XSL Transformations
- Feb 23, 2001
From the author of
Using xsl:if
You can make choices based on the input document using the <xsl:if>
element. To use this element, you simply set its test attribute to an expression that evaluates to a Boolean value.
Here’s an example. In this case, I’ll list the planets one after the other and add a HTML horizontal rule, <HR>, element after the last element—but only after the last element. I can do that with <xsl:if>, like this:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="PLANETS">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>
Planets
</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<xsl:apply-templates select="PLANET"/>
</BODY>
</HTML>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="PLANET">
<P>
<xsl:value-of select="NAME"/>
is planet number <xsl:value-of select="position()"/> from the sun.
</P>
<xsl:if test="position() = last()"><xsl:element name="HR"/></xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Here is the result; as you can see, the <HR> element appears after only the last planet has been listed:
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>
Planets
</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<P>Mercury
is planet number 1 from the sun.
</P>
<P>Venus
is planet number 2 from the sun.
</P>
<P>Earth
is planet number 3 from the sun.
</P>
<HR>
</BODY>
</HTML>
