RE: Problems incrementing a variable in a <xsl:for-eac

Morning,
 
XSLT is somewhat difficult to adopt given that many programming idioms don't apply. You've run into this problem with attempting to increment a variable in the way you might in C# or Java. The trick in XSLT is to do things a little differently.
 
You cannot do what you are doing for two reasons:
- variables only exist within the scope that they are declared
- variables (and params) are immutable
 
First, you have to ask yourself the question of why you are incrementing a variable. It looks like you want to determine the number of clients in your file. You can do that via the count function.
 
Try modifying your transform in the following way:
 
<xsl:stylesheet version='1.0'
  xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform' <http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform'> >
<xsl:output method='text'/>

<xsl:variable name="counter" select="0"/>
<xsl:template match='CLIENTS'> 
    <xsl:value-of select="count(CLIENT)"/>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Thanks,

Rich


	-----Original Message----- 
	From: Carlos Barroso [mailto:est-c-barroso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
	Sent: Wed 23/10/2002 6:42 AM 
	To: XSL-List-Digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
	Cc: 
	Subject:  Problems incrementing a variable in a <xsl:for-each>
	
	

	Hy there.
	I'm having problems incrementing a variable in a <xsl:for-each> section.
	Below is the XML document, the stylesheet I used and the output I got.
	
	-----------------------
	XML file
	-----------------------
	
	<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ISO-8859-1'?>
	<!DOCTYPE CLIENTS SYSTEM 'counter.dtd'>
	
	<CLIENTS>
	  <CLIENT>
	    <NAME value='xpto'/>
	    <AGE value='10'/>
	  </CLIENT>
	  <CLIENT>
	    <NAME valor='xxx'/>
	    <AGE valor='20'/>
	  </CLIENT>
	</CLIENTS>
	
	----------------------
	First XSL file
	----------------------
	
	<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ISO-8859-1'?>
	
	<xsl:stylesheet version='1.0'
	  xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform'>
	<xsl:output method='text'/>
	
	<xsl:variable name="counter" select="0"/>
	<xsl:template match='/CLIENTS'> 
	  <xsl:for-each select="./CLIENT">
	    <xsl:variable name="counter" select="1 + $counter"/>
	    <xsl:value-of select="$counter"/>
	  </xsl:for-each>
	</xsl:template>
	</xsl:stylesheet>
	
	-------------------------
	Output in TXT file
	-------------------------
	
	11
	
	-------------- // --------------
	
	------------------------
	Second XSL test
	------------------------
	
	<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ISO-8859-1'?>
	
	<xsl:stylesheet version='1.0'
	  xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform'>
	<xsl:output method='text'/>
	
	<xsl:variable name="counter" select="0"/>
	<xsl:template match='/CLIENTS'> 
	    <xsl:variable name="counter" select="1 + $counter"/>
	    <xsl:value-of select="$counter"/>
	    <xsl:variable name="counter" select="1 + $counter"/>
	    <xsl:value-of select="$counter"/>
	</xsl:template>
	</xsl:stylesheet>
	
	-------------------------
	Output in TXT file
	-------------------------
	
	12
	
	-------------- // --------------
	
	In the second XSL file, the counter procedes as planned. But in the first
	XSL the counter mantains
	it's value!? I tried using templates instead of "<xsl:for-each>" but it
	gives me the same results!
	I don't know what's wrong.
	Can someone help me please. This is very weird to me.
	Thanks a lot.
	
	
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