Obtaining the Current Node for the Current XSLT Template

In a stylesheet, the current node is the node for which the XSLT processor instantiates a template. When the XPath processor evaluates an expression during stylesheet processing, the initial context node for the expression is set to the current node for the stylesheet instruction that contains the expression. Because the context node can change during evaluation of subexpressions, it is useful to be able to retrieve, from within a subexpression, the original context node for which the expression is being evaluated. You can use the current() function for this purpose. The format is

node-set current() 
               

            

The current() function returns a node set that contains only the current node for the current template. The current() function is specified in the W3C XSLT Recommendation.

For example, the following stylesheet causes the XSLT processor to pass the bookstore node to the outer xsl:for-each instruction:

<xsl:stylesheet 
               

              
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/XSL/Transform" version="1.0" >
                   
<xsl:template match="/"> 
                   
<xsl:for-each select="bookstore"> 
                   
<xsl:for-each select=
                   
"book[@style=current()/@specialty]"> 
                   
... 
                   
</xsl:for-each> 
                   
</xsl:for-each> 
                   
</xsl:template> 
                   

                
</xsl:stylesheet>

The bookstore node is the current node within the outer xsl:for-each instruction. Within the inner xsl:for-each instruction, a book node is the current node.

The current() function in the inner expression returns the bookstore element because the bookstore element is the current node for the inner xsl:for-each instruction. The result of the query contains book elements if the value of their style attribute is the same as the value of the specialty attribute of the bookstore element ( novel).

Suppose the select attribute in the inner xsl:for-each instruction specified the dot ( .) instead of the current() function:

<xsl:for-each select="book[@style=./@specialty]">
               

            

In a query, the dot specifies the context node. This query would return a book if the value of its style attribute was the same as the value of its specialty attribute.

You can nest xsl:for-each instructions more than one level deep. In any given nested xsl:for-each instruction, the current() function returns the current node for the closest enclosing xsl:for-each instruction.

IATA Standards Available Across All Versions

The complete IATA Standards Grid, showing all IATA EDI versions across the top, and the catalog of messages types down the left-hand side.

SQL/XML Tutorial

Many developers need to be able to write applications that work for databases from multiple vendors. This SQL/XML Tutorial refers to SQL/XML, XQuery, and Native XML Programming Languages to do just that.

Stylus Studio's Advanced XQuery Mapper Features

Learn how to create an advanced XQuery expression in the XQuery mapper, specifying operations, constants, and ports, for use in conditional blocks and FLWR expressions. Free online video demonstration!

XML Schema Validation

Validate XML using XML Schema with MSXML, XERCES, XSV, SYSTEM.XML, & other XSD Validators. Stylus Studio's XML Schema-Aware XML Editing makes XML Schema Validation a snap!

Stylus Most Wanted

Site Map | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Trademarks
Free Stylus Studio XML Training:
W3C Member
Stylus Studio® and DataDirect XQuery™are products from DataDirect Technologies, is a registered trademark of Progress Software Corporation, in the U.S. and other countries. © 2004-2007 All Rights Reserved.