July 2004
Intermediate to advanced
479 pages
12h 30m
English
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Use Lookup Tables with XSLT to Translate FIPS Codes
With XSLT, translate data in a source file by looking up the translation in a lookup table, using FIPS codes as an example.
While writing XSLT transformations,
sometimes you need to convert phrases or data elements from the
source file. For example, you might be transforming data from one
schema to another, and the target schema might use different
enumerated values. The source data might contain
event-time, while the target schema requires
eventTime.
XSLT techniques to make these conversions are well known, and even though they may not exactly be hacks, they are well worth including here. The approach is to create a lookup table that pairs the input and output phrases. There are two variations:
The lookup table is an external XML file.
The lookup table is embedded into the XSLT stylesheet.
With either, the lookup can be done with or without the help of keys, which will often speed up access. These variations are illustrated in this hack.
The FIPS Code Example
For a concrete example, this hack translates FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) numerical codes into city and state names. FIPS codes are published by the United States government. For example, the state of Indiana has the FIPS code 18, and the city of Bethel Village, which is in Indiana, has a code of 5050. The hack changes these codes into their natural language names.
Here is part of the source document (fips_lu_data.xml in Example 3-49).
Example 3-49. fips_lu_data.xml ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.