Get input values for $ask from another file

[JulieP]

Hello,

I want to use the $ask variable to provide a drop-down menu with a large number of options. It would be easier to maintain this list in a separate file rather than in the template. Could the list of real and rendered values be pulled from a separate file?

[alex_jitianu]

Hello,

You can use an ${oxy_xpath()} in place of the value enumeration, something like this:

Code: Select all

${ask(
'combobox with quotes', 
combobox,
 (${xpath_eval(string-join(for $e in doc('URL_MAPPED_IN_A_CATALOG')//entry return concat('"', $e/text(), '":"', $e/@label, '"'), ';'))})}

In the example above I made the assumption that the values file looks like this:

Code: Select all

<root>
    <entry label="L1">V1</entry>
    <entry label="L2">V2</entry>
</root>

You can add an entry in a catalog file to identify the values file. The catalog can sit inside the framework and be added in the Catalogs tab. This way you can avoid specifying hard coded absolute paths that wont work on every machine, as well as relying on relative paths that might not resolve to the expected base.

Best regards,
Alex

[JulieP]

Thank you, Alex!