Recursive XML through XSLT to XML

Question

Essentially, I have XML structured like this:

<A>
 <B>
  <1>data</1>
  <2>data</2>
  <C>
   <1>data</1>
   <2>data</2>
   <B>
    <1>data</1>
    <2>data</2>
    <C>
     <B>
      <1>data</1>
      <2>data</2>
     </B>
    </C>
   </B>
   <B>
    <1>data</1>
    <2>data</2>
   </B>
  </C>
 </B>
</A>

I am trying to get the output to look like this:

<A>
<B 1="data" 2="data">
    <C 1="data" 2="data">
        <B 1="data" 2="data">
            <C>
                <B 1="data" 2="data" >
                </B>
            </C>
        </B>
        <B 1="data" 2="data" >
        </B>
    </C>
</B>
</A>

I have figured out how to put everything as attributes and start looping through the elements. The issue I am facing is that when trying to get below the first C, nothing happens. Here is my code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
    xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" exclude-result-prefixes="msxsl">
    <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <MenuDataResult>
      <B>
        <xsl:apply-templates />
      </B>
    </MenuDataResult>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="B">
        <xsl:for-each select="B">
          <B ItemID="{B/ItemID/text()}" ItemType="{ItemType/text()}" ItemSubType="{ItemSubType/text()}"
                  ItemTitle="{ItemTitle/text()}" ItemImage="{ItemImage/text()}" ItemImageOverride="{ItemImageOverride/text()}"
                ItemLink="{ItemLink/text()}" ItemTarget="{ItemTarget/text()}>">
            <xsl:for-each select="C">
              <xsl:apply-templates select="C"/>
            </xsl:for-each>
          </B>
        </xsl:for-each>
  </xsl:template>

  <xsl:template match="C">
    <C ID="{ID/text()}" Title="{Title/text()}" Template="{Template/text()}"
          Type="{Type/text()}" Link="{Link/text()}" ParentID="{ParentID/text()}"
          AncestorID="{AncestorID/text()}" FolderID="{FolderID/text()}" Description="{Description/text()}"
          Image="{Image/text()}" ImageOverride="{ImageOverride/text()}">
      <xsl:for-each select="B">
        <xsl:apply-templates select=".//B"/>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </C>
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

Answer 1

<xsl:apply-templates select=".//B"/>

might be a problem IMO. you probably need to call the template.

//B would mean Root/B.

Correct me if i am wrong.

Answer 2

In your example you have path A/B/C/B/C/B/1 = data

<xsl:template match="C">
    # context() = A/B/C
.. 
  <xsl:for-each select="B">
    # context() = A/B/C/B
    # selects every B descendent of the current B
    <xsl:apply-templates select=".//B"/>
       # context() = A/B/C/B/C/B/
  </xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>


<xsl:template match="B">
  # context() = A/B/C/B/C/B/
  <xsl:for-each select="B">
     # there are no B's under this B - only 1 and 2 so nothing selected
  </xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>

You seem to be nesting extra for-eachs and selecting deeper than you need to be. Just having <xsl:apply-templates select="B|C"> in your C template to process any directly nested Bs or Cs, and the same inside your B template. At the moment, it's selecting only Bs within Bs within Bs.

Answer 3

With proper input:

<A> 
 <B> 
  <a1>data</a1> 
  <a2>data</a2> 
  <C> 
   <a1>data</a1> 
   <a2>data</a2> 
   <B> 
    <a1>data</a1> 
    <a2>data</a2> 
    <C> 
     <B> 
      <a1>data</a1> 
      <a2>data</a2> 
     </B> 
    </C> 
   </B> 
   <B> 
    <a1>data</a1> 
    <a2>data</a2> 
   </B> 
  </C> 
 </B> 
</A> 

And this stylesheet:

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">

<xsl:template match="@*|node()">
 <xsl:copy>
  <xsl:apply-templates select="@*" />
  <xsl:apply-templates select="a1|a2" />
  <xsl:apply-templates select="node()[not(contains('a1|a2',name()))]" />
 </xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="a1|a2">
 <xsl:attribute name="{name()}" >
  <xsl:value-of select="." />
 </xsl:attribute>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

You'll get the desired output:

<A>
 <B a1="data" a2="data">
  <C a1="data" a2="data">
   <B a1="data" a2="data">
    <C>
     <B a1="data" a2="data">
     </B>
    </C>
   </B>
  <B a1="data" a2="data">
  </B>
  </C>
 </B>
</A>

Answer 4

In the spirit of XSLT: this transformation:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
    xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"&gt;
    <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>
    <xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>

 <xsl:template match="node()|@*">
     <xsl:copy>
       <xsl:apply-templates select="node()|@*"/>
     </xsl:copy>
 </xsl:template>

 <xsl:template match="a1|a2">
  <xsl:attribute name="{name()}">
    <xsl:value-of select="."/>
  </xsl:attribute>
 </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

when applied on the corrected XML document from Alejandro's example:

<A>
 <B>
  <a1>data</a1>
  <a2>data</a2>
  <C>
   <a1>data</a1>
   <a2>data</a2>
   <B>
    <a1>data</a1>
    <a2>data</a2>
    <C>
     <B>
      <a1>data</a1>
      <a2>data</a2>
     </B>
    </C>
   </B>
   <B>
    <a1>data</a1>
    <a2>data</a2>
   </B>
  </C>
 </B>
</A>

produces the desired, correct output:

<A>
   <B a1="data" a2="data">
      <C a1="data" a2="data">
         <B a1="data" a2="data">
            <C>
               <B a1="data" a2="data"/>
            </C>
         </B>
         <B a1="data" a2="data"/>
      </C>
   </B>
</A>