Passing variables through URL

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June 4th, 2004, 09:59 AM

eflanigan

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Passing variables through URL

I am just learning XML and I want to use it as a database. I know there are many other alternatives, but I need to do it this way.

I have an XML file acting as a DB. The filename is airportList.xml and it is included below:

------------------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="airportList_Filter.xsl"?>

<airportinfo>
<airport>
<code>BWI</code>
<name>Baltimore Washington International</name>
<ticketopen>4:00 a.m.</ticketopen>
<ticketclose>9:00 p.m.</ticketclose>
<curbsidecheckin>Available</curbsidecheckin>
</airport>

<airport>
<code>SCE</code>
<name>State College Airport</name>
<ticketopen>5:00 a.m.</ticketopen>
<ticketclose>8:30 p.m.</ticketclose>
<curbsidecheckin>Not Available</curbsidecheckin>
</airport>
</airportinfo>
------------------------------------------

I also have an XSL file formatting the output. It's filename is airportList_Filter.xsl and it is included below:

------------------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:template match="/">

<html>
<body>

Airport List
<table>
<xsl:for-each select="airportinfo/airport[code='BWI']">
<br>Name: <xsl:value-of select="name"/></br>
<br>Ticket Counter Opens: <xsl:value-of select="ticketopen"/></br>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>

</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
------------------------------------------

In the XSL I want the line:
<xsl:for-each select="airportinfo/airport[code='BWI']">
to read:
<xsl:for-each select="airportinfo/airport[code=VARIABLENAME]">

So that I can have a URL pass the variable of the airport code such as:
http://mydomain.com/airportList.xml?airportcode=BWI

And the page will only display information for BWI (or the other hundreds of airports)

Can anyone help? Thanks! Sorry for the indenting thing - this forum took it all away!

- Eric

June 4th, 2004, 10:22 AM

nihaarika2002

Contributing User

Join Date: Mar 2003

Posts: 49

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passing variable(parameter)

hi
i hope this is the one what u r looking for

u can pass parameter value like this for this parameter
<xsl

aram name="airportID" select="'SCE'"/>

==========================

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl

aram name="airportID" select="'SCE'"/>
<xsl:template match="/">

<html>
<body>

Airport List
<table>
<xsl:for-each select="airportinfo/airport[code=$airportID]">
<br>Name: <xsl:value-of select="name"/></br>
<br>Ticket Counter Opens: <xsl:value-of select="ticketopen"/></br>
</xsl:for-each>
</table>

</body>
</html>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

==========================
hope this helps
with regards
niha

June 4th, 2004, 10:46 AM

noahwesley

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This is basically the same question I posted yesterday. I understand using the paramater, but how do you pass the URL 'querystring' variable into the XSL file to dynamically change that paramater (and thus, dynamically filter)?

That's what I want to know.

Thanks.

~Noah~

June 4th, 2004, 10:46 AM

eflanigan

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Close!

niha -

That's close!

But, I would still need a different XSL file for each airport code. I would like the airportID variable to get it's value from the URL

<xsl:Param name="airportID" select="'SCE'"/>

I want it to look something like this:

<xsl:Param name="airportID" select=GETVALUEFROMURL/>

when the URL looks like this:

http://mdomain.com/airportList.xml?airportID=BWI

Anymore help would be appreciated! Thanks!

EDIT: I found another message board with the same question. There is an answer that works here, but it is waaaay too much code and I have tried to manupilate it and if i delete just one line, it all goes wack.

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Web...Q_20310939.html

- Eric

June 10th, 2004, 04:50 PM

krisbeyers

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Client-side Solution that also works in Netscape

Previous solution won't work in Netscape, because it uses a Microsoft JScript in the XSL file.
You would normally use param, but then you need a server-side parser.

*** See next message for a better solution ***

I made following solution.. that works in IE and Netscape:
Just add new nodes to a loaded xml object on the client-side.
For each variable you received in your URL via document.location.search (do some string splitting) you create a new node like <variable><name>my_var_name</name><value>my_var_value</value></variable> and create a root <variables> containing all submitted variable nodes. Then add this root as a child of the root of your xml file.

Then load the xml object again, and your xsl can now use the URL variables like any other xml data.

ps: also used the domwrapper from http://www.webreference.com/program...ipt/domwrapper/ Because Netscape hasn't the loadXML function.

