RE: Count - via database or xsl

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Williams
>
<snip />
> Occasionally we may need to test the size of the repeating data
> outside of a for-each statement, by requesting a count of the
> child nodes.
> What we will usually want to know is whether there are 0 nodes
> although sometimes we may need to know the actual number of the
> count if there are more.
> As the data is being passed via a database to the xml file, I
> have assumed it would be much quicker for the database to do the
> count for us.
> Is this a correct assumption?  Is the xslt count a lot slower
> than an efficient database application in this respect?
>

Hi,

I just noticed this question has remained unanswered so far...

Is it possible to repost the problem and include maybe some pseudocode to
demonstrate what the actual concerns / desired results are?

Anyway, your description above reminds me of a way I tackled a similar
scenario, by specifying the count of the children (or any other type of
descendant-nodes) as an attribute on the ancestor at XML creation time. This
could avoid a lot of node-counting while processing the document, just pick
up the value from the attribute.

Best way, I believe, is to use a combination of both, as the above approach
could turn out to be unflexible in some cases.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Andreas


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