Generic xml -> html conversion using xslt and convention? - html

Question

I have been scouring the web for something like this and being a lazy programmer, before I attempt to do so myself, I thought I would ask here.
What I would like is a method to take any xml with node names following a convention (like cakephp or ruby) and then for that data to be presented in a ready to print format.
ie:
<xml>
<home_address>The Street</home_address>
</xml>
to:
<tr><td>Home Address</td><td>The Street</td></tr>
etc. with children having separate tables.
It seems pretty straightforward and something that would have been desired many times before. I found one useful discussion, but with no conclusion.
http://www.daniweb.com/software-development/xml-xslt-and-xpath/threads/363621/xml-to-html-using-xslt-without-hardcoding-node-names-in-xslt
Have I missed something here? Is there a simple generic xslt/css method for doing this? Or is this work being repeated hundreds of times a day in cubicles around the world?
Thanks in advance,
F

Answer 1

use the following XSL stylesheet. I have tested it and it works.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" exclude-result-prefixes="msxsl">
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:for-each select="*">
<xsl:for-each select="*">
<tr>
<xsl:variable name="NodeNameClearText">
<xsl:call-template name="repalceNodeName">
<xsl:with-param name="value" select="local-name(.)"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:variable>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="$NodeNameClearText" />
</td>
<td>
<xsl:value-of select="." />
</td>
</tr>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="repalceNodeName">
<xsl:param name="value"/>
<xsl:variable name="valueWithoutUnderscores">
<xsl:value-of select="translate($value, '_',' ')"/>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:call-template name="caseLowerAcceptFirstWord">
<xsl:with-param name="data" select="$valueWithoutUnderscores"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="caseDown">
<xsl:param name="data"/>
<xsl:if test="$data">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="starts-with($data,' ')">
<xsl:text> </xsl:text>
<xsl:call-template name="caseLowerAcceptFirstWord">
<xsl:with-param name="data" select="normalize-space(substring($data,2))"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:value-of select="translate(substring($data,1,1),
'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ','abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz')"/>
<!-- put all the chars you want to change
into the last two strings -->
<xsl:call-template name="caseDown">
<xsl:with-param name="data" select="substring($data,2)"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="caseUP">
<xsl:param name="data"/>
<xsl:if test="$data">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="starts-with($data,' ')">
<xsl:text> </xsl:text>
<xsl:call-template name="caseLowerAcceptFirstWord">
<xsl:with-param name="data" select="substring($data,2)"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:value-of select="translate(substring($data,1,1),
'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz','ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ')"/>
<!-- put all the chars you want to change
into the last two strings -->
<xsl:call-template name="caseDown">
<xsl:with-param name="data" select="substring($data,2)"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="caseLowerAcceptFirstWord">
<xsl:param name="data"/>
<xsl:variable name="upperData">
<xsl:call-template name="caseUP">
<xsl:with-param name="data" select="$data"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:if test="$upperData">
<xsl:value-of select="substring($upperData,1,1)"/>
<xsl:call-template name="caseDown">
<xsl:with-param name="data" select="substring($data,2)"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
A little more info on what I tested. The following XML:
<xml>
<home_address>The Street</home_address>
<po_box>474</po_box>
</xml>
Was output to
<tr><td>Home Address</td><td>The Street</td></tr>
<tr><td>Po Box</td><td>474</td></tr>
If thats not what you wanted your question is to vague