Re: Multiple grouping with substrings

Hi Ben,

> I have a grouping problem I cannot work out. I have done a couple of
> stylesheets with keys but this one has me befuddled.
>
> I am having trouble declaring and using a key like this; (I am new
> to keys so go easy here)
>
> <xsl:key name="xprogs" match="doc/prog[contains(.,'msx']"
>          use="substring(.,4,1)"/>
>
> My algorithm is 
>         a). Group by 3rd character of prog node ie 'x'  in msx123 followed
> by 'y' in msy123
>
>         b). For each unique 4th character of prog node list prog nodes 4 (or
>         ideally custom value)
>         per line        separated by a single space (produce new line when a
>         different 4th character
>         encountered).

OK, it sounds as though you want to group by the third *and* fourth
characters. You want to group *all* the prog elements rather than just
those that contain 'msx', so your match attribute should match all
prog elements. And if you want the third and fourth characters, then
you need substring(., 3, 2):

<xsl:key name="progs" match="prog" use="substring(., 3, 2)" />

Then you have to think about selecting all those prog elements that
have a unique letter-number combination: if they're the first prog
with that particular letter-number combination:

<xsl:template match="doc">
  <xsl:for-each select="prog[generate-id() =
                             generate-id(key('progs',
                                             substring(., 3, 2))[1])]">
    <xsl:variable name="progs"
                  select="key('progs', substring(., 3, 2))" />
    ...
  </xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>

Once you've got that set of $progs together, you can group them by
their position. Say you set a global parameter to the number you want
in each group:

<xsl:param name="nprogs" select="4" />

then you can loop through the $progs and use position() mod $nprogs to
work out whether you need to add a newline or a space before the value
of the particular prog:

<xsl:template match="doc">
  <xsl:for-each select="prog[generate-id() =
                             generate-id(key('progs',
                                             substring(., 3, 2))[1])]">
    <xsl:variable name="progs"
                  select="key('progs', substring(., 3, 2))" />
    <xsl:for-each select="$progs">
      <xsl:choose>
        <xsl:when test="position() mod $nprogs = 1">
          <xsl:text>&#xA;</xsl:text>
        </xsl:when>
        <xsl:otherwise>
          <xsl:text> </xsl:text>
        </xsl:otherwise>
      </xsl:choose>
      <xsl:value-of select="." />
    </xsl:for-each>
  </xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>

Cheers,

Jeni

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


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