Greetings,
Kris

<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="nczXMLDOMWrapper.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var xmlDoc;
var xmlVars;
var xsl;

// plaats de url variabelen in een xml structuur om ze in xsl te kunnen gebruiken
var text = new String("<variabelen>");
if(document.location.search!="") {
var variabelen = document.location.search.substring(1).split("&");
var variabele;
for(var i=0;i<variabelen.length;i++) {
variabele = variabelen[i].split("=");

text += "<" + variabele[0] + ">";
text += variabele[1];
text += "</" + variabele[0] + ">";
}
}
text += "</variabelen>";

// def de xml bestand xmlDoc
if (window.ActiveXObject) {
xmlDoc = jsXML.createDOMDocument(); // def
xmlDoc.async = false;
xmlDoc.onreadystatechange = function(){if(xmlDoc.readyState == 4){pop_ticker();}}
} else
if (document.implementation && document.implementation.createDocument) {
xmlDoc = jsXML.createDOMDocument(); // document.implementation.createDocument("","xmlDoc",null);
xmlDoc.onload = function(){pop_ticker();}
}

// laad xml bestand xmlDoc
xmlDoc.load("advertenties.xml");

function pop_ticker() {
if(window.ActiveXObject) {
xmlVars = jsXML.createDOMDocument(); // definieer xmlVars asynchroon
xmlVars.async = false;
xsl = jsXML.createDOMDocument(); // definieer xsl asynchroon
xsl.async = false;

xmlVars.loadXML(text); // stop de url variabelen in een dom object
var rootVars = xmlVars.documentElement; // vraag een verwijzing naar de nodes
var rootVars_node = rootVars.cloneNode(true); // maak een kopie om deze aan een tak van een ander dom object te kunnen hangen
xmlDoc.documentElement.appendChild(rootVars_node); // voeg de root variablen van xmlVars aan de root adds van xmlDoc toe

xsl.load("merge.xsl"); // laad het xsl bestand
document.write(xmlDoc.transformNode(xsl)); // pas xsl toe
} else {
objValidXMLString = jsXML.createDOMDocument(); // maak een DOM wrapper om de missende functie loadxml in Netscape te voorzien
objValidXMLString.loadXML(text); // stop de url variabelen in een dom object
var rootVars = objValidXMLString.documentElement; // vraag een verwijzing naar de nodes
var rootVars_node = rootVars.cloneNode(true); // maak een kopie om deze aan een tak van een ander dom object te kunnen hangen
xmlDoc.documentElement.appendChild(rootVars_node); // voeg de root variablen van xmlVars aan de root adds van xmlDoc toe

var processor = new XSLTProcessor(); // start xsl parser
var myXMLHTTPRequest = new XMLHttpRequest(); // open een http kanaal om de informatie binnen te halen zonder de browser te refreshen
myXMLHTTPRequest.open("GET", "merge.xsl", false); // stuur http request, false=assynchroon
myXMLHTTPRequest.send(null); // onbekend

var xslRef = myXMLHTTPRequest.responseXML; // haal xsl binnen
processor.importStylesheet(xslRef); // koppel xsl bestand aan xsl parser
var fragment = processor.transformToFragment(xmlDoc, document); // doe de transfomatie op het xml document

document.getElementById("xmlTemplate").innerHTML = ""; // Netscape kan geen volledige pagina vernieuwen voor xsl, wel in een div layer
document.getElementById("xmlTemplate").appendChild(fragment); // toon het fragment in de div layer
}
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<DIV id="xmlTemplate"> </DIV>
</body>
</html>

June 12th, 2004, 06:48 PM

krisbeyers

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Join Date: May 2004

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The perfect solution :P

Hoi,

I noted that i need to use IE6.0+ specific elements like the "variable" and "with-param" XSL element, which are nescessary if you want to query with a selected value via XPath. So to go around this I rewrote my script, using only DOM to query the XML data.

Thanks to that wonderful Sarissa wrapper it also works in Netscape and others, I really love it!!

Sarissa:
http://sarissa.sourceforge.net (documentation)
https://sourceforge.net/projects/sarissa (the Sarissa files)

The script
<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="Sarissa.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// IE 5.0+ of NS 6.0+
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
var xmlDoc;
var strZoekAdds = "";
var tblZoekAdds = new Array(); // om join te kunnen toepassen
var url_variabele;

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// vraag de url variabelen met prefix zoek_adds_ op en plaats ze in een XPath zoek string
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
var z=0;

if(document.location.search!="") {
var url_variabelen = document.location.search.substring(1).split("&");

for(var v=0; v<url_variabelen.length; v++) {
url_variabele = url_variabelen[v].split("=");
if(url_variabele[0].substring(0,10)=="zoek_adds_")
tblZoekAdds[z++] = url_variabele[0].substring(10) + "='" + url_variabele[1] + "'";
};
};
strZoekAdds = tblZoekAdds.join(" and ");
if(tblZoekAdds.length)
strZoekAdds = "[" + strZoekAdds + "]";
strZoekAdds = "//adds/add" + strZoekAdds;

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// def de bestand met bron adressen
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

if (window.ActiveXObject) {
xmlDoc = Sarissa.getDomDocument(); // def
xmlDoc.async = false;
xmlDoc.onreadystatechange = function(){if(xmlDoc.readyState == 4){pop_ticker();}};
} else
if (document.implementation && document.implementation.createDocument) {
xmlDoc = Sarissa.getDomDocument(); // document.implementation.createDocument("","xmlDoc",null);
xmlDoc.onload = function(){pop_ticker();};
};

