XSLT counting elements with a given value

Question

I need to count the number of elements in an XML file that have a particular value  to verify uniqueness   The XML file looks like this   EDIT  I updated the original  simplified  XML with the actual hairy mess someone designed  Unfortunately  this is going to make all the previous Answers really confusing and wrong unless edited    lt root gt     lt ac gt      lt Properties gt        lt Property Name  Alive  gt         lt Properties gt           lt Property Name  ID  gt            lt Properties gt              lt Property Name  Value  gt               lt long gt 11007 lt  long gt              lt  Property gt            lt  Properties gt           lt  Property gt         lt  Properties gt        lt  Property gt        lt Property Name  Dead  gt         lt Properties gt           lt Property Name  ID  gt            lt Properties gt              lt Property Name  Value  gt               lt long gt 11008 lt  long gt              lt  Property gt            lt  Properties gt           lt  Property gt         lt  Properties gt        lt  Property gt                 lt Property Name  MostlyDeadAllDay  gt         lt Properties gt           lt Property Name  ID  gt            lt Properties gt              lt Property Name  Value  gt               lt long gt 99001 lt  long gt              lt  Property gt            lt  Properties gt           lt  Property gt         lt  Properties gt        lt  Property gt      lt  Properties gt     lt  ac gt   lt  root gt    I am trying to define a variable to see how many of the properties at the Alive Dead level have the long value  ID  as defined in a template parameter  Something along these lines  though I suspect this is wrong       lt xsl param name  parPropId   gt   lt xsl variable name  countProperties  gt      lt xsl value-of select  count  root ac        Properties Property        Properties Property  Name    ID          Properites Property  Name    Value   long    parPropId    gt   lt  xsl variable gt    There can be multiple Property elements defined at the  ID  level  But I am fairly certain I can count on just one Property element   Value   under  ID   and only one  long  element under  Value     disclaimer  Whoever designed the overall XML file I m stuck working with REALLY didn t know how to structure XML  e g   backwards use of attributes versus elements   I fear my XSLT thinking has temporarily been warped    as a result    disclaimer

User · Answer

lt xsl variable name  count  select  count  Property long    parPropId    gt    Un-tested but I think that should work  I m assuming the Property nodes are direct children of the root node and therefor taking out your descendant selector for peformance

User · Answer

This XPath   count   Property long    11007      returns the same value as   count   Property long text      11007         except that the first counts Property nodes that match the criterion and the second counts long child nodes that match the criterion   As per your comment and reading your question a couple of times  I believe that you want to find uniqueness based on a combination of criteria  Therefore  in actuality  I think you are actually checking multiple conditions  The following would work as well   count   Property  Name    Alive   long    11007      because it means the same thing as   count   Property  Name    Alive  and long    11007      Of course  you would substitute the values for parameters in your template  The above code only illustrates the point   EDIT  after question edit     You were quite right about the XML being horrible  In fact  this is a downright CodingHorror candidate  I had to keep recounting to keep track of the  Property  node I was on presently  I feel your pain   Here you go   count  root ac Properties Property Properties Property Properties Property long    parPropId     Note that I have removed all the other checks  for ID and Value   They appear not to be required since you are able to arrive at the relevant node using the hierarchy in the XML  Also  you already mentioned that the check for uniqueness is based only on the contents of the long element

User · Answer

Your xpath is just a little off   count   Property long text    parPropId     Edit  Cerebrus quite rightly points out that the code in your OP  using the implicit value of a node  is absolutely fine for your purposes  In fact  since it s quite likely you want to work with the  Property  node rather than the  long  node  it s probably superior to ask for   Property long  parPropId  than the text   xpath  though you could make a case for the latter on readability grounds   What can I say  I m a bit tired today

[xslt] XSLT counting elements with a given value

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