Banding with xsl

Question

I am beginning to think that the problem isn't with the banding code. Somehow count is not coming out correct. Could it be in either the xml, I have approx. 150 of the case-study nodes? Or can it be in the order in which I am doing the for-each and the if?

<!-- XML -->
<case-studies>

    <case-study> 
     <name>Company A</name>
     <solutionType>Mobility</solutionType>
     <solutionType>Convergence</solutionType>
              <solution category="Business services">Product</solution>  
     <solution category="Business services">Industry</solution>  
     <solution category="#">A-Z</solution>  
     <product>Product 1</product> 
    </case-study>
</case-studies>

I am trying to create a table that alternates gray rows within the for-each. The code below returns an eratic effect.

Thanks

    <xsl:sort select="../name" />
    <xsl:if test="@category[. = $solName]">

        <tr>
        <xsl:if test="(position() mod 2 = 1)">
      <xsl:attribute name="bgcolor">#e7e7e7</xsl:attribute>                
     </xsl:if>    

          <td class="cell1">

            <img src="/images/icons/infoWhite.gif" style="margin:3px 3px 0 0px;" id="{../name}" onmouseover="xstooltip_show('{../url}', '{../name}', 0, 10);" onmouseout="xstooltip_hide('{../url}');" />
            <div id="{../url}" class="xstooltip" style="margin:10px 0 0 10px;">
        <div class="floatLeft"><strong>Product(s):</strong></div> 
              <div class="margLeft10 floatLeft">
                <xsl:for-each select="../product/prodName">     
                    <div class="clearRight"><xsl:value-of select="."/></div>
                </xsl:for-each>          
                </div>
            </div> 
          </td> 
          <td class="cell2" style="padding-top:2px;">» <a href="{../url}"><xsl:value-of select="../name"/></a></td>
          <td class="cell3">
            <xsl:for-each select="../solutionType">      
                <div class="clearRight"><xsl:value-of select="."/></div>
      </xsl:for-each>                
          </td>
        </tr>
    </xsl:if>        
</xsl:for-each>

Answer 1

This might work:

<xsl:for-each select="NewDataSet/authors">
<xsl:sort select="au_lname"/>

<xsl:if test="position()  mod 2 = 1">
<tr bgcolor="#aaccff">
    <td><xsl:value-of select="au_lname"/></td>
    <td><xsl:value-of select="au_fname"/></td>
    <td><xsl:value-of select="phone"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:if>

<xsl:if test="position()  mod 2 = 0">
<tr bgcolor="#ffccaa">
    <td><xsl:value-of select="au_lname"/></td>
    <td><xsl:value-of select="au_fname"/></td>
    <td><xsl:value-of select="phone"/></td>
</tr>
</xsl:if>

</xsl:for-each>

Answer 2

Looking at your XSLT, it suggests you are iterating over 'solution' elements in the . Is this correct?

I think the problem is that when you check the position() it will take into all previous solution elements regardless of whether previous ones have been ignored by the condition.

I can suggest two possibilities for solving this.

Firstly, try changing the test on the position() to a count() on the number of matching previous elements. For example:

<xsl:if test="(count(preceding-sibling::solution[@category=$solName]) mod 2 = 0)">

Alternatively, you could try add the test on the @category to the and removing the condition. For example:

<xsl:for-each select="solution[@category = $solName]">
    <xsl:sort select="../name" />
    <tr>
        <xsl:if test="(position() mod 2 = 1)">

I hope this makes sense!

Answer 3

The problem is that you need to use xsl:element to get xsl:attribute to function properly. You can't set the attribute of a static element. You have to get the xslt to generate the element for you.

<xsl:sort select="../name" />
  <xsl:if test="@category[. = $solName]">
    <!-- use xsl:element to create an element -->
    <xsl:element name="tr">
      <xsl:if test="position() mod 2 = 1">
        <!-- then xsl:attribute will function as expected -->
        <xsl:attribute name="bgcolor">#e7e7e7</xsl:attribute>
      </xsl:if>

      <!-- snip -->

    </xsl:element>
  </xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>

I would suggest that you use class names and css (background-color) instead of inline styles:

<xsl:sort select="../name" />
  <xsl:if test="@category[. = $solName]">
    <!-- use xsl:element to create an element -->
    <xsl:element name="tr">
      <xsl:if test="position() mod 2 = 1">
        <!-- then xsl:attribute will function as expected -->
        <xsl:attribute name="class">alternateRow</xsl:attribute>
      </xsl:if>

      <!-- snip -->

    </xsl:element>
  </xsl:if>

Sample CSS (for my alternate solution):

.alternateRow { background-color: #e7e7e7; }

Also, you don't need to put parentheses around your tests. If I have multiple tests, I wrap them in parentheses for readability but with only one conditional, parentehses are convenitionally not added.