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Re: [xsl] starts-with on more than one item

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At 07:10 PM 5/30/2008, David wrote:

glad you got it working, just one comment,

<xsl:choose>
        <xsl:when test="position()=last()">
                <xsl:value-of select="concat(', and ', ., '.')"/>
        </xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="position()=1">
                <xsl:value-of select="concat(' ', .)"/>
        </xsl:when>
        <xsl:otherwise>
                <xsl:value-of select="concat(', ', .)"/>
        </xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>

swap the first two when clauses, otherwise you'll get an ", and" on a list
of length 1.

If it wasn't for the and you could replace the whole for-each by

<xsl:value-of select="$names" separator=", "/>

It's probably possible to use a trick xpath to get the same effect with
a single value-of, but it's probably more maintainable to use the
for-each form that you have in this case.

Even without being terribly tricky, one might refactor and extend as

<xsl:choose>
  <xsl:when test="position() = 1">
    <xsl:text> </xsl:text>
  <xsl:otherwise>
  <xsl:when test="position()=last()">
    <xsl:if test="position() > 2">
      <xsl:text>,</xsl:text>
    </xsl:if>
    <xsl:text> and </xsl:text>
  </xsl:when>
  <xsl:otherwise>
    <xsl:text>, </xsl:text>
  </xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
<xsl:value-of select="."/>

As David says, moving the position()=1 test accounts for the case of a set with one member. Adding a test inside the position()=last() clause accounts for the case of two members, which presumably shouldn't get a comma between them.

The problem of transposing from singular to plural forms reliably in English requires either NLP or at least a lookup table with all your possible terms; it's usually best dealt with by writing around it.

E.g., not "router, tranformers, and chassis" but "routers (1), transformers (4), and chassis (3)". It's not elegant, but it's clear enough and not obviously wrong either.

Cheers,
Wendell

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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street                    Direct Phone: 301/315-9635
Suite 207                                          Phone: 301/315-9631
Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
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