Custom Sorting

[Mike King]

Is there a way to sort by element names in XSLT, but not in ascending or
descenting order but by elements that I specify?

<root>
<cat />
<dog />
<rabbit />
</root>

the sorted result tree

<root>
<rabbit />
<cat />
<dog />
</root>

[Robin Johnson]

"Mike King" <em*****@excite.com> wrote in message news:<10*************@corp.supernews.com>...

Is there a way to sort by element names in XSLT, but not in ascending or
descenting order but by elements that I specify?

<root>
<cat />
<dog />
<rabbit />
</root>

the sorted result tree

<root>
<rabbit />
<cat />
<dog />
</root>

If I understand what you're trying to do, I believe you can do it in
XSLT 1.0 if your processor supports exsl:node-set() or a similar
extension (see www.exslt.org):

<xsl:variable name="my-sort-order">
<rabbit/>
<cat/>
<dog/>
</xsl:variable>

<xsl:template match="root">
<xsl:for-each select="*">

<xsl:sort select="count(exsl:node-set($my-sort-order)/*[name() =
name(current())]/preceding-sibling::*)" data-type="number"
order="ascending"/>

<xsl:copy-of select="."/>

</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>

--
Robin Johnson
rj at robinjohnson dot f9 dot co dot uk -
http://www.robinjohnson.f9.co.uk

[Mike King]

> If I understand what you're trying to do, I believe you can do it in

XSLT 1.0 if your processor supports exsl:node-set() or a similar
extension (see www.exslt.org):

<xsl:variable name="my-sort-order">
<rabbit/>
<cat/>
<dog/>
</xsl:variable>

<xsl:template match="root">
<xsl:for-each select="*">

<xsl:sort select="count(exsl:node-set($my-sort-order)/*[name() =
name(current())]/preceding-sibling::*)" data-type="number"
order="ascending"/>

<xsl:copy-of select="."/>

</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>

--
Robin Johnson
rj at robinjohnson dot f9 dot co dot uk -
http://www.robinjohnson.f9.co.uk

It worked! Thanks for your help.

How did you come up with this solution? I'm having a difficult time with
XSLT and I'm wondering how did you come up with this interesting solution.
Does one need to read the XSLT spec or is there a real good book that
explains XSLT. I consider myself a very technical person (I know several
programming languages) but XSLT just kicks my butt. If no one answered my
question, I was going to re-write my XSLT in C# or C++ to get the job the
done. Thanks again for your help.

[Robin Johnson]

"Mike King" <em*****@excite.com> wrote in message news:<10*************@corp.supernews.com>...

[programmer-defined sort order in XSLT 1.0 using exsl:node-set()]

It worked! Thanks for your help.
Glad to hear it.
How did you come up with this solution? I'm having a difficult time with
XSLT and I'm wondering how did you come up with this interesting solution.
A diseased mind and a lot of drugs. :-)

Tip 1: use exsl:node-set(). It makes XSLT *much* more powerful. In particular,
it's the only way you can 'sweep' twice over the same bit of source XML, i.e.
apply one template to a piece of the source, then apply a second template to
the result of that first template (the tree-shaped result, not just its
string-value.) The decision in the XSLT 1.0 spec not to allow XPath operations
on a tree-fragment variable "to allow for this to be implemented in future
versions" strikes me as truly bizarre. Thankfully XSLT 2.0 will do away with
that. (XSLT 2.0 also has a programmer-defineable sort order construct, I
believe. Michael Kay's Saxon at www.saxonica.com implements the current
working draft of 2.0, but I'm shy of working drafts so I'm sticking with 1.0
for the time being and using exsl:node-set a lot.)

Tip 2: don't be afraid to do clever things that look inefficient. If your data
is XML rather than strings, XSLT is *fast*. The only real exception I have
found to this is that in both the implementations I have used (MSXML and
Saxon), sweeping down the following-sibling:: axis is much faster than using
preceding-sibling:: (e.g. when you're trying to find the first unique value of
something - finding the last will be faster.)
Does one need to read the XSLT spec or is there a real good book that
explains XSLT.
The lovely Michael Kay strikes again: "XSLT Programmer's Reference", in the
"Programmer to Programmer" series by Wrox Press. The documentation on his site
is also very helpful.
I consider myself a very technical person (I know several
programming languages) but XSLT just kicks my butt.

"Assignment statement considered harmful."

--
Robin Johnson
rj at robinjohnson dot f9 dot co dot uk
http://www.robinjohnson.f9.co.uk

Only joking about the drugs.

[Ed Beroset]

Robin Johnson wrote:

"Mike King" <em*****@excite.com> wrote in message news:<10*************@corp.supernews.com>...

How did you come up with this solution? I'm having a difficult time with
XSLT and I'm wondering how did you come up with this interesting solution.

A diseased mind and a lot of drugs. :-)

Fortunately, there's not (yet) a software patent on that technique.

Does one need to read the XSLT spec or is there a real good book that
explains XSLT.

The lovely Michael Kay strikes again: "XSLT Programmer's Reference", in the
"Programmer to Programmer" series by Wrox Press. The documentation on his site
is also very helpful.

At the risk of posting a worthless "me too" post, I would absolutely
second this. IMHO, it is one of the very few XSLT books worth the
price. (I haven't yet found another, but my statement allows that one
might exist.)

I consider myself a very technical person (I know several
programming languages) but XSLT just kicks my butt.

"Assignment statement considered harmful."

Kay's corollary: "for-each usually a mistake"

Ed