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I'm very new to XML and maybe just a touch impatient because I'm going to
ask a moderately advanced question even though I'm just learning the basics.
I've spent many years working with databases, both hierarchical and
relational. So far, XML is obviously hierarchical in nature. I'm wondering
if there is anything analogous to a relational "join" in XML?
For example, let's say I have an XML file that has a root element of
departments. Each record of the file has information about a single
department in a company and consists of a department number, department
name, manager name, and location. Let's say I have another XML file that
lists employees. Each record is an employee and gives information about the
employee's name, date of birth, department number, home address, etc.
Given that these are two separate XML files but that there is some common
information, specifically the department number, could I use XSLT to
generate a report that shows me each department name followed by the names
of the people who work in the department? Something like this:
Marketing
Department Number: 001
Location: New York
Manager: T. Jones
Other Staff
E. Humperdinck
E. Presley
J. Hendrix
Information Systems
Department Number: 666
Location: Toronto
Manager: M. Slate
Other Staff
F. Flintstone
B. Rubble
J. Rockhead
In other words, we're getting the department name and manager name from the
departments file and the "other staff" names from the employees file. We
know which employees go in which departments because the department number
is in both the departments file and in the employees file.
Is it conceptually possible to do this kind of joining in XSLT? If so, what
is this called? In other words, what are the main terms I need to know here?
I'd call this a join in relational database terminology but I imagine XSLT
has different terminology.
If this IS possible, can someone point me to a tutorial or reference that
explains how to write XSLT to do this?
--
Rhino
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