Re: [xsl] Converting XML to Fixed Length Text Data

[David Carlisle <davidc at nag dot co dot uk>]

> Ok David, got it, works like a charm, but what happens if one of the 
> elements is optional and not passed on the source xml file?

then I moan at you for changing the spec after I'd written the code:-)

but basically apply-templates assumes that if an eleemnt isn't there you
want to do nothing. If on the other hand you know the element sequence
and want to do something even if the element isn't there then instead of
apply-templates use

<xsl:value-of select="child1"/>
<xsl:value-of select="substring($child1,1+string-length(child1))"/>
<xsl:value-of select="child2"/>
<xsl:value-of select="substring($child2,1+string-length(child2))"/>
<xsl:value-of select="child3"/>
<xsl:value-of select="substring($child3,1+string-length(child3))"/>
...

Now, if the element <child2> is not there, line 3 above produces nothing
and line 4 above produces all of the (blank) string $child2, starting at
position 1 (ie all of your padding string for that field).

David

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