Re: where did the whitespace go? - XML / XSL Discussion Boards

Bluebamboo29-Jun-06 5:09

29-Jun-06 5:09

Hi all,

I'm having a problem with my XSL converting to HTML. I can view all content fine, except the white space is not preserved! I've tried all relevant attributes such as xml:space, xsl:preserve-space, bt don't work
Frown | :(

(

(

For example in my XML:

<catalog>
<content>
lines and lines of text
more text
</content>
</catalog>

When transforming I get:

lines and lines of text more text

It's all bunched up...where did the newline characters go?

my XSL contains this:

<xsl:value-of select="content"/>

Any ideas? Thanks.

-- modified at 11:55 Thursday 29th June, 2006

Re: where did the whitespace go?

Dustin Metzgar29-Jun-06 5:48

Dustin Metzgar

29-Jun-06 5:48

In order for your message to show correctly you have to use < to create the < and > to create the > signs.

Anyways, this typically happens when doing an XSL transform. If you're coding the transformation yourself in .NET, you can put settings on the XmlTextWriter that will handle the spacing. If you're using a tool like XmlSpy, you can do a pretty print. There might be settings on the transformation software you're using to format the output.

Logifusion[^]

Re: where did the whitespace go?

Bluebamboo29-Jun-06 6:01

Bluebamboo

29-Jun-06 6:01

thanks.

i think you might misunderstand my issue, the problem is about how to transform xml to html with all whitespace which the xml file has, not about the pretty print.;)

plz help me

Re: where did the whitespace go?

Dustin Metzgar29-Jun-06 6:48

Dustin Metzgar

29-Jun-06 6:48

Well, I am doing the same thing as you. I pass some XML through a stylesheet to create HTML. The source is all cramped together, but I don't mind much as long as the HTML comes out ok. But sometimes it doesn't. For instance, if I want a space between two items like so:

<xsl:value-of select="$data/ch2_State"/> <xsl:value-of select="$data/vch10_ZipCode"/>

XSL will strip out the space between the state and the zip code so it looks like this: NY12345

That's a real pain. And, like you say, preserve space and whatever else you put there just doesn't work. So, what I ended up doing was this:

<xsl:value-of select="$data/ch2_State"/>
<xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes">&</xsl:text>nbsp;
<xsl:value-of select="$data/vch10_ZipCode"/>

It's an extra annoyance, but it gets the job done.

Logifusion[^]

Re: where did the whitespace go?

Bluebamboo29-Jun-06 9:59

Bluebamboo

29-Jun-06 9:59

it is also one of solutions, but what i'm aim to do is to write a xsl file, and i use this xsl to transform all articles which stored in xml file. So the positions of carriage return in each article are random.

do you have any solution to deal with it?

thanks?

Re: where did the whitespace go?

Dustin Metzgar29-Jun-06 10:27

Dustin Metzgar

29-Jun-06 10:27

In one situation where I needed the HTML to look exactly a certain way, I changed my output type from HTML to Text. This way, the stylesheet had to pay more attention to me. The stylesheet was harder to write because you have to enclose things in <xsl:text> tags, but it got the job done. To do a new line, you can do something like this:

<xsl:text>
</xsl:text>

<xsl:text>&#xD;&#xA;</xsl:text>

Even if the target is set to Text, XSL still likes to get rid of whitespace, so it's a lot of trial and error.

I hope that helps. If you find an easier solution, I'd be happy to hear it!

Logifusion[^]

Re: where did the whitespace go? [modified]

Bluebamboo29-Jun-06 11:51

Bluebamboo

29-Jun-06 11:51

oh god!

i tried your way to do a new line with <xsl:text> tags:

<xsl:text>
</xsl:text>

it's just displayed a space instead of carriage return.

what's wrong?

-- modified at 17:51 Thursday 29th June, 2006

Re: where did the whitespace go?

Dustin Metzgar29-Jun-06 14:03

Dustin Metzgar

29-Jun-06 14:03

Ya, unfortunately that way works with some XSL transformers and not with others. It's really quite annoying. You might want to use the other method instead. I'm not sure if you have to escape it or not, but this seemed to work pretty well for one guy at work. The only trouble is that it makes the XSL really ugly.

Logifusion[^]

Re: where did the whitespace go?

