Passing variable node name to XSL "select" clause

[paragpdoke]

Hello Everyone.
I'm new to XSL and couldn't get something to work. [Not sure if this is the right way to go about it...]
Sample XML excerpt:

<root>
<ObjectTemplate>
<NodeType1></NodeType1>
<NodeType2></NodeType2>
</ObjectTemplate>
<Object>
<NodeType1>N11</NodeType1>
<NodeType2>N12</NodeType2>
</Object>
<Object>
<NodeType1>N21</NodeType1>
<NodeType2>N22</NodeType2>
</Object>
</root>

My intent is to build a list of drop downs (# of drop downs = # of NodeTypes) based on those defined in the template. Using "xsl:for-each" and "xsl:elemen t", I could build 2 drop downs. But I cannot figure out how to pass the select clause a different node type.

<xsl:for-each select="/root/ObjectTemplate/*">
<xsl:element name="select">
<xsl:variable name="myNodeType"><xsl:value-of select="name(.)"/></xsl:variable>
<xsl:for-each select="concat('/root/Object/',$myNodeType)">
<xsl:element name="option"><xsl:value-of select="."/></xsl:element>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:for-each>

Line 4 is probably what is wrong in my approach. Any help in this regard is welcome.
Thanks in advance,
Parag

[jkmyoung]

[code=xml]
<xsl:for-each select="/root/ObjectTemplate/*">
<xsl:element name="select">
<xsl:variable name="myNodeTyp e"><xsl:valu e-of select="name(.) "/></xsl:variable>
<xsl:for-each select="/root/Object/*[local-name()=$myNodeT ype]">
<xsl:element name="option">< xsl:value-of select="."/></xsl:element>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:for-each>
[/code]

[paragpdoke]

Hello jkmyoung.
Thank you very much for the reply. It is working for me.
[Apologies for the delayed response. Somehow instant email notification preference is not working for my thescripts login.]

Regards,
Parag P. Doke
http://paragpdoke.blog spot.com

[paragpdoke]

I am sorry for reposting. But...my attempts to get only distinct values populated in the drop downs went futile. Here's the new code:

<root>
<ObjectTemplate>
<NodeType1></NodeType1>
<NodeType2></NodeType2>
</ObjectTemplate>
<Object>
<NodeType1>N11</NodeType1>
<NodeType2>N12</NodeType2>
</Object>
<Object>
<NodeType1>N21</NodeType1>
<NodeType2>N22</NodeType2>
</Object>
<Object>
<NodeType1>N11</NodeType1>
<NodeType2>N22</NodeType2>
</Object>
</root>

The XSL I was trying to use:

<xsl:for-each select="/root/ObjectTemplate/*">
<xsl:element name="select">
<xsl:variable name="myNodeType"><xsl:value-of select="name(.)"/></xsl:variable>
<xsl:for-each select="/root/Object/*[local-name()=$myNodeType and not(.=preceding::$myNodeType)]">
<xsl:element name="option"><xsl:value-of select="."/></xsl:element>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:for-each>

I also tried

<xsl:for-each select="/root/Object/*[local-name()=$myNodeType and not(.=preceding::local-name(.))]">

...but that too did not work :-(.

How can I get the drop downs to have only distinct values ? [Pardon my lack of knowledge, I have copied the preceding:: thing from elsewhere. Still reading XSL tutorials to get to know more about axes.]

Also, my 2nd question is: What is the difference between local-name() and name() functions ? When I tried using name(), it worked in similar manner.

Someone told me that it made sense to create a DTD file for all possible values instead of generating a list of distinct ones from the data in the XML file. But in this context of building the drop downs and populating them from a DTD, I have more questions:
- How to capture information inside DTD using XSL ?
- How to restrict values of a node to some pre-defined set ? [http://www.thescripts. com/forum/thread785602.ht ml]

Thanks in advance once again,
Parag P. Doke

[jkmyoung]

Close:
[code=xml]
<xsl:for-each select="/root/Object/*[local-name()=$myNodeT ype and not(.=preceding ::*[local-name()=$myNodeT ype])]">
[/code]

name() only gives you something different if it has a namespace attached.

For example, take node: <xsl:value-of/>
name is xsl:value-of
local-name is value-of


I'm not really good at DTD, but will have a look at the other question.

[paragpdoke]

Generating the select clause on the fly

Hi again.
Thank you for the explanation regarding name() and local-name().
Also, if I run into something helpful, I'll make sure I add to this post.

Regards,
Parag P. Doke

P.S.: I guess I should have had the title of this post as "Generating the select clause on the fly" rather than "Passing variable node name to XSL "select" clause".