Namespace output with XSLT 1.0 causing problems

Question

Hi guys,

i'm using XSLT 1.0 to transform some XML.

I'm not quite sure the best way to explain this, so will use some examples.

My input XML contains a specialization, using the xsi:type declaration. See the Payload node:

<ns0:RootNode xmlns:ns0="namespace1" xmlns:ns1="namespace2" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"&gt;
  <ns0:Payload xsi:type="ns1:SpecialPayload">
    <ns1:InnerNode>Hello</ns1:InnerNode>
  </ns0:Payload>
</ns0:RootNode>

When I send this through my XSLT (let's assume a 1 to 1 copy), I get the following output

<ns0:RootNode xmlns:ns0="namespace1" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"&gt;
  <ns0:Payload xsi:type="ns1:SpecialPayload">
    <ns1:InnerNode xmlns:ns1="namespace2">Hello</ns1:InnerNode>
  </ns0:Payload>
</ns0:RootNode>

Notice the ns1 namespace has been attached to the individual nodes within the payload node. In most cases this would be fine, however I need that declaration to happen earlier, i.e. on the root node, as it makes the xsi:type definition on the payload node invalid, because at this point the serializer does not know about the ns1 namespace, which prevents correct parsing downstream.

What can I do to force this namespace to be output a little earlier?

would really appreciate any help on this one,

Kind regards TM

Editted XSLT Code:

  <!-- Replace The ESBMessage node with the SOAP method -->
  <xsl:template match="s1:ESBMessage" mode="copy">
    <s0:SendESBMessage>
      <s0:msg>
        <xsl:apply-templates select="*" mode="copy"/>
      </s0:msg>
    </s0:SendESBMessage>
  </xsl:template>

  <!-- Generic Copy -->
  <xsl:template match="*" mode="copy">
    <xsl:element name="{name(.)}" namespace="{namespace-uri(.)}">
      <xsl:copy-of select="@*"/>
      <xsl:apply-templates mode="copy"/>
    </xsl:element>
  </xsl:template>

Answer 1

Notice the ns1 namespace has been attached to the individual nodes within the payload node. In most cases this would be fine, however I need that declaration to happen earlier, i.e. on the root node, as it makes the xsi:type definition on the payload node invalid, because at this point the serializer does not know about the ns1 namespace, which prevents correct parsing downstream.

What can I do to force this namespace to be output a little earlier?

You can do something very simple: show us your code!

Your statement that a "simple copy" loses one of the namespaces of the top node, is not true for the following two "simple copies":

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

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

when this transformation is applied on the provided XML document:

<ns0:RootNode xmlns:ns0="namespace1" xmlns:ns1="namespace2" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"&gt;
  <ns0:Payload xsi:type="ns1:SpecialPayload">
    <ns1:InnerNode>Hello</ns1:InnerNode>
  </ns0:Payload>
</ns0:RootNode>

the result is identical:

<ns0:RootNode xmlns:ns0="namespace1" xmlns:ns1="namespace2" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"&gt;
  <ns0:Payload xsi:type="ns1:SpecialPayload">
    <ns1:InnerNode>Hello</ns1:InnerNode>
  </ns0:Payload>
</ns0:RootNode>

Here is the second "simple copy":

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

 <xsl:template match="/">
  <xsl:copy-of select="."/>
 </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

the result is again identical to the source XML document.