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// laad bestand met bron adressen
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
xmlDoc.load("advertenties.xml");

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// bestand met bron adressen is geladen (event)
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
function pop_ticker() {
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// bronnen, zoekcountry en zoekgender zijn gekend
// laad bronnen in een tabel
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

var xmlData = Sarissa.getDomDocument();
var xmlRoot = Sarissa.getDomDocument();
var xmlAdds = Sarissa.getDomDocument();
var xmlError = Sarissa.getDomDocument();
var xmlAddsFiltered = Sarissa.getDomDocument();
var xslDoc;
xmlData.async = false;
xmlRoot.async = false;
xmlAdds.async = false;
xmlError.async = false;
xmlAddsFiltered.async = false;

var adres = "";
var xmlnotfound = "";
var rootVars;
var rootVars_node;

xmlAdds.loadXML("<adds/>");
xmlRoot.loadXML("<root/>");

var loopAdressen = xmlDoc.getElementsByTagName("file");

xmlnotfound = "<xmlnotfound>";
for (var i=0; i<loopAdressen.length; i++) {
adres = loopAdressen.item(i).firstChild.nodeValue;
try {
xmlData.load(adres);
rootVars = xmlData.documentElement; // voeg data uit xmlData toe aan xmlDoc
rootVars_node = rootVars.cloneNode(true);
xmlAdds.documentElement.appendChild(rootVars_node);
} catch (e) {
xmlnotfound += "<address>" + adres + "</address>";
};
};
xmlnotfound += "</xmlnotfound>";

xmlError.loadXML(xmlnotfound);
rootVars = xmlError.documentElement;
rootVars_node = rootVars.cloneNode(true);
xmlRoot.documentElement.appendChild(rootVars_node);

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// bronnen zijn ingeladen in xmlRoot, sorteer en/of filter
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// selectNodes niet ondersteund in NS, opl. met for lussen

rootVars_node = xmlAdds.selectNodes(strZoekAdds);

xmlAddsFiltered.loadXML("<adds/>");
for(var j=0; j<rootVars_node.length; j++) {
hulp = rootVars_node.item(j).cloneNode(true);
xmlAddsFiltered.documentElement.appendChild(hulp);
};

rootVars = xmlAddsFiltered.documentElement;
rootVars_node = rootVars.cloneNode(true);
xmlRoot.documentElement.appendChild(rootVars_node);

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// bronnen zijn ingeladen en gesorteerd en/of gefilterd in xmlRoot, roep nu de xsl op
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// alert(xmlRoot.xml);

if(window.ActiveXObject) {
xslDoc = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLDOM"); // def
xslDoc.async = false;
xslDoc.load("merge.xsl"); // laad het xsl bestand
document.write(xmlRoot.transformNode(xslDoc).replace(/\n/g,"<br />"));
} else {
var processor = new XSLTProcessor(); // start xsl parser
var myXMLHTTPRequest = new XMLHttpRequest(); // open een http kanaal om de informatie binnen te halen zonder de browser te refreshen (IE 5.0+)
myXMLHTTPRequest.open("GET", "merge.xsl", false); // stuur http request, false=assynchroon
myXMLHTTPRequest.send(null); // onbekend

var xslRef = myXMLHTTPRequest.responseXML; // haal xsl binnen
processor.importStylesheet(xslRef); // koppel xsl bestand aan xsl parser
var fragment = processor.transformToFragment(xmlRoot, document); // doe de transfomatie op het xml document
document.getElementById("xmlTemplate").innerHTML = ""; // Netscape kan geen volledige pagina vernieuwen voor xsl, wel in een div layer
document.getElementById("xmlTemplate").appendChild(fragment); // toon het fragment in de div layer
document.getElementById("xmlTemplate").innerHTML = document.getElementById("xmlTemplate").innerHTML.replace(/\n/g,"<br />");
};
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<DIV id="xmlTemplate" style="width: 200px; height: 200px;"> </DIV>
</body>
</html>

June 16th, 2004, 11:00 AM

sammydafish

<?=php_geek(:p)?>

Join Date: May 2004

Location: Upstate NY

Posts: 69

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why not do it on the server side. You could use somethng like PHP. Just make sure PHP parses xsl files and do something like this

PHP Code:


		
			
<xsl:Param name="airportID" select=<?=$_GET['airportid']?>/>

June 18th, 2004, 02:34 PM

krisbeyers

Registered User

Join Date: May 2004

Posts: 6

Time spent in forums: < 1 sec
Reputation Power: 0

Passing variables through URL

that solution i know too, but the idea was to make a distributed system where not all websites are stored on a server with server side scripting.

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