XSL Heartache - Newbie

[virgiloz]

I'm new to XML but an old hand at c++ lisp and vba programming. I'm trying to process the following xml data:

    <abilities>
        <ability>
            <name>Strength</name>
            <abbr>STR</abbr>
            <base>15</base>
            <modifier>+2</modifier>
        </ability>
        <ability>
            <name>Dexterity</name>
            <abbr>DEX</abbr>
            <base>14</base>
            <modifier>+2</modifier>
        </ability>
        <ability>
            <name>Constitution</name>
            <abbr>CON</abbr>
            <base>13</base>
            <modifier>+1</modifier>
        </ability>
        <ability>
            <name>Intelligence</name>
            <abbr>INT</abbr>
            <base>10</base>
            <modifier>+0</modifier>
        </ability>
        <ability>
            <name>Wisdom</name>
            <abbr>WIS</abbr>
            <base>12</base>
            <modifier>+1</modifier>
        </ability>
        <ability>
            <name>Charisma</name>
            <abbr>CHA</abbr>
            <base>8</base>
            <modifier>-1</modifier>
        </ability>
    </abilities>

There is nothing wrong with the structure of the xml file above. The problem lies in the xsl file below. Each ability is to be printed on its own line in its own color, which I've managed to do using <xsl:choose>. What I can't do is condition the color of the printed <modifier> text. I want the modifier to print red if negative, black if zero (+0) and green if positive. The relevant fragment of the xsl file appears below.

            <xsl:for-each select="ability">
                <tr>
                     <xsl:choose>
                        <xsl:when test ="abbr = 'STR'">
                            <td align="center" bgcolor="#CC0033" class="v10w">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="abbr"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #CC0033" bgcolor="#FFAABF" 
                                class="v10">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="base"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #CC0033" bgcolor="#FFAABF"
                            class="v10g">
                                  <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="modifier"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>                               
                            </td>
                             <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #CC0033" bgcolor="#FFAABF">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #CC0033" bgcolor="#FFAABF">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                        </xsl:when>
                        <xsl:when test ="abbr = 'DEX'">
                            <td align="center" bgcolor="#FF6600" class="v10w">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="abbr"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #FF6600" bgcolor="#FFCCAA" 
                            class="v10">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="base"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #FF6600" bgcolor="#FFCCAA" 
                            class="v10">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="modifier"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #FF6600" bgcolor="#FFCCAA">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #FF6600" bgcolor="#FFCCAA">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                        </xsl:when>
                        <xsl:when test ="abbr = 'CON'">
                            <td align="center" bgcolor="#FFCC00" class="v10w">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="abbr"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #FFCC00" bgcolor="#FFEEAA" 
                            class="v10">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="base"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #FFCC00" bgcolor="#FFEEAA" 
                            class="v10">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="modifier"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #FFCC00" bgcolor="#FFEEAA">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #FFCC00" bgcolor="#FFEEAA">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                        </xsl:when>
                        <xsl:when test ="abbr = 'INT'">
                            <td align="center" bgcolor="#339933" class="v10w">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="abbr"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #339933" bgcolor="#BFEABF" 
                            class="v10">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="base"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #339933" bgcolor="#BFEABF" 
                            class="v10">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="modifier"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #339933" bgcolor="#BFEABF">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #339933" bgcolor="#BFEABF">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                        </xsl:when>
                        <xsl:when test ="abbr = 'WIS'">
                            <td align="center" bgcolor="#336699" class="v10w">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="abbr"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #336699" bgcolor="#BFD5EA" 
                            class="v10">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="base"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #336699" bgcolor="#BFD5EA" 
                            class="v10">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="modifier"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #336699" bgcolor="#BFD5EA">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #336699" bgcolor="#BFD5EA">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                        </xsl:when>
                        <xsl:otherwise>
                            <td align="center" bgcolor="#663399" class="v10w">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="abbr"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #663399" bgcolor="#D5BFEA" 
                            class="v10">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="base"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #663399" bgcolor="#D5BFEA" 
                            class="v10">
                                <b>
                                    <xsl:value-of select="modifier"/>
                                </b>
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #663399" bgcolor="#D5BFEA">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                            <td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #663399" bgcolor="#D5BFEA">
                                <br/>
                            </td>
                        </xsl:otherwise>
                    </xsl:choose>
                </tr>
            </xsl:for-each>
        </table>
    </xsl:template>

The line that controls the text color is:
<td align="center" style="border: 3px solid #663399" bgcolor="#D5BFEA" class="v10">

This is the snippet for the v10 style:

                        .v10 {
                        font-family: Verdana;
                        font-size:10pt;
 
    color:black;
                        }

I tried to do it using a nested <xsl:choose> statement and by creating a v10r for red and v10g for green text. I think I was failing in the test= statement. I just don't know how to test the string.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

virgil, out!

