How can I split <xsl: foreach> into several parts?

Question

I have a list of elements that I want to split into separate lists of 3. The final result will be something like this:

<ul>
    <li>element</li>
    <li>element</li>
</ul>
<ul>
    <li>element</li>
    <li>element</li>
</ul>
<ul>
    <li>element</li>
    <li>element</li>
</ul>

My XSLT is like this, but it doesn’t work, because I can’t insert </ul>, and I can’t insert a smaller sign ( <).

<ul>
    <xsl:for-each select="$myroot/item">
        <li></li>

        <xsl:if test="position() mod $maxItemsPerColumn = 0">
            <!-- I want to close my ul, and start a new one here, but it doesn't work! -->
        </xsl:if>
    </xsl:for-each>
</ul>

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You do not need to do anything like recursion. And good gentleman, don’t even consider using CDATA.

You just need to think like XSLT and ask: "What input element do I want to convert to my output element?"

, ul N item s, N- item, , ul:

<xsl:variable name="n" select="number(4)"/>

<xsl:template match="/">
  <output>
    <xsl:apply-templates select="/root/item[position() mod $n = 1]"/>
  </output>
</xsl:template>

item ul, N-1 :

<xsl:template match="item">
  <ul>
    <xsl:for-each select=". | following-sibling::item[position() &lt; $n]">
      <li>
        <xsl:value-of select="."/>
      </li>
    </xsl:for-each>
  </ul>
</xsl:template>

:

<root>
  <item>1</item>
  <item>2</item>
  <item>3</item>
  <item>4</item>
  <item>5</item>
  <item>6</item>
  <item>7</item>
  <item>8</item>
  <item>9</item>
</root>

... , $n 4:

<output>
  <ul>
    <li>1</li>
    <li>2</li>
    <li>3</li>
    <li>4</li>
  </ul>
  <ul>
    <li>5</li>
    <li>6</li>
    <li>7</li>
    <li>8</li>
  </ul>
  <ul>
    <li>9</li>
  </ul>
</output>

Answer 2

, :

<xsl:call-template name="group">
  <xsl:with-param name="items" select="$myroot/item" />
</xsl:call-template>

<xsl:template name="group">
  <xsl:param name="items" />
  <xsl:if test="count($items) > 0">
    <ul>
      <xsl:for-each select="$items[position() &lt;= 3]">
        <li>...</li>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </ul>
    <xsl:call-template name="group">
      <xsl:with-param name="items" select="$items[position() > 3]" />
    </xsl:call-template>
  </xsl:if>
</xsl:template>

, group . group ( , ) <ul> ... </ul>. , . , group .

XSLT - , , (.. disable-output-escaping ), , .

Answer 3

- ( , )

(...)
<xsl:call-template name="recursive">
 <xsl:with-param name="root" select="$myroot"/>
 <xsl:with-param name="index" select="number(1)"/>
</xsl:call-template>
(...)


<xsl:template name="recursive">
<xsl:param name="root"/>
<xsl:param name="index"/>
<ul>
<li><xsl:value-of select="$root/item[$index]"/></li>
<li><xsl:value-of select="$root/item[$index +1 ]"/></li>
</ul>
<xsl:if test="$root/item[$index+2]">
<xsl:call-template name="recursive">
 <xsl:with-param name="root" select="$root"/>
 <xsl:with-param name="index" select="$index+2"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:template>

Answer 4

<xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"><![CDATA[</ul>]]></xsl:text>

<xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"><![CDATA[<ul>]]></xsl:text>

:

<ul>
    <xsl:for-each select="$myroot/item">
        <li></li>

        <xsl:if test="position() mod $maxItemsPerColumn = 0">
            <xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"><![CDATA[</ul>]]></xsl:text>
            <xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes"><![CDATA[<ul>]]></xsl:text>                
        </xsl:if>
    </xsl:for-each>
</ul>

: , , , -, -.

Update 2: Yes, I understand why it can be terrible and inspire Nagul-like fear in my peers, and yes, I tried to vote for it myself, but I think this answer may be useful to someone in the future.