XML and XSL

[OleHaahr]

Hi !

I am learning XML and XSL, and i need a hint. I have the following
XML-file:

<CATALOG>
<CD>
<TITLE>Empire Burlesque</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Bob Dylan</ARTIST>
<TRACK>
<ID>1/</ID>
<NAME>Track bla bla</NAME>
</TRACK>
<TRACK>
<ID>2/</ID>
<NAME>Track bla bla bla</NAME>
</TRACK>
</CD>
<CD>
<TITLE>Hide your heart</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Bonnie Tylor</ARTIST>
<TRACK>
<ID>1/</ID>
<NAME>bla bla Track</NAME>
</TRACK>
<TRACK>
<ID>2/</ID>
<NAME>bla bla bla Track</NAME>
</TRACK>
</CD>
</CATALOG>


I want to make an XSL-file, to generate an output like this:

Empire Burlesque Bob Dylan
1 Track bla bla
2 Track bla bla bla
Hide your heart Bonnie Tylor
1 bla bla Track
2 bla bla bla Track

etc...

It is not a problem to make an output like this:

Empire Burlesque Bob Dylan
Hide your heart Bonnie Tylor

But how can i show the tracks below the title.

Can someone help me.

Regards,
Ole

 

[Ken Starks]

1. Do you want XHTML or some other format such as plain text?
2. If you are designing the XML yourself, you (almost certainly)
don't need the 'ID' sub-element of a Track.
If the ID is always unique for a track, it would be better as an
attribute:

<TRACK ID="1">
...
</TRACK>

If the ID is just an ordinal number, ie it always starts at 1 and
increases by 1 for each track, you don't need it at all.


3. Its up to you what you map the list of tracks onto. It could be
a numbered (enumerated) list, a description list, or even a table.

Whichever, the basic idea in XSLT will be the same:

a. TEMPLATE for CD
------------------
Do the Title and Artist
Do the header part of the list or table
...Apply templates
Do the footer part of the list or table

b. TEMPLATE for TRACK
---------------------
Do a single item of the list, or row of the table

I'll leave the actual code for you.


4. As a further exercise, how will your XSLT behave if presented with
a CATALOG that include a compilation albums, where Tracks can have their
own ARTIST>

<CD>
<TITLE>Compilation</TITLE>
<ARTIST>Various</ARTIST>

<TRACK>
<ID>1/</ID>
<ARTIST>Dylan</ARTIST>
<NAME>Track bla bla</NAME>
</TRACK>

<TRACK>
<ARTIST>Bonnie Tylor</ARTIST>
<ID>2/</ID>
<NAME>Track bla bla bla</NAME>
</TRACK>
</CD>