Need to manipulate X and Y positions (and page break) via XSLT

[cheesebread]

Hi

Bit of a tricky question (I think). I am trying to print stickers/labels using a process by which I am converting XML to HTML (using XSLT) then convert to .PDF then print. The stickers themselves are all 1X1 and 64 can fit on the page (8 rows with 8 columns). Each set of stickers will have a header sticker with slightly different info. I have formatted the XML input to have a header node and a collection of child nodes associated which are the stickers themselves.

Conceptually I would like to build a table in html and for each header or sticker build a 1X1 inside a <td>. The trick will be to track 1 through 8 across (then need a new <tr> and also track the vertical (need a page break). There is no limit to how many stickers there can be. Since XSLT variable declarations are essentialy immutable and don't behave like counters, how do I track the X,Y positions and build this out in an XSLT without having to create 64 tables, etc... I was looking at calling a C# method but this seems to be a last resort.

Thanks

[drhowarddrfine]

There are counters in xslt and you can do math but don't ask me any more about it cause I've never used it.

[cheesebread]

I was reading about position() as it relates to relate position in the XML doc. I could in theory even use the mod function to break on 8th row but I don't know how I would track my vertical position on the page.

Thanks.

[jkmyoung]

Are you using xsl-fo?

Can think of several ways, depending on your xml layout, eg roughly:

apply-templates select="sticker[position() mod 8 = 1]" mode="row"
 
 
<template match="sticker" mode="row">
  <tr>
    <xsl:apply-template select=".|following-sibling:sticker[position() &lt; 8]"/>
  </tr>
  <xsl:if test="position() mod 64 = 1"> <!-- can't remember if you need 8 or 64 here; try it out. --> 
  break
  </xsl:if>
</template>
 
<template match="sticker">
   <td> 
    some output here..
   </td>
</template>