Escaping of URL can be done from XSLT?

[Gigi]

I'm in a truoble trying to encode unsafe characters for URL directly from
XSLT without using proprietary Microsoft extensions like the use of javascript
functions, I have heard that It can be done with the use of recursive templates...
if someone can help me, it could be of great help.

Thanks in advance
Gigi

[Russell Jones]

Here's one solution. Put the URL (the href value for the link) into a CDATA
section. For example:

Save this file as linkexample.xml (watch for extraneous line breaks):
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="linkexample.xsl"?>
<root>
<link>
<linktext>My Link</linktext>
<url>

<![CDATA[http://myserver/mypath/somefile.asp?...am2=value2&par
am3=value3]]>
</url>
</link>
</root>

Save this file as linkexample.xsl (watch for extraneous line breaks):
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
version="1.0">
<xslutput method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:apply-templates select="root/link"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="link">
<a href="{url}"><xsl:value-of select="linktext"/></a>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Open the linkexample.xml file in IE. You'll see one link.

Russell Jones
Sr. Web Development Editor
DevX.com
"Gigi" <Gigigas@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3a829e05$1@news.devx.com...
>
> I'm in a truoble trying to encode unsafe characters for URL directly from
> XSLT without using proprietary Microsoft extensions like the use of
javascript
> functions, I have heard that It can be done with the use of recursive
templates...
> if someone can help me, it could be of great help.
>
> Thanks in advance
> Gigi

[Jimmy Jack]

Your approach is fine if you have control over the XML source, but if you're
concatenating strings to construct a URL (from a database perhaps), you can't
guarantee that the resulting string will not contain unsafe characters:

For example, with the following source XML and stylesheet (watch for line
breaks):
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="linkexample.xsl"?>
<clients>
<client id="Chase Manhattan Bank" office="123 Main Street" />
</clients>

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xslutput method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:apply-templates select="clients/client"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="client">
<a href="http://www.myserver.com/process.asp?process={@id}"><xsl:value-of
select="@id"/></a>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Open in IE and you still see one link, but it is invalid because it contains
spaces:

<a href="http://www.myserver.com/process.asp?process=Chase Manhattan Bank">

So back to the original question, how do I escape the id attribute in XSLT
without JavaScript so that the href becomes:

<a href="http://www.myserver.com/process.asp?process=Chase%20Manhattan%20Bank">

Now IE will add the %20 to the link when I click it, but the problem becomes
nasty if the id attribute contains the following characters ?, &, or /as
IE will not convert them to %3F, %26, or %2F respectively.

Thanks

Jimmy

"Russell Jones" <arj1@northstate.net> wrote:
>Here's one solution. Put the URL (the href value for the link) into a CDATA
>section. For example:
>
>Save this file as linkexample.xml (watch for extraneous line breaks):
><?xml version="1.0"?>
><?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="linkexample.xsl"?>
><root>
> <link>
> <linktext>My Link</linktext>
> <url>
>
><![CDATA[http://myserver/mypath/somefile.asp?...¶m2=value2&par
>am3=value3]]>
> </url>
> </link>
></root>
>
>Save this file as linkexample.xsl (watch for extraneous line breaks):
><?xml version="1.0"?>
> <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
>version="1.0">
> <xslutput method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
> <xsl:template match="/">
> <xsl:apply-templates select="root/link"/>
> </xsl:template>
> <xsl:template match="link">
> <a href="{url}"><xsl:value-of select="linktext"/></a>
> </xsl:template>
></xsl:stylesheet>
>
>Open the linkexample.xml file in IE. You'll see one link.
>
>Russell Jones
>Sr. Web Development Editor
>DevX.com
>"Gigi" <Gigigas@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:3a829e05$1@news.devx.com...
>>
>> I'm in a truoble trying to encode unsafe characters for URL directly from
>> XSLT without using proprietary Microsoft extensions like the use of
>javascript
>> functions, I have heard that It can be done with the use of recursive
>templates...
>> if someone can help me, it could be of great help.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>> Gigi
>
>

[Russell Jones]

You can solve the embedded space problem by concatenating into a variable
first.
Try this (watch for line breaks)

