XML/XSL linebreak in loop

[Kaspar]

I have a XML file created by an employee schedule program. The XML file contains all the data for all the employees and their shifts. I would like to publish the schedule on our intranet, but I’m having some difficulties.

I’ am using a XLST file to format the XML schedule data in to HTML tables. I would like to have a empty(blank) line between each diffrent employee.

The next employee name comes directly after the one before, I would like a line break between each different employee. (That would make the whole schedule much easier to read/view)

So far what I’ve got is just a simple XSLT for-each loop.

For example the XML file looks like this:

<shift>
   <EmployeeName>John</EmployeeName>    
   <shiftdate>2006-05-05</shiftdate>
   <starttime>06:00</ starttime>
   <endtime>12:00</ endtime>
</shift>
<shift>
   <EmployeeName>John</EmployeeName>    
   <shiftdate>2006-05-06</shiftdate>
   <starttime>06:00</ starttime>
   <endtime>12:00</ endtime>
</shift>
<shift>
<EmployeeName>John</EmployeeName>    
   <shiftdate>2006-05-07</shiftdate>
   <starttime>09:00</ starttime>
   <endtime>18:00</ endtime>
   </shift>
<shift>
<EmployeeName>Erik</EmployeeName>    
   <shiftdate>2006-05-08</shiftdate>
   <starttime>08:00</ starttime>
   <endtime>14:00</ endtime>
</shift>

And the XSL file:

 <table>
    <tr>
        <td>Name</td> 
        <td>date</td>
        <td>Start </td>
        <td>end -time</td>
    </tr>
        <xsl:for-each select="shift">
            <xsl:sort select="EmployeeName" />
        <tr>
            <td>
            <xsl:value-of select="EmployeeName" /> 
            </td>
            <td>
            <xsl:value-of select="substring(shiftdate, 9, 2)"/> -
            <xsl:value-of select="substring(shiftdate, 6, 2)"/> -
            <xsl:value-of select="substring(shiftdate, 1, 4)"/>
            </td>
            <td>
            <xsl:value-of select="starttime" /> -
            </td>
            <td>
            <xsl:value-of select="endtime" /> 
            </td>
        </tr>
        </xsl:for-each>
</table> 

And it comes out like this:

Name         date             start end -time
John          2006-05-05     06:00-12:00
John          2006-05-05     06:00-12:00
John          2006-05-05     09:00-18:00
Erik          2006-05-06     08:00-14:00
Erik          2006-05-07     06:00-12:00
Nick          2006-05-05     12:00-20:00
Nick          2006-05-06     14:00-22:00
Nick          2006-05-07     14:00-22:00
Mary          2006-05-05     10:00-20:00
 

What i would like as an output:

Name         date             start end -time
John          2006-05-05     06:00-12:00
John          2006-05-05     06:00-12:00
John          2006-05-05     09:00-18:00
 
Erik          2006-05-06     08:00-14:00
Erik          2006-05-07     06:00-12:00
 
Nick          2006-05-05     12:00-20:00
Nick          2006-05-06     14:00-22:00
Nick          2006-05-07     14:00-22:00
 
Mary          2006-05-05     10:00-20:00

I'am playing around with:

<xsl:if test="preceding::EmployeeName!= EmployeeName">
<br />
</xsl:if> 
 

But so far no succes. Is there anyone how can guide me in the right direction?

[iam_clint]

since your working with tables to do a line beak why not just go ahead and add an extra

<tr><td colspan="3">&nbsp;</tr></td>

then if the preceding name does not = the current name then add that break just like you are. i don't happen to know the xml code for checking this.. maybe someone more familiar with XML will post a reply for that.

Good luck