Easy way to alternate output with XSLT when not using templates or loops?

[Michael Ahlers]

Obviously if you're looping or using a template, choosing output based
on the current iteration is easy. For example, if you're walking a
set of elements and you want index % 2 == 0 produce one thing and
another when that is not true. My question is, what if you are not
looping through tags but want to achieve a similar effect without
having to be excessively verbose? Is there any way that I can
simplify the following block?

<!-- ... -->
<dt>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Even</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:text>Sex</xsl:text>
</dt>
<dd>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Even</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="Sex"/>
</dd>
<dt>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Odd</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:text>Height</xsl:text>
</dt>
<dd>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Odd</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="Height"/>
</dd>
<!-- ... -->

That's particularly annoying if you want to insert an element anywhere
other than the end of the list. You cannot modify variables, so
incrementing as you walk along is not possible. I can't exactly loop
because the name of the element is not necessarily human-friendly.
Any ideas?

 

[Robin Johnson]

Is there any way that I can
simplify the following block?

<!-- ... -->
<dt>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Even</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:text>Sex</xsl:text>
</dt>
<dd>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Even</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="Sex"/>
</dd>
<dt>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Odd</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:text>Height</xsl:text>
</dt>
<dd>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Odd</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="Height"/>
</dd>

If Sex and Height (or whatever data) are the only child elements of the context:

<xsl:for-each select="*"><!-- or maybe select="Sex|Height|whatever..." -->
<xsl:variable name="even-or-odd">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="position() mod 2 = 0">
<xsl:text>Even</xsl:text>
</xsl:when>
<xsltherwise>
<xsl:text>Odd</xsl:text>
</xsltherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>
<dt class="{$even-or-odd}">
<xsl:value-of select="name()"/>
</dt>
<dd class="{$even-or-odd}">
<xsl:value-of select="."/>
</dd>
</xsl:for-each>

 

[Michael Ahlers]

If Sex and Height (or whatever data) are the only child

elements of the context:

It would be extremely convenient I only had those two tags since this
whole thing would be effortless. The problem is, I only took a snippet
of my code to demonstrate what I am shooting for. Also, I have no
guarantee that the element names are suitable for user output, so I have
to supply them myself in the XSLT. Thanks for your response though.

 

[David Carlisle]

<!-- ... -->
<dt>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Even</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:text>Sex</xsl:text>
</dt>
<dd>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Even</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="Sex"/>
</dd>
<dt>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Odd</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:text>Height</xsl:text>
</dt>
<dd>
<xsl:attribute name="class"><xsl:text>Odd</xsl:text></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="Height"/>
</dd>
<!-- ... -->

The above is written in a very verbose style, you could write it
equivalently as



<!-- ... -->
<dt class="even">Sex</dt>
<dd class="even">
<xsl:value-of select="Sex"/>
</dd>
<dt class="odd">Height</dt>
<dd class="odd">
<xsl:value-of select="Height"/>
</dd>
<!-- ... -->

or if you want to loop over arbitrary child elements

<xsl:for-each select="*">
<dt class="even">
<xsl:if test="position() mod 2 = 1">
<xsl:attribute name="class">odd</xsl:attribute>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:apply-templates mode="name" select="."/>
</dt>
<dd class="even">
<xsl:if test="position() mod 2 = 1">
<xsl:attribute name="class">odd</xsl:attribute>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
</dd>
</xsl:for-each>


for names you can have a default of

<xsl:template mode="name" match="*">
<xsl:value-of select="name()"/>
</xsl:template>

together with overrides where needed:

<xsl:template mode="name" match="Sex">
<xsl:text>seX</xsl:text>
</xsl:template>


David