The watered-down version of the problem I'm having is this. For an XML file like:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<items>
<item cols="1">Item 1</item>
<item cols="1">Item 2</item>
<item cols="1">Item 3</item>
<item cols="1">Item 4</item>
<item cols="1">Item 5</item>
<item cols="1">Item 6</item>
<item cols="1">Item 7</item>
<item cols="1">Item 8</item>
<item cols="1">Item 9</item>
<item cols="2">Item 10</item>
<item cols="1">Item 11</item>
<item cols="1">Item 12</item>
<item cols="1">Item 13</item>
<item cols="1">Item 14</item>
<item cols="1">Item 15</item>
<item cols="1">Item 16</item>
<item cols="1">Item 17</item>
<item cols="1">Item 18</item>
</items>
I need to be able to print the 'item's that have 'cols=1' in a single column page layout, and the 'item's that have 'cols=2' in a double column page layout. The ordering of the items has to be preserved. All contiguous 'item's with the same value of @cols needs to appear as a continuous flow. Any time the @cols value changes, I need to break to a new page and change the layout as necessary.
I'm doing something like this:
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<fo:layout-master-set>
<fo:simple-page-master master-name="one-column-page-master">
<fo:region-body margin-top="3cm" region-name="body" column-count="1"/>
</fo:simple-page-master>
<fo:simple-page-master master-name="two-column-page-master">
<fo:region-body margin-top="3cm" region-name="body" column-count="2"/>
<fo:region-before region-name="header" extent="2cm"/>
</fo:simple-page-master>
<fo:page-sequence-master master-name="one-column-page">
<fo:repeatable-page-master-reference master-reference="one-column-page-master"/>
</fo:page-sequence-master>
<fo:page-sequence-master master-name="two-column-page">
<fo:repeatable-page-master-reference master-reference="two-column-page-master"/>
</fo:page-sequence-master>
</fo:layout-master-set>
<xsl:for-each select="//item">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="@cols = preceding-sibling::item[1]/@cols">
<!--cols value hasn't changed, don't create a new page-sequence-->
<!--But we cannot directly add fo:flow as the child of fo:root! -->
<xsl:call-template name="itemtemplate"/>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="@cols = 1">
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="one-column-page">
<xsl:call-template name="itemtemplate"/>
</fo:page-sequence>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="two-column-page">
<xsl:call-template name="itemtemplate"/>
</fo:page-sequence>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:for-each>
</fo:root>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="itemtemplate">
<fo:flow flow-name="body">
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</fo:block>
</fo:flow>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
But of course, the problem is that I either have to include a <fo:page-sequence..> in my stylesheet, or not, I cannot 'dynamically' decide to put in one based on note attributes. (Unless I have a meta program that creates the stylesheet dynamically in the first place, but I was hoping to accomplish this using just plain static stylesheets).
Here is an XSLT 2.0 solution that uses xsl:for-each-group
with group-adjacent
:
<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
<xsl:output indent="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<fo:layout-master-set>
<fo:simple-page-master master-name="one-column-page-master">
<fo:region-body margin-top="3cm" region-name="body"
column-count="1"/>
</fo:simple-page-master>
<fo:simple-page-master master-name="two-column-page-master">
<fo:region-body margin-top="3cm" region-name="body"
column-count="2"/>
<fo:region-before region-name="header" extent="2cm"/>
</fo:simple-page-master>
<fo:page-sequence-master master-name="one-column-page">
<fo:repeatable-page-master-reference
master-reference="one-column-page-master"/>
</fo:page-sequence-master>
<fo:page-sequence-master master-name="two-column-page">
<fo:repeatable-page-master-reference
master-reference="two-column-page-master"/>
</fo:page-sequence-master>
</fo:layout-master-set>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</fo:root>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="items">
<xsl:for-each-group select="item"
group-adjacent="@cols">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="@cols = 1">
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="one-column-page">
<fo:flow flow-name="body">
<xsl:for-each select="current-group()">
<xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>
</fo:flow>
</fo:page-sequence>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="two-column-page">
<fo:flow flow-name="body">
<xsl:for-each select="current-group()">
<xsl:apply-templates select="."/>
</xsl:for-each>
</fo:flow>
</fo:page-sequence>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:for-each-group>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="item">
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">
<xsl:apply-templates/>
</fo:block>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Output:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<fo:layout-master-set>
<fo:simple-page-master master-name="one-column-page-master">
<fo:region-body margin-top="3cm" region-name="body" column-count="1"/>
</fo:simple-page-master>
<fo:simple-page-master master-name="two-column-page-master">
<fo:region-body margin-top="3cm" region-name="body" column-count="2"/>
<fo:region-before region-name="header" extent="2cm"/>
</fo:simple-page-master>
<fo:page-sequence-master master-name="one-column-page">
<fo:repeatable-page-master-reference master-reference="one-column-page-master"/>
</fo:page-sequence-master>
<fo:page-sequence-master master-name="two-column-page">
<fo:repeatable-page-master-reference master-reference="two-column-page-master"/>
</fo:page-sequence-master>
</fo:layout-master-set>
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="one-column-page">
<fo:flow flow-name="body">
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 1</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 2</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 3</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 4</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 5</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 6</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 7</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 8</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 9</fo:block>
</fo:flow>
</fo:page-sequence>
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="two-column-page">
<fo:flow flow-name="body">
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 10</fo:block>
</fo:flow>
</fo:page-sequence>
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="one-column-page">
<fo:flow flow-name="body">
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 11</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 12</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 13</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 14</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 15</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 16</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 17</fo:block>
<fo:block margin-bottom="5cm">Item 18</fo:block>
</fo:flow>
</fo:page-sequence>
</fo:root>
I need to be able to print the 'item's that have 'cols=1' in a single column page layout, and the 'item's that have 'cols=2' in a double column page layout. The ordering of the items has to be preserved.
