XSLT Template: Reusing with document()

[dutone]

Is it possible to use a template and then, in the same transformation,
reuse it for a call to document()?

I have a document that has a child. If necessary, I need to include
another document's (same structure) child. I'd like to reuse a
template but it doesn't seem to be working out for me.

<xsl:template match="/root">
<id><xsl:value-of select="name"/></id>
<children>
<xsl:apply-templates select="child"/>
<xsl:if test="string-length($additonal-id)>0">
<xsl:apply-templates select="document($additional-id)/
root"/>
</xsl:if>
</children>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="child">
....
</xsl:template>

The code above will cause an infinite loop. I've tried passing the /
root/child element as a param to the child template, but that causes a
type mismatch error.

Any ideas? I'd hope that I wouldn't have to recreate the xsl:value-of
the elements of the child structure with a document()/root/.

 

[Richard Tobin]

I have a document that has a child. If necessary, I need to include
another document's (same structure) child. I'd like to reuse a
template but it doesn't seem to be working out for me.

<xsl:template match="/root">
<id><xsl:value-of select="name"/></id>
<children>
<xsl:apply-templates select="child"/>
<xsl:if test="string-length($additonal-id)>0">
<xsl:apply-templates select="document($additional-id)/
root"/>
</xsl:if>
</children>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="child">
....
</xsl:template>

The code above will cause an infinite loop.

You have a template that calls itself, and the recursive call
will be applied to the same element, so yes it will recurse indefinitely.

You could pass a parameter to the template that is the name of
the document to recurse on. Have a template for / that passes it
the second document's name, and have the recursive call pass in an
empty string (which you already check for).

-- Richard

 

[Joseph J. Kesselman]

Unless $additional-id changes each time around, the code you've shown
will indeed recurse endlessly, re-reading the same document(). There are
many possible solutions; which one makes sense depends on the details of
your problem.

For example: compute the variable from the source document so it's
different in each invocation. Or make it a template parameter and have
this recursion pass a different value down. Or use modes to distinguish
between processing the main input document and the one read via
document. Or ensure that the imported document doesn't have a /root
element and thus won't match this template and recurse again. Or...