Bluebamboo29-Jun-06 14:57

Bluebamboo

29-Jun-06 14:57

yes, i tried to enter <cr/> tag (my self-define tag )to substitute each CARRIAGE RETURN, when i am entering content of my article into xml file, and make relevant manipulation for this tag in xsl file.

however, i meet another problem Cry | :((

, how to find out all <cr/> tags in a xml file? because this tag can be existed in different hierarchy of xml file.

any ideas?

many thanks

Re: where did the whitespace go?

Dustin Metzgar30-Jun-06 3:01

Dustin Metzgar

30-Jun-06 3:01

That sounds difficult. Is it that you have text in your XML document that has newlines in it and you want the formatting to be the same in the HTML? If you have the ability to, you might want to try putting it into a CDATA in the XML. After switching to text output, I was able to get my stylesheets working the way I wanted them to.

Logifusion[^]

Re: where did the whitespace go?

Tuwing.Sabado3-Jul-06 19:59

Tuwing.Sabado

3-Jul-06 19:59

Define a template match for your <cr> node.

In the absence of a select attribute, the xsl:apply-templates instruction processes all of the children of the current node, including text nodes.

Tutorial for XSLT :
http://www.zvon.org/xxl/XSLTreference/Output/index.html[^]

Re: where did the whitespace go?

Bluebamboo4-Jul-06 0:28

Bluebamboo

4-Jul-06 0:28

THanks everyone.

finally, I use <xsl:copy-of select="./node()"/>to address my problem.

Thanks for the Url you provided, it is very helpful. Smile | :)

Longer text with special characters in xml files?

matthias s.28-Jun-06 1:30

matthias s.

28-Jun-06 1:30

Hi there,

I'm wondering whether there is a simple way to store longer text blocks containing any kind of character in an xml file. How can this be done? If this can't be done, where could I find information on what characters are allowed an not?

Thanks a ton in advance!

/matthias

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
[Douglas Adams]

Re: Longer text with special characters in xml files?

Igor Sukhov28-Jun-06 20:25

Igor Sukhov

28-Jun-06 20:25

You could create CDATA section in xml file to store text with any characters in that section.

Best regards,

-----------
Igor Sukhovhttp://sukhov.net

Re: Longer text with special characters in xml files?

matthias s.29-Jun-06 3:08

matthias s.

29-Jun-06 3:08

Exactly what I needed. Thanks!

Greetings from Berlin!

/matthias

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
[Douglas Adams]

Of nodes or attributes [modified]

Malcolm Smart27-Jun-06 0:36

Malcolm Smart

27-Jun-06 0:36

Which is better / cleaner / more 'standard' or is it personal preference?

<DBLIST>
<Database Name="DB1" Owner="Jack SMITH" RequestedBy="" Description="Live Replication" Locked="Yes" Date="12/12/2005" Action="Requested by John SMITH"/>
</DBLIST>

or

<DBLIST>
<Database>Live Replication
<Name>DB1</Name>
<Owner>Jack SMITH</Owner>
<RequestedBy><RequestedBy>
<Locked>Yes</Locked>
<Date>12/12/2005</Date>
<Action>Requested by John SMITH"</Action>
</Database>
</DBLIST>

...and...how to format this post so I can use <pre> but keep the xml tags displayed!

Regards

Angel
*********************************************
The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.

-- modified at 6:37 Tuesday 27th June, 2006 - typo

Re: Of nodes or attributes

Igor Sukhov27-Jun-06 19:59

Igor Sukhov

27-Jun-06 19:59

What kind of operations expected to be performed on this xml ?

Best regards,

-----------
Igor Sukhovhttp://sukhov.net

Re: Of nodes or attributes

Malcolm Smart27-Jun-06 22:02

Malcolm Smart

27-Jun-06 22:02

It is a very large file, thousands of entries, and xpath queries, reading every node, every attribute.

Regards

Angel
*********************************************
The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.

Re: Of nodes or attributes

Igor Sukhov28-Jun-06 14:11

Igor Sukhov

28-Jun-06 14:11

If the xml files are going to be huge - I would recommend running few tests. I've heard about speed difference processing elements and attributes - but tests are necessary to find out if this applies to your particular xml parser.

From the design prospective - I prefer to use attribute (rather that element) if I fee that the entity is not going to evolve in future to contain sub-entities.

