How to display a fixed number of elements? 2

BeckD · Jun 10, 2002

Hi

I have an xml page which is database driven (asp). In my xsl page I only want to display the first 5 articles. Something like:

--xml page
<page>
<article>
<title>Test</title>
<body>blah blah blah labhabl hb</body>
</article>
<article>
<title>Test</title>
<body>blah blah blah labhabl hb</body>
</article>
<article>
<title>Test</title>
<body>blah blah blah labhabl hb</body>
</article>
<article>
<title>Test</title>
<body>blah blah blah labhabl hb</body>
</article>
--etc
</page>

--xsl - this bit only wants to select the first 5 articles although the code I've put doesn't work
<xsl:for-each select="/page/article[count = 5]">
<xsl:value-of select="title" />
</xsl:for-each>

If you get my drift...

I have found an example which works with the working draft xsl namespace, but it won't work with the namespace I'm using (<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="

http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">)

and I don't really want to go backwards and use the working draft. This code is:

<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when expr="childNumber(this) > 5"></xsl:when>
<xsl

therwise>
<xsl:value-of select="/page/article/title" />
</xsl

therwise>
</xsl:choose>

Grateful in advance for any comments/suggestions...

flumpy · Jun 10, 2002

try:

<xsl:for-each select="/page/article">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when expr="count() > 5"></xsl:when>
<xsl

therwise>
<xsl:value-of select="title" />
</xsl

therwise>
</xsl:choose>
<xsl:for-each>

... you're lagging it a bit by doing nothing for the rest of the cycles but at least it should work...

You cant do for-each select="/page/article[count() > 5]" because [] indicates node expressions and directly correlates to the nodes you are selecting, not the context within which you are working (unlike count, which is only operational within a context).

Another, more processor friendly way to do it, is to provide an identifying tag within your xml with which you can display a range of data from, eg:

<page>
<article number="1">
<title>Test</title>
<body>blah blah blah labhabl hb</body>
--etc
</page>

and then provide the template

<xsl:template select="//article[@number < 5]">
<xsl:value-of select="title"/>
</xsl:template>

.. this should do unless you are dynamically updating or randomly updating articles within the xml.

hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions

matt

BeckD · Jun 10, 2002

Hi Matt

Thanks for your help, but I get the following error:

msxml3.dll error '80004005'

Attribute 'expr' is invalid on 'xsl:when'.

/xml/index.asp, line 68

(NB: index.asp line 68 is an asp file which parses the xml and xsl file)

flumpy · Jun 10, 2002

ag, i cut and paste your example in and forgot that the /transform namespace in when doesnt support expr!

it should be

<xsl:for-each select="/page/article">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="count() > 5"></xsl:when>
<xsl

therwise>
<xsl:value-of select="title" />
</xsl

therwise>
</xsl:choose>
<xsl:for-each>

soz

flumpy · Jun 10, 2002

plus make sure you use & gt; instead of an ">"!!!

BeckD · Jun 10, 2002

I'm still getting an error: -

msxml3.dll error '80004005'

Expression expected. count(-->)<-- > 5

/xml/index.asp, line 68

Just to check with you that I'm not doing anything stupid, here's the code I'm using:

<xsl:for-each select="/page/article">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="count() > 5"></xsl:when>
<xsl

therwise>
<p><span class="headline"><xsl:value-of select="title"/></span></p>
</xsl

therwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:for-each>

flumpy · Jun 10, 2002

doh.

put a '.' inside the brackets of count(), eg "[count(.) > 5]"

that should do it.