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
version="1.0">
<xslutput method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:apply-templates select="clients/client"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="client">
<xsl:variable name="url">
<xsl:value-of
select="concat('http://www.myserver.com/process.asp?process={@id}', @id)"/>
</xsl:variable>
<a href="{$url}"><xsl:value-of select="@id"/></a>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Russell Jones
Sr. Web Development Editor
DevX.com

"Jimmy Jack" <xmldom@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3a8ad512$1@news.devx.com...
>
> Your approach is fine if you have control over the XML source, but if
you're
> concatenating strings to construct a URL (from a database perhaps), you
can't
> guarantee that the resulting string will not contain unsafe characters:
>
> For example, with the following source XML and stylesheet (watch for line
> breaks):
> <?xml version="1.0"?>
> <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="linkexample.xsl"?>
> <clients>
> <client id="Chase Manhattan Bank" office="123 Main Street" />
> </clients>
>
> <?xml version="1.0"?>
> <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
version="1.0">
> <xslutput method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
> <xsl:template match="/">
> <xsl:apply-templates select="clients/client"/>
> </xsl:template>
> <xsl:template match="client">
> <a href="http://www.myserver.com/process.asp?process={@id}"><xsl:value-of
> select="@id"/></a>
> </xsl:template>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
>
> Open in IE and you still see one link, but it is invalid because it
contains
> spaces:
>
> <a href="http://www.myserver.com/process.asp?process=Chase Manhattan
Bank">
>
> So back to the original question, how do I escape the id attribute in XSLT
> without JavaScript so that the href becomes:
>
> <a
href="http://www.myserver.com/process.asp?process=Chase%20Manhattan%20Bank">
>
> Now IE will add the %20 to the link when I click it, but the problem
becomes
> nasty if the id attribute contains the following characters ?, &, or /as
> IE will not convert them to %3F, %26, or %2F respectively.
>
> Thanks
>
> Jimmy
>
> "Russell Jones" <arj1@northstate.net> wrote:
> >Here's one solution. Put the URL (the href value for the link) into a
CDATA
> >section. For example:
> >
> >Save this file as linkexample.xml (watch for extraneous line breaks):
> ><?xml version="1.0"?>
> ><?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="linkexample.xsl"?>
> ><root>
> > <link>
> > <linktext>My Link</linktext>
> > <url>
> >
> ><![CDATA[http://myserver/mypath/somefile.asp?...¶m2=value2&par
> >am3=value3]]>
> > </url>
> > </link>
> ></root>
> >
> >Save this file as linkexample.xsl (watch for extraneous line breaks):
> ><?xml version="1.0"?>
> > <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
> >version="1.0">
> > <xslutput method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
> > <xsl:template match="/">
> > <xsl:apply-templates select="root/link"/>
> > </xsl:template>
> > <xsl:template match="link">
> > <a href="{url}"><xsl:value-of select="linktext"/></a>
> > </xsl:template>
> ></xsl:stylesheet>
> >
> >Open the linkexample.xml file in IE. You'll see one link.
> >
> >Russell Jones
> >Sr. Web Development Editor
> >DevX.com
> >"Gigi" <Gigigas@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:3a829e05$1@news.devx.com...
> >>
> >> I'm in a truoble trying to encode unsafe characters for URL directly
from
> >> XSLT without using proprietary Microsoft extensions like the use of
> >javascript
> >> functions, I have heard that It can be done with the use of recursive
> >templates...
> >> if someone can help me, it could be of great help.
> >>
> >> Thanks in advance
> >> Gigi
> >
> >
>

[don]

This is what's most aggravating about "new technology" forums... Here's a
detailed question, with a single line reply that only vaguely passes as an
"answer". (A) no, you don't SEE "one link",(B) no, it does not deal with
"encoding unsafe characters" and (C) this looks more like an "XSL" file than
an "XML" so why save it with the latter file type?

More questions than answers.

