How do I check if XML value is nil in XSLT

Question

In an XML document I have some address data..

<zip>08001</zip>
<zipPlus xsi:nil="true" />

and

<zip>08002</zip>
<zipPlus>4512</zipPlus>

On only want to bother displaying the zip plus value if there is a value to use. (for the purposes of this example, I don't care if its a correct zip plus format or not)

Trying to use the following snippet in an XSLT never seems to work right, and I think it has to do with how I am checking for the xsl:nil value

<EmployerZipCode>
      <xsl:value-of select="zip"/>
      <xsl:if test="zipPlus != @xsl:nil">
        <xsl:value-of select="'-'"/>
        <xsl:value-of select="zipPlus"/>
      </xsl:if>
      <xsl:value-of select="$sepChar"/> <!--this is a comma -->
</EmployerZipCode>

The results I get are always

08001,
08002,

not

08001,
08002-4512,

What is the proper way to check for nil-led elements in XSLT? Are there any other ways to get around this problem and get the result I want?

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 18 '11 at 11:00

6

<xsl:if test="not(zipPlus/@xsi:nil='true')">

edited Oct 18 '11 at 11:00

Mads Hansen

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answered Jun 09 '11 at 16:40

Jim Garrison

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If @xsl:nil is present only when the value is "true", then use `not(zipPlus/@xsl:nil)` which tests for the existence of the attribute. – Jim Garrison Jun 09 '11 at 18:52

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 09 '11 at 20:04

5

In XSLT 2.0, for reasons I have never fully understood, there is a custom function

test="not(nilled(zipPlus))"

answered Jun 09 '11 at 20:04

Michael Kay

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the xslt debugging in visual studio does not know about the nilled() function. – StingyJack Jun 10 '11 at 19:50
D'oh. just realized that VS2010 only supports XSLT 1.0. That's super lame. Thanks anyway @Michael Kay – StingyJack Jun 10 '11 at 20:20

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 10 '11 at 20:04

3

After some more testing, none of answers given that involve checking the nil attribute work reliably.

I had to resort to using string-length() to get the result I needed.

<EmployerZipCode>
  <xsl:value-of select="zip"/>
  <xsl:if test="string-length(zipPlus) &gt; 0">
    <xsl:value-of select="'-'"/>
    <xsl:value-of select="zipPlus"/>
  </xsl:if>
  <xsl:value-of select="$sepChar"/>
</EmployerZipCode>

answered Jun 10 '11 at 20:04

StingyJack

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See my answer. I'm testing just with `not(zipPlus/@xsi:nil)` assuming that if the attribute is missing you want the zipplus. However @Jim-Garrison works either (even if in my test you need to replace prefix `xsl` with `xsi`). – Emiliano Poggi Jun 10 '11 at 22:16

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 10 '11 at 22:12

It's very strange that you didn't get it to work. Perhaps it might be you are missing namespace declaration or the prefix change xsi to xsl is an unseen typo in your transform. Check better. Here my test:

XSLT 1.0 with Saxon 6.5

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
    xmlns:xsi="test">
    <xsl:output method="text" indent="yes"/>

    <xsl:template match="EmployerZipCode">
        <EmployerZipCode>
            <xsl:value-of select="zip"/>
            <xsl:if test="not(zipPlus/@xsi:nil)">
                <xsl:value-of select="'-'"/>
                <xsl:value-of select="zipPlus"/>
            </xsl:if>
            <xsl:value-of select="','"/> <!--this is a comma -->
        </EmployerZipCode>
    </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Given the input:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<test xmlns:xsi="test">
    <EmployerZipCode>
        <zip>08001</zip>
        <zipPlus xsi:nil="true" />
    </EmployerZipCode>
    <EmployerZipCode>
        <zip>08002</zip>
        <zipPlus>4512</zipPlus>
    </EmployerZipCode>
</test>

Produces:

08001,
08002-4512,

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 18 '11 at 09:41

It works for me

Source XML :

            <zipPlus xsi:nil="true"/>
                      or
            <zipPlus>123456</zipPlus>

XSLT :

            <xsl:if test="not(zipPlus/@xsl:nil='true')">
                <xsl:value-of select="zipPlus"/>
            </xsl:if>

Result XML

            <zipPlus/>
            or
            <zipPlus>123456</zipPlus>

How do I check if XML value is nil in XSLT

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