Inline output document selection using result document in XSLT 2.0

Question

Greetings,

I'm looking for a method to do in-line result (output) document selecting in XSLT. I know of the method where one creates an xsl:result-document node to have one transformation apply to multiple documents. Usually this method uses several passes, such as:

<xsl:template match="/">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="*"/>
    <xsl:result-document href="test.xml">
        <xsl:apply-templates select="*"/>
    </xsl:result-document>
</xsl:template>

I'm looking for a way to do this inline so I can build two output documents in a single pass. The reason is I have a temporary tree that is built as the transformation is run that I want to output to a file.

<xsl:variable name="treeBase">
    <Base/>
</xsl:variable>

<xsl:template match="/">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="*"/>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="these_elements">
    <xsl:param name="temp" select="$treeBase"/>


</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="not_these_elements">
    <xsl:param name="temp" select="$treeBase"/>

    <xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()">
       <xsl:with-param name="temp">
           <Base>
              <xsl:copy-of select="$temp/Base/*"/>
              <Item>
                  <xsl:value-of select="ThisItem"/>
              </Item>
           </Base>
        </xsl:with-param>
</xsl:template>

Why would you want to do this? In my XSLT I'm building a temporary tree through recursive parameter calls. I want to output the temporary tree as it is being built to a separate document but still use the temporary tree built for flow of control. With the current method I'd have to run through a complex transformation twice.

Is there a way to do this in XSLT or is it single-pass, single-document only?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Here is a working example how to do this:

This transformation:

<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0"
    xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
    xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"&gt;
    <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>
  <!--                                               -->    
    <xsl:template match="/*">
      <xsl:variable name="vTop" select="."/>
  <!--                                               -->    
        <xsl:for-each-group select="num" group-by="xs:integer(.) mod 2">
          <xsl:result-document href="file:///C:/Temp/file{position()}.xml">
            <xsl:element name="{name($vTop)}">
              <xsl:copy-of select="current-group()"/>
            </xsl:element>
          </xsl:result-document>
        </xsl:for-each-group>
    </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

when applied on this XML document

<nums>
  <num>01</num>
  <num>02</num>
  <num>03</num>
  <num>04</num>
  <num>05</num>
  <num>06</num>
  <num>07</num>
  <num>08</num>
  <num>09</num>
  <num>010</num>
</nums>

produces the wanted two files: file1.xml and file2.xml, which contain, correspondingly, the "num" elements with odd and with even values.

Do note that there are no "multiplr passes" and the code is "inline", as required.