Problem transforming empty element tags using XmlTransform

[nospam]

I'm trying to transform an xml file that contains empty short elements like
the following:

<element attrib="abc"/>

using the XmlTransform class. But I cannot seem to preserve the short format
as everytime it get's converted to the longer format of:

<element attrib="abc"></element>

I need to preserve the shorter format, has anyone else had this problem or
got a solution?

thanks

[Martin Honnen]

no****@nospam.net wrote:

I'm trying to transform an xml file that contains empty short elements like
the following:

<element attrib="abc"/>

using the XmlTransform class. But I cannot seem to preserve the short format
as everytime it get's converted to the longer format of:

<element attrib="abc"></element>

I need to preserve the shorter format, has anyone else had this problem or
got a solution?

There are lots of people who report that "problem" but the usual attempt
to "solve" it is to explain that in terms of XML
<element attrib="abc"/>
and
<element attrib="abc"></element>
are absolutely equivalent so any application processing the
transformation output as XML should not have any problems or make a
difference.
Why do you think you need to preserve <element />?

--

Martin Honnen --- MVP XML
http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

[Demon News]

They are using Biztalk, and what is actually happening is that <element
attrib="abc"/> is actually being converted to:

<element attrib="abc">
</element>

which, because of the whitespace is causing problems. I could probably get
round this by using the indent="no" parameter in xslt but for readability
that puts everything on one line and I don't see why this should be
happening.

Using Stylus studio to debug things using the MSXML .Net parser doesn't have
this problem so I'm thinking there should be another way round it.

"Martin Honnen" <ma*******@yahoo.de> wrote in message
news:ur**************@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

no****@nospam.net wrote:

I'm trying to transform an xml file that contains empty short elements
like
the following:

<element attrib="abc"/>

using the XmlTransform class. But I cannot seem to preserve the short
format
as everytime it get's converted to the longer format of:

<element attrib="abc"></element>

I need to preserve the shorter format, has anyone else had this problem
or
got a solution?

There are lots of people who report that "problem" but the usual attempt
to "solve" it is to explain that in terms of XML
<element attrib="abc"/>
and
<element attrib="abc"></element>
are absolutely equivalent so any application processing the transformation
output as XML should not have any problems or make a difference.
Why do you think you need to preserve <element />?

--

Martin Honnen --- MVP XML
http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

[Demon News]

Does this mean that there isn't a way of keeping the short tags or you just
don't know of one?

thanks
"Martin Honnen" <ma*******@yahoo.de> wrote in message
news:ur**************@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

no****@nospam.net wrote:

I'm trying to transform an xml file that contains empty short elements
like
the following:

<element attrib="abc"/>

using the XmlTransform class. But I cannot seem to preserve the short
format
as everytime it get's converted to the longer format of:

<element attrib="abc"></element>

I need to preserve the shorter format, has anyone else had this problem
or
got a solution?

There are lots of people who report that "problem" but the usual attempt
to "solve" it is to explain that in terms of XML
<element attrib="abc"/>
and
<element attrib="abc"></element>
are absolutely equivalent so any application processing the transformation
output as XML should not have any problems or make a difference.
Why do you think you need to preserve <element />?

--

Martin Honnen --- MVP XML
http://JavaScript.FAQTs.com/

[Pascal Schmitt]

Demon News wrote:

They are using Biztalk, and what is actually happening is that <element
attrib="abc"/> is actually being converted to:

<element attrib="abc">
</element>

which, because of the whitespace is causing problems. I could probably get
round this by using the indent="no" parameter in xslt but for readability
that puts everything on one line and I don't see why this should be
happening.

I only use indent="yes" for debugging, later when I'm sure the output is
correct and only read by XML-parsers, I set indent="no".

But IIRC, if you avoid whitespace in the XSLT, there won't be any in the
output either. For example:

<out:element><xslt:attribute name="attrib">
<xslt:value-of select="'foo'" /<
</xslt:attribute></out:element>

xslt:attribute will be replaced, so you can use whitespace inside it.
--
Pascal Schmitt

[Demon News]

Thanks, I guess I'll just not use indentation. I'm still surprised that this
happens though.

"Pascal Schmitt" <ne*******@cebra.nu> wrote in message
news:%2****************@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

Demon News wrote:

They are using Biztalk, and what is actually happening is that <element
attrib="abc"/> is actually being converted to:

<element attrib="abc">
</element>

which, because of the whitespace is causing problems. I could probably
get round this by using the indent="no" parameter in xslt but for
readability that puts everything on one line and I don't see why this
should be happening.

I only use indent="yes" for debugging, later when I'm sure the output is
correct and only read by XML-parsers, I set indent="no".

But IIRC, if you avoid whitespace in the XSLT, there won't be any in the
output either. For example:

<out:element><xslt:attribute name="attrib">
<xslt:value-of select="'foo'" /<
</xslt:attribute></out:element>

xslt:attribute will be replaced, so you can use whitespace inside it.
--
Pascal Schmitt