Re: [xsl] Empty String

[Greg Martel <gregm at wolfram dot com>]

Wendell--your way works better (surprise). The subtleties of XSL are 
the hardest part for a beginner: two apparently analogous templates 
produce such different results. (and it's usally manifested in 
differing whitespace--amazing).



>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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-- 
Thanks Muchos,

Greg Martel
Coordinator of Enchiladas

 XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list