
<F1>Jane Doe</F1>
<F2>San Diego</F2>
</Row>
</Data>
the wanted, correct result is produced:
[Created By] [City]
____________ _____________
John Doe Los Angeles
[Created By] [City]
____________ _____________
Jane Doe San Diego
More interestingly, when applied on this XML document:
<Data>
<Row>
<F1>Created By</F1>
<F2>City</F2>
</Row>
<Row>
<F1>John Doe</F1>
<F2>La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis</F2>
</Row>
<Row>
<F1>Josiah Willard Gibbs</F1>
<F2>San Diego</F2>
</Row>
</Data>
again the correct results are produced:
[Created By] [City]
______________________ _______________________________________________________
John Doe La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis
[Created By] [City]
______________________ _______________________________________________________
Josiah Willard Gibbs San Diego
Compare this correct result with the one produced by the currently-accepted answer:
Created By City
----------- -----------
John Doe La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis
Created By City
----------- -----------
Josiah Willard GibbsSan Diego
II An XSLT 2.0 variant of the same solution: shorter and easier to write:
<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xsl:output method="text"/>
<xsl:variable name="vMax" as="xs:integer*" select=
"for $i in 1 to 2
return
max(/*/*/*[$i]/string-length(.))"/>
<xsl:variable name="vUnderscores" select=
"for $i in 1 to 2
return
concat('__',
string-join((for $len in 1 to $vMax[$i]
return '_'), '')
)"/>
<xsl:variable name="vBlanks" select=
"for $i in 1 to 2
return
translate($vUnderscores[$i],'_', ' ')
"/>
<xsl:variable name="vTitle" select=
"for $i in 1 to 2
return
concat('[',(*/*/*)[$i],']',
substring($vBlanks[$i],1,
$vMax[$i]+2 -string-length((/*/*/*)[$i]))
)
"/>
<xsl:template match="Row">
<xsl:value-of select=
"concat('
', $vTitle[1], $vTitle[2])"/>
<xsl:value-of select=
"concat('
',$vUnderscores[1], ' ', $vUnderscores[2], '
')"/>
<xsl:value-of select=
"concat(F1,
substring($vBlanks[1],1,
$vMax[1]+2 -string-length(F1)),
' ',
F2,
substring($vBlanks[2],1,
$vMax[1]+2 -string-length(F2)),
'
'
)"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="Row[1]|text()"/>
</xsl:stylesheet>
III. Handling idefinite number of columns:
<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xsl:output method="text"/>
<xsl:variable name="vNumCols" select="max(/*/*/count(*))"/>
<xsl:variable name="vMax" as="xs:integer*" select=
"for $i in 1 to $vNumCols
return
max(/*/*/*[$i]/string-length(.))"/>
<xsl:variable name="vUnderscores" select=
"for $i in 1 to $vNumCols
return
concat('__',
string-join((for $len in 1 to $vMax[$i]
return '_'), '')
)"/>
<xsl:variable name="vBlanks" select=
"for $i in 1 to $vNumCols
return
translate($vUnderscores[$i],'_', ' ')
"/>
<xsl:variable name="vTitle" select=
"for $i in 1 to $vNumCols
return
concat('[',(*/*/*)[$i],']',
substring($vBlanks[$i],1,
$vMax[$i]+2 -string-length((/*/*/*)[$i]))
)
"/>
<xsl:template match="Row">
<xsl:value-of separator="" select=
"'
', string-join($vTitle, '')"/>
<xsl:value-of separator="" select=
"'
', string-join($vUnderscores, ' '), '
'"/>
<xsl:value-of select=
"string-join((for $i in 1 to $vNumCols,
$vChild in *[$i]
return
($vChild,
substring($vBlanks[$i],1,
$vMax[$i]+2 -string-length($vChild)
),
' '
),
'
'
),
''
)"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="Row[1]|text()"/>
</xsl:stylesheet>
When applied to this XML document (3 columns):
<Data>
<Row>
<F1>Created By</F1>
<F2>City</F2>
<F3>Region</F3>
</Row>
<Row>
<F1>Pablo Diego Ruiz y Picasso</F1>
<F2>Los Angeles</F2>
<F3>CA</F3>
</Row>
<Row>
<F1>Jane Doe</F1>
<F2>La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis</F2>
<F3>NM</F3>
</Row>
</Data>
the wanted, correct result is produced:
[Created By] [City] [Region]
____________________________ _______________________________________________________ ________
Pablo Diego Ruiz y Picasso Los Angeles CA
[Created By] [City] [Region]
____________________________ _______________________________________________________ ________
Jane Doe La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asis NM
IV. Translation to XSLT 1.0 of Part III (above):
Do note:
The solution that JLRishe provided as a correction of his initial answer, will perform sort 400 times if there are 100 rows each with 4 columns.
