converting multiple tags in xml to attributes of a single tag

Question

I have an XML file which is in this form:

<row>
  <field name="id">18</field>
  <field name="lat">40.7560540000</field>
  <field name="lng">-73.9869510000</field>
  <field name="body">Students arriving from Haiti say they’re having a hard time getting placed in city schools.</field>
</row>

I want these multiple tags to be combined and get an XML of this form (combining multiple tags to attributes of a single tag):

<row id="18" lat="40.7560540000" lng="-73.9869510000" body="Students arriving from Haiti say they’re having a hard time getting placed in city schools.">
</row>

Is it possible to do this? If yes, can someone suggest me how to make such a transformation? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Yes, such a change is possible. One easy way (depending how you look at it) is to apply an XML transformation to it:

<xsl:stylesheet 
  version="1.0"
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
>
  <!-- the document element gets copied -->
  <xsl:template match="/*">
    <xsl:copy>
      <!-- transform any child <row> elements -->
      <xsl:apply-templates select="row" />
    </xsl:copy>
  </xsl:template>

  <!-- <row> elements get copied, too -->
  <xsl:template match="row">
    <xsl:copy>
      <!-- transform any child <field> elements -->
      <xsl:apply-templates select="field" />
    </xsl:copy>
  </xsl:template>

  <!-- <field> elements become attributes -->
  <xsl:template match="field">
    <xsl:attribute name="{@name}">
      <!-- the value of the <field> becomes the attribute value -->
      <xsl:value-of select="." />
    </xsl:attribute>
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

When applied to:

<rows>
  <row>
    <field name="id">18</field>
    <field name="lat">40.7560540000</field>
    <field name="lng">-73.9869510000</field>
    <field name="body">Students arriving from Haiti say they’re having a hard time getting placed in city schools.</field>
  </row>
</rows>

you get:

<rows>
  <row id="18" lat="40.7560540000" lng="-73.9869510000" body="Students arriving from Haiti say they’re having a hard time getting placed in city schools."></row>
</rows>