XSLT Cookbook

Flattening an XML Hierarchy

Problem

You have a document with elements organized in a more deeply nested fashion than you would prefer. You want to flatten the tree.

Solution

If your goal is simply to flatten without regard to the information encoded by the deeper structure, then you need to apply an overriding copy. The overriding template must match the elements you wish to discard and apply templates without copying.

Consider the following input, which segregates people into two categories—salaried and union:

<people>
  <union>
    <person>
      <firstname>Warren</firstname>
      <lastname>Rosenbaum</lastname>
      <age>37</age>
      <height>5.75</height>
    </person>
    <person>
      <firstname>Dror</firstname>
      <lastname>Seagull</lastname>
      <age>28</age>
      <height>5.10</height>
    </person>
    <person>
      <firstname>Mike</firstname>
      <lastname>Heavyman</lastname>
      <age>45</age>
      <height>6.0</height>
    </person>
    <person>
      <firstname>Theresa</firstname>
      <lastname>Archul</lastname>
      <age>37</age>
      <height>5.5</height>
    </person>
  </union>
  <salaried>
    <person>
      <firstname>Sal</firstname>
      <lastname>Mangano</lastname>
      <age>37</age>
      <height>5.75</height>
    </person>
    <person>
      <firstname>Jane</firstname>
      <lastname>Smith</lastname>
      <age>28</age>
      <height>5.10</height>
    </person>
    <person>
      <firstname>Rick</firstname>
      <lastname>Winters</lastname>
      <age>45</age>
      <height>6.0</height>
    </person>
    <person>
      <firstname>James</firstname>
      <lastname>O'Riely</lastname>
      <age>33</age>
      <height>5.5</height>
    </person>
  </salaried>
</people>

This stylesheet simply discards ...