No such inefficiencies in the code below:
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:ext="http://exslt.org/common">
<xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:variable name="vMaxCols">
<xsl:call-template name="maxChildren">
<xsl:with-param name="pNodes" select="/*/*"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="vrtfMax">
<xsl:for-each select="(/*/*/*)[not(position() > $vMaxCols)]">
<xsl:variable name="vPos" select="position()"/>
<length>
<xsl:call-template name="maxLength">
<xsl:with-param name="pNodes" select="/*/*/*[position()=$vPos]"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</length>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="vMax" select="ext:node-set($vrtfMax)/length"/>
<xsl:variable name="vrtfUnderscores">
<xsl:for-each select="(/*/*/*)[not(position() > $vMaxCols)]">
<xsl:variable name="vPos" select="position()"/>
<xsl:variable name="vLongestDataNode" select=
"/*/*/*[position()=$vPos
and string-length() = $vMax[position() = $vPos]][1]"/>
<t>
<xsl:value-of select=
"concat('__',
translate($vLongestDataNode,translate($vLongestDataNode, '_', ''),
'_________________________________________________________')
)"/>
</t>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="vUnderscores" select="ext:node-set($vrtfUnderscores)/t"/>
<xsl:variable name="vrtfBlanks">
<xsl:for-each select="$vUnderscores">
<xsl:variable name="vPos" select="position()"/>
<t><xsl:value-of select=
"translate($vUnderscores[position()=$vPos],'_', ' ')"/>
</t>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="vBlanks" select="ext:node-set($vrtfBlanks)/t"/>
<xsl:variable name="vrtfTitle">
<xsl:for-each select="/*/*[1]/*">
<xsl:variable name="vPos" select="position()"/>
<t>
<xsl:value-of select=
"concat('[',.,']',
substring($vBlanks[position()=$vPos],1,
2+$vMax[position()=$vPos]-string-length())
)
"/>
</t>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="vTitle" select="ext:node-set($vrtfTitle)/t"/>
<xsl:template match="Row">
<xsl:text>
</xsl:text>
<xsl:for-each select="$vTitle">
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:text>
</xsl:text>
<xsl:for-each select="$vUnderscores">
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
<xsl:text> </xsl:text>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:text>
</xsl:text>
<xsl:for-each select="*[not(position() > $vMaxCols)]">
<xsl:variable name="vPos" select="position()"/>
<xsl:value-of select=
"concat(.,
substring($vBlanks[position()=$vPos],
1,
string-length($vBlanks[position()=$vPos])
-string-length()),
' '
)"/>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:text>
</xsl:text>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="maxChildren">
<xsl:param name="pNodes" select="/.."/>
<xsl:for-each select="$pNodes">
<xsl:sort select="count(*)"
data-type="number" order="descending"/>
<xsl:if test="position() = 1">
<xsl:value-of select="count(*)"/>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="maxLength">
<xsl:param name="pNodes" select="/.."/>
<xsl:for-each select="$pNodes">
<xsl:sort select="string-length()"
data-type="number" order="descending"/>
<xsl:if test="position() = 1">
<xsl:value-of select="string-length()"/>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="Row[1]|text()"/>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Problem
I'm at my wits end with this and wondering if this is even possible with XSL. Lets say that I have this XML data: ``` <?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?> <Data> <Row> <F1>Created By</F1> <F2>City</F2> </Row> <Row> <F1>John Doe</F1> <F2>Los Angeles</F2> </Row> <Row> <F1>Jane Doe</F1> <F2>San Diego</F2> </Row> </Data> ``` I would like to repeat the first row element while iterating through the rest of the data. In short I would like the output to be: ``` [Created By] [City] ----------- ------------ [John Doe] [Los Angeles] [Created By] [City] ---------- ------------ [Jane Doe] [San Diego] ``` What would be the best approach? I tried setting the first element 'Created By' as a variable but I it does not render when I try to use it. I'm pretty new at XSL and any help would be appreciated. Thank you