Скачать или смотреть How to Remove an Element Following a Specific Element Using XSLT

Learn how to efficiently remove a placeholder element that follows a specific pattern within your XML data using XSLT.
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Removing Elements in XML with XSLT

In the realm of XML processing, it’s common to encounter scenarios where certain elements need to be removed based on their relationships with other elements. One such scenario involves removing a placeholder element when it is immediately followed by a duplicate element, based on specific criteria.

If you've ever found yourself in a situation where you need to clean up XML data by removing unnecessary placeholders, this guide is tailored for you. Let’s explore how to achieve this via XSLT (eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations).

The Problem

Consider the following XML sample, which contains a block element with various child elements, including codes, placeholder, and grade. Our goal is to remove any placeholder element that:

Has an attribute x="test".

Is immediately followed by a codes element that matches a specific pattern (in this case, hg*).

Here’s the initial XML:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Expected Output

After applying the XSLT to transform this XML, we would like to see the following output, where the first placeholder has been removed:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

The Solution: Crafting the XSLT

To achieve this transformation, we will write a concise XSLT stylesheet. Below is a step-by-step overview of the template we’ll use:

Step 1: Define the XSLT Stylesheet

Begin by declaring your XSLT file:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 2: Match and Exclude Specific Placeholders

Next, we will create a template to match the placeholder elements that meet our criteria. This template ensures that if a matching placeholder is found in the right context, it won’t be processed further (i.e., it will be omitted from the final output).

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 3: Copy Remaining Nodes

We also need a template that matches all other nodes and attributes, ensuring that they are copied over to the result:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Final XSLT Code

Putting it all together, your complete XSLT stylesheet should look like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Conclusion

By using this XSLT stylesheet, you can efficiently remove unnecessary placeholder elements based on their relationship with preceding elements. The outlined method is flexible and can be adjusted depending on underlying XML structure and requirements.

Remember, working with XML and XSLT can initially seem challenging, but with practice, you'll gain proficiency in data manipulation and transformation. Happy coding!