Re: creating a string of repeated characters or Paddin

Hi Chris,

> So, I've read the exslt documentation on string padding but it's not
> exactly clear to me how I would invoke this function given the
> following excerpted xslt where I need ACTIVITY to always occupy
> positions 16-65 and MEMBER to occupy positions 66-165 in my fixed
> file output.

It sounds as though you can break down each row into three areas:

 - 16 characters (presumably spaces)
 - the value of ACTIVITY aligned in 50 characters (spaces)
 - the value of MEMBER aligned in 100 characters (spaces)

So, first you need to output a string of 16 characters, which you can
get with the str:padding template.

<xsl:template match="ROW">
  <xsl:call-template name="str:padding">
    <xsl:with-param name="length" select="16" />
  </xsl:call-template>
  ...
</xsl:template>

Then I'd set up a variable to hold the 50 character padding so that
you can make the 100 character padding fairly easily:

<xsl:template match="ROW">
  <xsl:call-template name="str:padding">...</xsl:call-template>
  <xsl:variable name="spaces50">
    <xsl:call-template name="str:padding">
      <xsl:with-param name="length" select="50" />
    </xsl:call-template>
  </xsl:variable>
  ...
</xsl:template>

Then I'd use the str:align template (from
http://www.exslt.org/str/functions/align/str.align.template.xsl) to
(left) align the values of ACTIVITY in those 50 characters:

<xsl:template match="ROW">
  <xsl:call-template name="str:padding">...</xsl:call-template>
  <xsl:variable name="spaces50">...</xsl:variable>
  <xsl:call-template name="str:align">
    <xsl:with-param name="string" select="ACTIVITY" />
    <xsl:with-param name="padding" select="$spaces50" />
  </xsl:call-template>
  ...
</xsl:template>

Then call the str:align template to pad the value of the MEMBER child
in 100 spaces:

<xsl:template match="ROW">
  <xsl:call-template name="str:padding">...</xsl:call-template>
  <xsl:variable name="spaces50">...</xsl:variable>
  <xsl:call-template name="str:align">...</xsl:call-template>
  <xsl:call-template name="str:align">
    <xsl:with-param name="string" select="MEMBER" />
    <xsl:with-param name="padding"
                    select="concat($spaces50, $spaces50)" />
  </xsl:call-template>
  ...
</xsl:template>

Finally, of course, you need your new line:

<xsl:template match="ROW">
  <xsl:call-template name="str:padding">...</xsl:call-template>
  <xsl:variable name="spaces50">...</xsl:variable>
  <xsl:call-template name="str:align">...</xsl:call-template>
  <xsl:call-template name="str:align">...</xsl:call-template>
  <xsl:text>&#xA;</xsl:text>
</xsl:template>

Of course you could split it up into separate templates if you wanted.

I hope that helps,

Jeni

---
Jeni Tennison
http://www.jenitennison.com/


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