RE: selecting unique entries from a list

From: "Hallas,M" <M.Hallas@xxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: <xsl-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject:  selecting unique entries from a list
Date: Thu, 5 May 2005 11:14:35 +0100

Dear all,

Hope you can help with this query. I am new to XML/XSLT.

I need to take the following XML and generate an initial web page displaying only one instance of
each department name.

<xml>
<List>
	<Entry>
		<Session>2004/5</Session>
		<Department>Accounting and Finance</Department>
	</Entry>
	<Entry>

		<Session>2004/5</Session>
		<Department>Accounting and Finance</Department>
	</Entry>
	<Entry>
		<Session>2004/5</Session>
		<Department>Maths</Department>
	</Entry>
	<Entry>
		<Session>2004/5</Session>
		<Department>Maths</Department>
	</Entry>
	<Entry>
		<Session>2004/5</Session>
		<Department>Economic History</Department>
	</Entry>
</List>
</xml>

so in the html only unique departments would be displayed once:

	Accounting and Finance
	Maths
	Economic History

What's the best way to do this in xslt?

I understand that I can filter on specific names within the xslt and do conditional
tests but I do not want to have to change the xslt each time if the departments in the xml change.

Hope it makes sense.

Regards,

Mike