Here, by the way, is what you "see" after opening this file in IE5:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
- <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xslutput method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes" />
- <xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:apply-templates select="root/link" />
</xsl:template>
- <xsl:template match="link">
- <a href="{url}">
<xsl:value-of select="linktext" />
</a>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

"Russell Jones" <arj1@northstate.net> wrote:
>Here's one solution. Put the URL (the href value for the link) into a CDATA
>section. For example:
>
>Save this file as linkexample.xml (watch for extraneous line breaks):
><?xml version="1.0"?>
><?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="linkexample.xsl"?>
><root>
> <link>
> <linktext>My Link</linktext>
> <url>
>
><![CDATA[http://myserver/mypath/somefile.asp?...¶m2=value2&par
>am3=value3]]>
> </url>
> </link>
></root>
>
>Save this file as linkexample.xsl (watch for extraneous line breaks):
><?xml version="1.0"?>
> <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
>version="1.0">
> <xslutput method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
> <xsl:template match="/">
> <xsl:apply-templates select="root/link"/>
> </xsl:template>
> <xsl:template match="link">
> <a href="{url}"><xsl:value-of select="linktext"/></a>
> </xsl:template>
></xsl:stylesheet>
>
>Open the linkexample.xml file in IE. You'll see one link.
>
>Russell Jones
>Sr. Web Development Editor
>DevX.com
>"Gigi" <Gigigas@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:3a829e05$1@news.devx.com...
>>
>> I'm in a truoble trying to encode unsafe characters for URL directly from
>> XSLT without using proprietary Microsoft extensions like the use of
>javascript
>> functions, I have heard that It can be done with the use of recursive
>templates...
>> if someone can help me, it could be of great help.
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>> Gigi
>
>

[Russell Jones]

You need to read the whole thread. My second post built on my initial
answer, which contains the XML file. Also, you need to be running the
release version of MSXML3.dll in replace mode (run xmlinst.exe) to see the
output correctly. I usually mention that, but omitted it on this reply.

"don" <dbweb4z@premiersi.com> wrote in message
news:3a9553de$1@news.devx.com...
>
> This is what's most aggravating about "new technology" forums... Here's a
> detailed question, with a single line reply that only vaguely passes as an
> "answer". (A) no, you don't SEE "one link",(B) no, it does not deal with
> "encoding unsafe characters" and (C) this looks more like an "XSL" file
than
> an "XML" so why save it with the latter file type?
>
> More questions than answers.
>
> Here, by the way, is what you "see" after opening this file in IE5:
>
> <?xml version="1.0" ?>
> - <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
version="1.0">
> <xslutput method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes" />
> - <xsl:template match="/">
> <xsl:apply-templates select="root/link" />
> </xsl:template>
> - <xsl:template match="link">
> - <a href="{url}">
> <xsl:value-of select="linktext" />
> </a>
> </xsl:template>
> </xsl:stylesheet>
>
> "Russell Jones" <arj1@northstate.net> wrote:
> >Here's one solution. Put the URL (the href value for the link) into a
CDATA
> >section. For example:
> >
> >Save this file as linkexample.xml (watch for extraneous line breaks):
> ><?xml version="1.0"?>
> ><?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="linkexample.xsl"?>
> ><root>
> > <link>
> > <linktext>My Link</linktext>
> > <url>
> >
> ><![CDATA[http://myserver/mypath/somefile.asp?...¶m2=value2&par
> >am3=value3]]>
> > </url>
> > </link>
> ></root>
> >
> >Save this file as linkexample.xsl (watch for extraneous line breaks):
> ><?xml version="1.0"?>
> > <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
> >version="1.0">
> > <xslutput method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
> > <xsl:template match="/">
> > <xsl:apply-templates select="root/link"/>
> > </xsl:template>
> > <xsl:template match="link">
> > <a href="{url}"><xsl:value-of select="linktext"/></a>
> > </xsl:template>
> ></xsl:stylesheet>
> >
> >Open the linkexample.xml file in IE. You'll see one link.
> >
> >Russell Jones
> >Sr. Web Development Editor
> >DevX.com
> >"Gigi" <Gigigas@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> >news:3a829e05$1@news.devx.com...
> >>
> >> I'm in a truoble trying to encode unsafe characters for URL directly
from
> >> XSLT without using proprietary Microsoft extensions like the use of
> >javascript
> >> functions, I have heard that It can be done with the use of recursive
> >templates...
> >> if someone can help me, it could be of great help.
> >>
> >> Thanks in advance
> >> Gigi
> >
> >
>