You want finally group adjacent item
elements according the value of @cols
in the proper fo page sequence.
XSLT 1.0 instructions like xsl:choose
and xsl:for-each
are not really suitable to this task. I think you have to change your mind a bit. Here an example of how to achieve the result grouping by recursion.
It's not really clear what you want to include inside each flow element, then I decided to show you just how to group elements; then, you can adapt the code to your requirements.
[XSLT 1.0]
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<xsl:output indent="yes"/>
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
<xsl:template match="text()"/>
<xsl:template match="/*">
<fo:root>
<!-- layout master stuff -->
<xsl:apply-templates select="item"/>
</fo:root>
</xsl:template>
<!-- match @cols 1, first group occurrences -->
<xsl:template match="/*/item[@cols=1]
[not(preceding-sibling::item[1][@cols=1])]">
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="one-column-page">
<xsl:copy-of select="."/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="
following-sibling::*[1][self::item[@cols=1]]" mode="flow">
<xsl:with-param name="cols" select="1"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>
</fo:page-sequence>
</xsl:template>
<!-- match @cols 2, first group occurrences -->
<xsl:template match="/*/item[@cols=2]
[not(preceding-sibling::item[1][@cols=2])]">
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="two-column-page">
<xsl:copy-of select="."/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="
following-sibling::*[1][self::item[@cols=2]]" mode="flow">
<xsl:with-param name="cols" select="2"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>
</fo:page-sequence>
</xsl:template>
<!-- recursive match adjacent @cols -->
<xsl:template match="item" mode="flow">
<xsl:param name="cols"/>
<xsl:copy-of select="."/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="
following-sibling::*[1][self::item[@cols=$cols]]" mode="flow">
<xsl:with-param name="cols" select="$cols"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
When applied to the sample input provided in the question produces:
<fo:root xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="one-column-page">
<item cols="1">Item 1</item>
<item cols="1">Item 2</item>
<item cols="1">Item 3</item>
<item cols="1">Item 4</item>
<item cols="1">Item 5</item>
<item cols="1">Item 6</item>
<item cols="1">Item 7</item>
<item cols="1">Item 8</item>
<item cols="1">Item 9</item>
</fo:page-sequence>
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="two-column-page">
<item cols="2">Item 10</item>
</fo:page-sequence>
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="one-column-page">
<item cols="1">Item 11</item>
<item cols="1">Item 12</item>
<item cols="1">Item 13</item>
<item cols="1">Item 14</item>
<item cols="1">Item 15</item>
<item cols="1">Item 16</item>
<item cols="1">Item 17</item>
<item cols="1">Item 18</item>
</fo:page-sequence>
</fo:root>
@empo: Excellent! So the basic approach is to handle the critical 'item's (where @cols changes) in the main loop, and handle the adjacent nodes to these in the recursive template call. I've used your approach and made a few changes to make the code simpler, but this works great!
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:fo="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Format">
<xsl:output indent="yes"/>
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
<xsl:template match="text()"/>
<xsl:template match="/*">
<fo:root>
<xsl:for-each select="item">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="preceding-sibling::item[1]/@cols != @cols or position()=1">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="@cols = 1">
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="one-column-page">
<xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="recurse">
<xsl:with-param name="cols" select="@cols"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>
</fo:page-sequence>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:when test="@cols = 2">
<fo:page-sequence master-reference="two-column-page">
<xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="recurse">
<xsl:with-param name="cols" select="@cols"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>
</fo:page-sequence>
</xsl:when>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:when>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:for-each>
</fo:root>
</xsl:template>
<!-- recursive match adjacent @cols -->
<xsl:template match="item" mode="recurse">
<xsl:param name="cols"/>
<xsl:copy-of select="."/>
<xsl:apply-templates select="
following-sibling::*[1][self::item[@cols=$cols]]"
mode="recurse">
<xsl:with-param name="cols" select="$cols"/>
</xsl:apply-templates>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>