Cannot declare xsl:variable inside xsl:choose block 1

[TonyMarston]

Is there any good reason why the following code does not work?

<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test=&quot;foo&quot;>
<xsl:variable name=&quot;var&quot; select=&quot;'foo'&quot; />
</xsl/when>
<xsltherwise>
<xsl:variable name=&quot;var&quot; select=&quot;'something else'&quot; />
</xsltherwise>
</xsl:choose>

If I try to access variable $var after this code has been executed all I get is &quot;unknown variable&quot;. If I declare the variable without the conditions it works, but I want to set the variable to a different value depending on conditions at run-time.

Is this a bug, or something which is disallowed in the XSL specification?

 

[harebrain]

You can start by changing

  </xsl/when>

to

  </xsl:when>

Let us know if that changes anything.

 

[TonyMarston]

Whoops. That was a simple typo when constructing the post. The code I actually ran was syntactically correct, but I still get the error.

I have tried the following XSL parsers:
- the Sablotron extension in PHP
- Komodo (XSL debugger) from Activestate
- Microsoft's MSXML parser v4

The same error appears in all three. I have read the XSL specification several times regarding variables, but I cannot see why it should be disallowed. If I declare the variable outside the condition statement it works, but as soon as I put it inside a condition it does not matter which statement gets processed as it becomes invisible outside of the condition block.

 

[harebrain]

How about posting the complete XSL file? You've got me guessing about too many things, including the declaration.

 

[TonyMarston]

Here it is in its entirety. It is actrually in a template that is called from a number of stylesheets.

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl=&quot;[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform&quot;[/URL] version=&quot;1.0&quot;>

<xsl:param name=&quot;curpage&quot;>2</xsl:param>
<xsl:param name=&quot;lastpage&quot;>5</xsl:param>
<xsl:param name=&quot;session_name&quot;></xsl:param>

<!-- create hyperlinks to jump to first/prev/next/last page of current details -->
<xsl:template name=&quot;pagination&quot;>
  
  <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test=&quot;$session_name&quot;>
      <xsl:variable name=&quot;session&quot; select=&quot;concat('&session_name=',$session_name)&quot; />
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
      <xsl:variable name=&quot;session&quot; select=&quot;''&quot; />
    </xsl:otherwise>
  </xsl:choose>
   
  <table class=&quot;pagination&quot;>
    <tr class=&quot;pagination&quot;>
    
      <xsl:choose>
        <xsl:when test=&quot;$curpage<=1&quot;>
          <!-- we are on page 1, so there is no navigation backwards -->
          <td class=&quot;pagination&quot;>FIRST</td>
          <td class=&quot;pagination&quot;>PREV</td>
        </xsl:when>
        <xsl:otherwise>
          <!-- insert links for first/previous page -->
          <td class=&quot;pagination&quot;><a href=&quot;{$script}?page=1{$session}&quot;><b>FIRST</b></a></td>
          <td class=&quot;pagination&quot;><a href=&quot;{$script}?page={$curpage -1}{$session}&quot;><b>PREV</b></a></td>
        </xsl:otherwise>
      </xsl:choose>
    
      <!-- insert &quot;page x of y&quot; -->
      <td class=&quot;pagination&quot;>
        <xsl:text>Page </xsl:text><xsl:value-of select=&quot;$curpage&quot;/>
        <xsl:text> of </xsl:text><xsl:value-of select=&quot;$lastpage&quot;/>
      </td>
      
      <xsl:choose>
        <xsl:when test=&quot;$curpage=$lastpage&quot;>
          <!-- we are on the last page, so there is no navigation forwards -->
          <td class=&quot;pagination&quot;>NEXT</td>
          <td class=&quot;pagination&quot;>LAST</td>
        </xsl:when>
        <xsl:otherwise>
          <!-- insert links for last/next page -->
          <td class=&quot;pagination&quot;><a href=&quot;{$script}?page={$curpage +1}{$session}&quot;><b>NEXT</b></a></td>
          <td class=&quot;pagination&quot;><a href=&quot;{$script}?page={$lastpage}{$session}&quot;><b>LAST</b></a></td>
        </xsl:otherwise>
      </xsl:choose>
      
    </tr>
  </table>
  
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

 

[tburrows]

I had a similiar problem and found that the variable had to be outside the choose. Here is how mine ended up.

<xsl:variable name=&quot;gender&quot;>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test=&quot;sex='M'&quot;>Male</xsl:when>
<xsl:when test=&quot;sex='F'&quot;>Female</xsl:when>
<xsl:when test=&quot;sex='U'&quot;>Unknown</xsl:when>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>

Hope this helps
Tom

 

[TonyMarston]

Great answer. Thanks.