Reference an XSLT variable via a dynamic name

Question

I'm stuck with a small problem.

The XSL-File:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"  
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:fn="http://www.w3.org/2005/xpath-functions"> 
<xsl:template match="/"> 


<xsl:variable name="unumericValue" select="10" />
<xsl:variable name="uanotherValue" select="8" />



<xsl:for-each select="/root/try">
<xsl:value-of select="var" />
<xsl:variable name="min"><xsl:value-of select="@minimum" /></xsl:variable>
<xsl:value-of select="@type" />
<xsl:variable name="referenceName"><xsl:value-of select='concat("u",var)' /></xsl:variable>
<xsl:value-of select="$referenceName" />
<xsl:if test='$referenceName > $min'>
<p>Do something.</p>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>

</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

The XML File:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="q1.xsl"?>
<root>
<try type="compare" minimum="9">
<var>numericValue</var>
<something>...</something>
</try>

<try type="compare" minimum="10">
<var>anotherValue</var>
<something>...</something>
</try>
</root>

As you can see the XML file has two var-Elements which should match to the variables in the XSLT-File. However I don't know which Syntax is correct. $referenceName is just the name of the variable which I want to use. But I don't know how to reference the name to the existing variable.

Answer 1

$referenceName isn't a reference to the variable with the name "unumericValue" or otherwise. It's just the string value "unumericValue", etc. So that will never be greater than $min. However, with a little extra work, there is a trick to find a variable by its name:

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

  <xsl:variable name="numericValue" select="10" />
  <xsl:variable name="anotherValue" select="8" />
  <xsl:variable name="vars" select="document('')/*/xsl:variable" />

  <xsl:template match="/">
    <xsl:variable name="referenceName" select="'numericValue'" />
    <xsl:variable name="referenceValue" select="$vars[@name = $referenceName]/@select" />
    Reference value: <xsl:value-of select="$referenceValue" />
  </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

One big limitation to note here is that this will only work for variables that are a constant numeric value.

Here's a way to simulate variables with constant string values:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
                 xmlns:v="variables-node"
>
  <v:variables>
    <v:variable n="numericValue" value="10" />
    <v:variable n="nonNumericValue" value="Hello World" />
  </v:variables>
  <xsl:variable name="vars" select="document('')//v:variables/v:variable" />

    <xsl:template match="/">
      <xsl:variable name="referenceName" select="'nonNumericValue'" />
      <xsl:variable name="referenceValue" select="$vars[@n = $referenceName]/@value" />
      <xsl:value-of select="concat('The variable with the name ', $referenceName, ' has the value ', $referenceValue)"/>
    </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

And lastly, a way to simulate variables with calculated values:

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

  <xsl:variable name="varsRaw">
    <var n="computedValue" value="{concat('2 + 4 is ', 2 + 4)}" />
    <var n="computedNumber" value="{22 div 7}" />
  </xsl:variable>
  <xsl:variable name="vars" select="exslt:node-set($varsRaw)/var" />

    <xsl:template match="/">
      <xsl:variable name="referenceName" select="'computedValue'" />
      <xsl:variable name="referenceValue" select="$vars[@n = $referenceName]/@value" />
      <xsl:value-of select="concat('The variable with the name ', $referenceName, ' has the value ', $referenceValue)"/>

      <xsl:value-of select="'     '"/>

      <xsl:variable name="referenceName2" select="'computedNumber'" />
      <xsl:variable name="referenceValue2" select="$vars[@n = $referenceName2]/@value" />
      <xsl:value-of select="concat('The variable with the name ', $referenceName2, ' has the value ', $referenceValue2)"/>
    </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

The last approach is probably actually the most orthodox, but requires the XSLT processor-dependent (at least in XSLT 1.0) node-set() function.