If your example I would make all entities as attributes, except "Action" which I feel might require children in future (e.g. action parameters).

Best regards,

-----------
Igor Sukhovhttp://sukhov.net

Re: Of nodes or attributes

Malcolm Smart28-Jun-06 21:28

Malcolm Smart

28-Jun-06 21:28

Hi Igor

Thanks for the time you've spent on this and the suggestion for the action tag. This is currently text, the action is handled elsewhere and this just shows the latest action - but I agree. The action should be a node, with its own parameters

<Action type="request" actionedby="J Smith" />

Thanks again.

Regards

Angel
*********************************************
The sooner you fall behind, the longer you have to catch up.

how to get current date and time in XSL FO

Rizwan Bashir26-Jun-06 23:23

Rizwan Bashir

26-Jun-06 23:23

Hello there
I am new in XSL and want to know how to get the current date in XSL-FO to be printed on report. Also how to get the page numbers like
1 of 10 , 2 of 10, I am able to print the page number but with total pages is my requirement.

Rizwan Bashir

Re: how to get current date and time in XSL FO

Dustin Metzgar29-Jun-06 9:05

Dustin Metzgar

29-Jun-06 9:05

My xsl:fo is a little rusty. But, the total page numbers is done by placing a marker with a page-number in it at the end of your stream so that it appears on the last page. Then, in your header/footer, you can write the value of that marker using retrieve-marker and it will come out as the total number of pages.

Logifusion[^]

Re: how to get current date and time in XSL FO

Dustin Metzgar29-Jun-06 9:10

Dustin Metzgar

29-Jun-06 9:10

For the current date, I don't believe there's anything in FO for it. FO is pretty static once it's written, so you're left with what's available in XSL. It will depend on what version of XSL you're dealing with, but there are some date functions. You might be able to put current-date() in an XPath expression. If that doesn't work, you can embed some VBScript or JavaScript into the XSL.

Take a look here for what's in XPath: http://www.w3schools.com/xpath/xpath_functions.asp#context[^]

Logifusion[^]

XML Encryption [modified]

Zahid Nashi26-Jun-06 6:39

Zahid Nashi

26-Jun-06 6:39

can i share my database amount different websites through XML, but the access should be limited. solution would be implement in every environment so i be very thankfull for giving me this solution and if any other way to do this please share.

Thx to all
Zahid Manzoor
cell no.03335167615

Zahid

-- modified at 11:24 Tuesday 27th June, 2006

Multiple XML Tables In one File [modified]

PBS_LKI26-Jun-06 3:08

PBS_LKI

26-Jun-06 3:08

I am writing a service desk application. I have an XML file that a c# webservice accesses.
I have 2 tables inside an xml document. I can read from the xml without any problems but writing back to the file causes errors. Here is an sample of the file:

<code><?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<ServiceDesk xmlns="http://tempuri.org/ServiceDeskData.xsd">

<ServiceCategory>
<category>
<id>1</id>
<type>Hardware - PC</type>
</category>

<category>
<id>2</id>
<type>Hardware - Printer / Scanner</type>
</category>
</ServiceCategory>

<ServiceRequest>

<Call>
<id>PBS00001</id>
<User>Test</User>
<Category>2</Category>
<Description>Some text</Description>
</Call>

<Call>
<id>PBS00002</id>
<User>Someone</User>
<Category>1</Category>
<Description>gbhjbgjhb</Description>
</Call>

</ServiceRequest>
</ServiceDesk></code>
ServiceDesk is the root element and then ServiceCategory and ServiceRequest are the tables holding the data. The problem occurs when i try to write back a Call to the Service Request Table. If i write to the ServiceRequest table it says that the item (a string array of 4) is too big, and if i write to the Call table it puts it outside the </ServiceRequest> element which breaks the schema. Could anybody give me some suggestions?

The c# code i use is:
<code>
DataSet d = new DataSet();
d.ReadXml("http://localhost/ServiceDeskWS/ServiceDeskData.xml");
String [] s = new String[4];
s[0] = assignID();
s[1] = User;
s[2] = Category;
s[3] = Description;
d.Tables["Call"].Rows.Add(s);
d.WriteXml(Server.MapPath("ServiceDeskData.xml"));</code>

Thanks

-- modified at 9:10 Monday 26th June, 2006

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