[jkmyoung]

Modifier color:

<xsl:variable name="modClass">
    <xsl:choose>
        <xsl:when test="modifier &amp;gt; 0">v10g</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="modifier &amp;lt; 0">v10r</xsl:when>
        <xsl:otherwise>v10</xsl:otherwise>
    </xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>
....
 
and then
class="{$modClass}"
 

In order to decrease repeated code, and make it more manageable, I suggest abstraction like so:

1. Put the following in a variable, or in your stylesheet somewhere: (I've chosen to put this at the end of the stylesheet)

<my:mapping xmlns:my="internal">
    <ability abbr="STR" bg="#CC0033" bg2="#FFAABF"/>
    <ability abbr="DEX" bg="#FF6600" bg2="#FFCCAA"/>
    <ability abbr="CON" bg="#FFCC00" bg2="#FFEEAA"/>
    <ability abbr="INT" bg="#339933" bg2="#BFEABF"/>
    <ability abbr="WIS" bg="#336699" bg2="#BFD53A"/>
    <ability abbr="CHA" bg="#663399" bg2="#D5BFEA"/>
</my:mapping>
 

2. Look up the node for each attribute:

<xsl:variable name="styleNode" select="document('')//ability[@abbr=current()/abbr]"/>

3. Use this node in a single piece of code. All put together, it looks something like:

<xsl:for-each select="ability">
    <tr>
        <xsl:variable name="styleNode" select="document('')//ability[@abbr=current()/abbr]"/>
        <xsl:variable name="bgcolor" select="$styleNode/@bg"/>
        <xsl:variable name="style" select="concat('border: 3px solid ', $bgcolor)"/>
        <xsl:variable name="bgcolor2" select="$styleNode/@bg2"/>
        <xsl:variable name="modClass">
            <xsl:choose>
                <xsl:when test="modifier &amp;gt; 0">v10g</xsl:when>
                <xsl:when test="modifier &amp;lt; 0">v10r</xsl:when>
                <xsl:otherwise>v10</xsl:otherwise>
            </xsl:choose>
        </xsl:variable>
        <td align="center" bgcolor="{$bgcolor}" class="v10w">
            <b><xsl:value-of select="abbr"/></b><br/>
        </td>
        <td align="center" style="{$style}" bgcolor="{$bgcolor2}" class="v10">
            <b><xsl:value-of select="base"/></b><br/>
        </td>
        <td align="center" style="{$style}" bgcolor="{$bgcolor2}" class="{$modClass}">
            <b><xsl:value-of select="modifier"/></b><br/>
        </td>
        <td align="center" style="{$style}" bgcolor="{$bgcolor2}">
            <br/>
        </td>
        <td align="center" style="{$style}" bgcolor="{$bgcolor2}">
            <br/>
        </td>
    </tr>
</xsl:for-each>
 

No more ridiculous & unwieldly choose clauses.

--edit darn forum escapes entities even in code clauses...

[virgiloz]

Hi jkmyoung,

Thanks for your reply. I've used the code and it is working fine. I must have the worst XML book there is: Teach Yourself XML in 24 Hours. It makes no mention of my:mapping whatsoever. Or are all the books bad?

A couple more questions:

1. How does the node actually reference my:mapping? There doesn't seem to be an explicit reference.

2. I need to use colors frequently in the stylesheet so I want to do something like:

<!-- Schedule of Colors -->
  <xsl:variable name="redborder" select=" ' #CC0033 ' "/>
 
<my:mapping xmlns:my="internal">
    <ability abbr="STR" bg="($redborder)" bg2="#FFAABF"/>
    <ability abbr="DEX" bg="#FF6600" bg2="#FFCCAA"/>
    <ability abbr="CON" bg="#FFCC00" bg2="#FFEEAA"/>
    <ability abbr="INT" bg="#339933" bg2="#BFEABF"/>
    <ability abbr="WIS" bg="#336699" bg2="#BFD5EA"/>
    <ability abbr="CHA" bg="#663399" bg2="#D5BFEA"/>
</my:mapping>

This would allow me to specify one color for all "redborder"s throughout the sheet. It works but somehow the color changes!!!! Instead of a dark red (#CC0033) it prints a sky blue !!!! Do you know why this might be happening?


Thanks again for all your help.

Regards

virgil

[jkmyoung]

my:mapping is somewhat of a neat trick some developers discovered when using XSLT. I picked up the trick in some random forum. Really, this just allows you to put an internal reference xml inside your stylesheet without intefering with the xslt. You could put it in an external xml sheet if wanted.

How it is referenced: document function.
document('') references the xslt stylesheet as an xml document.
//ability references all the ability elements in the stylesheet.

What you're trying to do in 2, is double evaluation of an xpath. Currently, the bg colors are manually hardcoded as part of the stylesheet. You could change the actual ability node inside the mapping node.

When you say need to use colors frequently, do you mean you're changing the the colors frequently??

[virgiloz]

Hi jkmyoung,

When I say I'm using colors frequently I mean that I'm wanting to specify, say, redborder here, redbackground there, orangetext here ... and so on. Rather than doing a search and replace all the time to replace, say, #CC0033 with #CC11F3, I'd like to have a color schedule somewhere:

redbackground = " ' #CC0033 ' "
redborder = ...
redtext = ...

etc;

Then I can tinker with the colors to improve the presentation of the sheet without having to do a whole lot of search and replace ... ie: I only want to change the value of redbackground once and have it update automatically everywhere on the sheet.

Have you got any ideas?

Thanks in advance

virgil

[jkmyoung]

Oh ok, so you're using redborder somewhere else besides in ability.

As it is currently, the text ($redborder) is input to the border, as opposed to "#CC0033"

The only way I can see is to use css to do such a thing. Either that or a global search/replace on your document.

[virgiloz]

Thanks jkmyoung.

I'll look into it. I get what you were saying about the double eval.

No need to reply.

Thanks again.

virgil, out!