Re: [xsl] Empty String

[Wendell Piez <wapiez at mulberrytech dot com>]

Greg,

<xsl:template match="String">
   <!-- matches elements named 'String' -->
   <xsl:apply-templates/>
   <!-- processes the children of the element -
        - text, other elements, whatever -->
   <xsl:if test="not(string(.))">
     <!-- passes the test if the string content is empty -->
     <xsl:value-of select="'&#xA;'"/>
     <!-- adds a linefeed character -->
   </xsl:if>
</xsl:template>

Other tests are possible, but this one is a good one. Note that this will 
test "true" if your String element contains other elements, but no text.

If you want to catch whitespace-only strings as well as zero-length 
strings, change the test to "not(normalize-space(.))". But note that such 
whitespace is also passed along by the apply-templates preceding the test.

I hope I construed correctly what you meant by "a String element that is 
empty".

This is actually a FAQ, but a hard one to document since the answer is 
always "it depends".

Hasta la vista,
Wendell

At 04:04 PM 10/23/01, you wrote:
>How do i say this using xsl: "xsl, if you find a String element that is 
>empty, please add a text element that contains a paragraph return."  I am 
>having trouble matching the empty string.
>
>--
>Thanks Muchos,
>
>Greg Martel
>Coordinator of Enchiladas


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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@mulberrytech.com
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