(mental note, always check your answers before posting

BeckD · Jun 10, 2002

Sorry Matt - it still doesn't work. Am now getting:

msxml3.dll error '80004005'

Expression expected. <--

/xml/index.asp, line 68

I've tried putting:

<xsl:when test="count(.) > 5"></xsl:when>
or
<xsl:when test="count(/page/article) > 5"></xsl:when>
or
<xsl:when test="[count(.) > 5]"></xsl:when>

and I get the same error with all.

flumpy · Jun 10, 2002

are you using & gt; (remove the space) and not > in your expression? This is my working example on my debugger:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="

http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl:template match="/">

<xsl:for-each select="/page/article">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="count(.) & gt; 5"></xsl:when>
<xsl

therwise>
<p>
<span class="headline">
<xsl:value-of select="title"/>
</span>
</p>
</xsl

therwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Remember to remove the space if you cut n paste this from & gt; ..

matt

flumpy · Jun 10, 2002

AGGGG

dont use count(.) use position().

so sorry about that. its monday

BeckD · Jun 10, 2002

Thanks!! It works!

flumpy · Jun 10, 2002

phew

SJ2000 · Jun 13, 2002

Try This one
XML:
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<table>
<row>Row#1</row>
<row>Row#2</row>
<row>Row#3</row>
<row>Row#4</row>
<row>Row#5</row>
<row>Row#6</row>
<row>Row#7</row>
<row>Row#8</row>
<row>Row#9</row>
<row>Row#10</row>
</table>

XSL:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="

http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<xsl

utput method="html" encoding="Windows-1252" />
<xsl

aram name="Page" select="2" />
<xsl

aram name="PageSize" select="5" />
<xsl:template match="table">
<html>
<head></head>
<body>
<xsl:variable name="RowCount" select="count(row)" />
<xsl:variable name="Pages" select="ceiling($RowCount div $PageSize)" />
<xsl:variable name = "page">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="($Page > $Pages) or ($Page <= 0)">1</xsl:when>
<xsl

therwise><xsl:value-of select="$Page" /></xsl

therwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>
Number Of Rows
<xsl:value-of select="$RowCount" />
<BR />

Total Pages =
<xsl:value-of select="$Pages" />

<xsl:for-each select="row[(position() <= $PageSize * $page and position() > $PageSize * ($page -1 ))]">
<div><xsl:value-of select="." /></div>
</xsl:for-each>

<xsl:call-template name="for.loop">
<xsl:with-param name="i">1</xsl:with-param>
<xsl:with-param name="count" select="$Pages" />
<xsl:with-param name="current" select="$page" />
</xsl:call-template>
</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template name="for.loop">
<xsl

aram name="i" />

<xsl

aram name="count" />

<xsl

aram name="current" />

<xsl:if test="$i <= $count">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="$i != $current"><xsl:value-of select="$i" /></xsl:when>
<xsl

therwise><b><xsl:value-of select="$i" /></b></xsl

therwise>
</xsl:choose>
<xsl:if test="$i+1 <= $count ">,</xsl:if>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:if test="$i <= $count">
<xsl:call-template name="for.loop">
<xsl:with-param name="i" select="$i + 1" />
<xsl:with-param name="count" select="$count" />
<xsl:with-param name="current" select="$current" />
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
------------------------------

flumpy · Jun 13, 2002

try what with it?

SJ2000 · Jun 13, 2002

anything you want, if you change the XML Nodes, do the same with XSL.

BeckD · Jun 13, 2002

I may be being dumb here, but I don't really understand what you're getting at. If you're tring to do the same thing, then isn't the way that Matt already suggested shorter, simpler and more efficient?

vkvijay · Jul 17, 2002

Hi,
Pls anybody send me the working copy of xml/xsl paging.

flumpy · Jul 17, 2002

how? we dont know your details, mr visitor type person

mgriffith · Jul 17, 2002

i have a question:
could you have done something like

<xsl:for-each select="/page/article[position()<5]">
<xsl:value-of select="title/>
</xsl:for-each>

wouldn't this be faster than iterating through every article and evaluating an expression?

mike griffith
----------------------------
mgriffith@lauren.com
mdg12@po.cwru.edu

flumpy · Jul 19, 2002

yes.

erm.

the only drawback would be if you wanted to do something if the value was greater than 5, like display a break or something.

apart from that, thats a nice elegant solution.

I think i must have been half asleep when I answered the original question.. I dont know where my head was at that day

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How to display a fixed number of elements? 2

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