XSLT: How to convert XML Node to String

Question

<ROOT>
   <A>
      <B>TESTING</B>
   </A>
</ROOT>

XSL:

<xsl:variable name="nodestring" select="//A"/>
<xsl:value-of select="$nodestring"/>

I am trying to convert XML nodeset to string using XSL. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

About "convert Node to String"

With XSLT 1.0, you can use the XPath1.0 string() function of the Core Function Library, that converts a node to a string:

<xsl:template match="A">
  <xsl:variable name="nodeAsStr" select="string(.)" />
  <xsl:copy-of select="$nodeAsStr"/><!-- or value-of -->
</xsl:template>

See "Function: string string(object)" at section 4.3.

About "convert Node to XML pretty-printer"

It this another question, about "XML pretty-printer" or "XML dump" ... See good answers here.

Answer 2

<xsl:template name="serializeNodeToString">
    <xsl:param name="node"/>
    <xsl:variable name="name" select="name($node)"/>
    <xsl:if test="$name">
        <xsl:value-of select="concat('&lt;',$name)"/>
        <xsl:for-each select="$node/@*">
            <xsl:value-of select="concat(' ',name(),'=&quot;',.,'&quot; ')"/>
        </xsl:for-each>
        <xsl:value-of select="concat('&gt;',./text())"/>
    </xsl:if>
    <xsl:for-each select="$node/*">
        <xsl:call-template name="serializeNodeToString">
            <xsl:with-param name="node" select="."/>
        </xsl:call-template>
    </xsl:for-each>
    <xsl:if test="$name">
        <xsl:value-of select="concat('&lt;/',$name,'&gt;')"/>
    </xsl:if>
</xsl:template>

Answer 3

Saxon required for following solution. I find it here

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="2.0" xmlns:saxon="http://saxon.sf.net/"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">

<!-- To serialize with saxon:serialize() -->
<xsl:output name="default" indent="yes"
    omit-xml-declaration="yes" />

<xsl:template match="*">
    <xsl:variable name="node-set">
        <xsl:element name="level1">
            <xsl:element name="level2" />
            <xsl:element name="level2" />
        </xsl:element>
    </xsl:variable>

    <xsl:element name="input">
        <xsl:copy-of select="$node-set" />
    </xsl:element>

    <xsl:element name="output">
        <xsl:value-of select="saxon:serialize($node-set, 'default')" />
    </xsl:element>
</xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

Answer 4

You need to serialize the nodes. The most simple for your example would be something like

<xsl:template match="ROOT">
  <xsl:variable name="nodestring">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="//A" mode="serialize"/>
  </xsl:variable>
  <xsl:value-of select="$nodestring"/>  
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="*" mode="serialize">
  <xsl:text>&lt;</xsl:text>
  <xsl:value-of select="name()"/>
  <xsl:text>&gt;</xsl:text>
  <xsl:apply-templates mode="serialize"/>
  <xsl:text>&lt;/</xsl:text>
  <xsl:value-of select="name()"/>
  <xsl:text>&gt;</xsl:text>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="text()" mode="serialize">
  <xsl:value-of select="."/>
</xsl:template>

The above serializer templates do not handle e.g. attributes, namespaces, or reserved characters in text nodes, but the concept should be clear. XSLT process works on a node tree and if you need to have access to "tags", you need to serialize the nodes.