Delete merged rows in Lotus Notes XML using XSL-FO

Question

I'm generating PDF from Lotus Notes XML using FOP and XSL-FO. When all the cells in a row are merged in the Notes document, it becomes <tablerow/> in the XML (without <tablecell> child). For example :

<table widthtype='fixedleft' refwidth='12.5083in'>
    <tablecolumn width='4.1694in'/>
    <tablecolumn width='4.1694in'/>
    <tablecolumn width='4.1694in'/>
    <tablerow>
        <tablecell rowspan='4'>...</tablecell>
        <tablecell>...</tablecell>
        <tablecell>...</tablecell>
    </tablerow>
    <tablerow>
        <tablecell>...</tablecell>
        <tablecell>...</tablecell>
    </tablerow>
    <tablerow>
        <tablecell rowspan='2'>...</tablecell>
        <tablecell rowspan='2'>...</tablecell>
    </tablerow>
    <tablerow/>
</table>

I'm looking for a workaround in xsl-fo to delete the empty rows and adjust the rowspan. Otherwise I have an error in FOP :

fo:table-row is missing child elements. Required content model: <table-cell+>

Here is the result I want :

<table widthtype='fixedleft' refwidth='12.5083in'>
    <tablecolumn width='4.1694in'/>
    <tablecolumn width='4.1694in'/>
    <tablecolumn width='4.1694in'/>
    <tablerow>
        <tablecell rowspan='3'>...</tablecell>
        <tablecell>...</tablecell>
        <tablecell>...</tablecell>
    </tablerow>
    <tablerow>
        <tablecell>...</tablecell>
        <tablecell>...</tablecell>
    </tablerow>
    <tablerow>
        <tablecell rowspan='1'>...</tablecell>
        <tablecell rowspan='1'>...</tablecell>
    </tablerow>
</table>

And here my xsl :

<xsl:template match="dxl:table">
    <fo:table width="100%" table-layout="fixed">
        <xsl:for-each select="dxl:tablecolumn">
            <fo:table-column column-width="@width"/>
        </xsl:for-each>
        <fo:table-body>
            <xsl:apply-templates />
        </fo:table-body>
    </fo:table>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="dxl:tablerow">
    <fo:table-row>
        <xsl:apply-templates/>
    </fo:table-row>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template match="dxl:tablecell">
    <xsl:variable name="rows">
        <xsl:choose>
            <xsl:when test="@rowspan">
                <xsl:value-of select="@rowspan"/>
            </xsl:when>
            <xsl:otherwise>1</xsl:otherwise>
        </xsl:choose>
    </xsl:variable>
    <fo:table-cell number-rows-spanned="{$rows}">
        <xsl:apply-templates/>
    </fo:table-cell>
</xsl:template>

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

What you could do is create a second variable that counts all the "blank" rows following the row containing the current table cell

<xsl:variable 
     name="blankrows" 
     select="count(../following-sibling::dxl:tablerow[position() &lt; number($rows)]
                                                     [not(dxl:tablecell)])" />

You can then adjust the $rows variable by this amount to generate the number-rows-spanned attribute.

Try this XSLT (with made-up namespaces...)

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="2.0" xmlns:dxl="dxl" xmlns:fo="fo">
    <xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes" />

    <xsl:template match="dxl:table">
        <fo:table width="100%" table-layout="fixed">
            <xsl:for-each select="dxl:tablecolumn">
                <fo:table-column column-width="@width"/>
            </xsl:for-each>
            <fo:table-body>
                <xsl:apply-templates />
            </fo:table-body>
        </fo:table>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="dxl:tablerow[not(dxl:tablecell)]" />

    <xsl:template match="dxl:tablerow">
        <fo:table-row>
            <xsl:apply-templates/>
        </fo:table-row>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="dxl:tablecell">
        <xsl:variable name="rows">
            <xsl:choose>
                <xsl:when test="@rowspan">
                    <xsl:value-of select="@rowspan"/>
                </xsl:when>
                <xsl:otherwise>1</xsl:otherwise>
            </xsl:choose>
        </xsl:variable>
        <xsl:variable name="blankrows" select="count(../following-sibling::dxl:tablerow[position() &lt; number($rows)][not(dxl:tablecell)])" />
        <fo:table-cell>
            <xsl:if test="$rows - 1 > $blankrows">
                <xsl:attribute name="number-rows-spanned">
                    <xsl:value-of select="$rows - $blankrows" />
                </xsl:attribute>
            </xsl:if>
            <xsl:apply-templates/>
        </fo:table-cell>
    </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

I've made the attribute conditional, so it doesn't bother showing it if it is set to 1.

Also note the use of the empty template <xsl:template match="dxl:tablerow[not(dxl:tablecell)]" /> to remove the empty rows themselves.