Unique ID and multiple classes with XPath

class, replace, unique, xpath, xslt

Solution

<a>
       <xsl:attribute name="class">
            <!-- Add .firstitem class -->
            <xsl:if test="position() = 1">
                <xsl:text> firstitem</xsl:text>
            </xsl:if>
            <!-- Add .lastitem class -->
            <xsl:if test="postition() = count(//Page)">
                <xsl:text> lastitem</xsl:text>
            </xsl:if>

            <!-- Add .active class -->
            <xsl:if test="@Active='True'">
                <xsl:text> active</xsl:text>
           </xsl:if>
       </xsl:attribute>

        <!-- Add link URL -->
        <xsl:attribute name="href"><xsl:value-of select="@FriendlyHref" disable-output-escaping="yes"/></xsl:attribute>

        <!-- Add link text -->
        <xsl:value-of select="@MenuText" disable-output-escaping="yes"/>
    </a>

`replace()` is an XSLT2.0 function. When using XSLT1.0 you need a custom template to do most string manipulations.

Problem

I'm using XSLT for displaying a `ul` menu containing `li` and `a`. I want the following: - Find the first `li a` element and add the `.firstitem` class. - Find the last `li a` element and add the `.lastitem` class. - Find the active `li a` element and add the `.active` class. - Add an unique ID to each `li a` element. (I.e. URL friendly menu text as ID). I've managed to make step 1-3 work. Except that when I try to add the classes, it actually replaces the other classes rather than adding to them. Here's the code: ``` <li> <a> <!-- Add .firstitem class --> <xsl:if test="position() = 1"> <xsl:attribute name="class">firstitem</xsl:attribute> </xsl:if> <!-- Add .lastitem class --> <xsl:if test="postition() = count(//Page)"> <xsl:attribute name="class">lastitem</xsl:attribute> </xsl:if> <!-- Add .active class --> <xsl:if test="@Active='True'"> <xsl:attribute name="class">active</xsl:attribute> </xsl:if> <!-- Add link URL --> <xsl:attribute name="href"><xsl:value-of select="@FriendlyHref" disable-output-escaping="yes"/></xsl:attribute> <!-- Add link text --> <xsl:value-of select="@MenuText" disable-output-escaping="yes"/> </a> </li> ``` In realtity, the `a` element could contain all those three classes. But as is goes through the code, it replaces everything in the `class` attribute. How can I add the classes instead of replacing them? And step number 4 on my list, is to get a unique ID, preferably based on `@MenuText`. I know there is a `replace()` function, but I can't get it to work and my editor says that `replace()` isn't a function. The menu item text contains spaces, dashes and other symbols that are not valid for using in the `id` attribute. How can I replace those symbols?

Original source