query database via xsl file

Question

I have an ecommerce cart which generates the XML at runtime. I have access to the XSL stylesheet which styles the actual XML.

I would like to display product category images in the menu. Is there an example of running a query within an xsl file that you could show me?

I cant see where its pulling the category data from?

can you help?

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes" ?>
    <!-- ###################################################################################################### -->
    <!-- Copyright AspDotNetStorefront.com, 1995-2009. All Rights Reserved. -->
    <!-- http://www.aspdotnetstorefront.com -->
    <!-- For details on this license please visit the product homepage at the URL above. -->
    <!-- THE ABOVE NOTICE MUST REMAIN INTACT. -->
    <!-- ###################################################################################################### -->
    <package version="2.1" displayname="Categories" debug="false" includeentityhelper="true">
    <PackageTransform>
    <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" xmlns:aspdnsf="urn:aspdnsf" exclude-result-prefixes="aspdnsf">
    <xsl:output method="html" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>

    <xsl:param name="CategoryID">
    <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="/root/System/PageName = 'showmanufacturer.aspx' or /root/System/PageName = 'showsection.aspx' or /root/System/PageName = 'showdistributor.aspx' or /root/System/PageName = 'showvector.aspx' or /root/System/PageName = 'showgenre.aspx'">0</xsl:when>
    <xsl:when test="/root/System/PageName = 'showcategory.aspx' and boolean(/root/QueryString/categoryid)">
    <xsl:value-of select="/root/QueryString/categoryid"/>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:when test="(/root/System/PageName = 'showcategory.aspx' or /root/System/PageName = 'showproduct.aspx') and boolean(/root/Cookies/LastViewedEntityInstanceID) and /root/Cookies/LastViewedEntityName = 'Category'">
    <xsl:value-of select="/root/Cookies/LastViewedEntityInstanceID"/>
    </xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
    0
    </xsl:otherwise>
    </xsl:choose>
    </xsl:param>

    <xsl:param name="AncestorID">
    <xsl:for-each select="/root/EntityHelpers/Category//Entity[EntityID = $CategoryID]">
    <xsl:value-of select="ancestor::*/EntityID"/>
    </xsl:for-each>
    </xsl:param>

    <xsl:param name="ParentID">
    <xsl:for-each select="/root/EntityHelpers/Category//Entity[EntityID = $CategoryID]">
    <xsl:value-of select="parent::*/EntityID"/>
    </xsl:for-each>
    </xsl:param>


    <xsl:template match="/">
    <xsl:element name="ul">
    <xsl:attribute name="class">
    <![CDATA[menuul]]>
    </xsl:attribute>

    <xsl:apply-templates select="/root/EntityHelpers/Category/Entity">
    <xsl:with-param name="prefix" select="''"/>
    </xsl:apply-templates>

    </xsl:element>
    </xsl:template>

    <xsl:template match="Entity">
    <xsl:param name="prefix"></xsl:param>
    <xsl:param name="eName" select="aspdnsf:GetMLValue(Name)" />

    <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test="Published=1">

    <li class="menuli">
    <xsl:value-of select="$prefix" />
    <!--<xsl:if test="number(ParentEntityID) != 0">
    <span class="catMark">>></span>�
    </xsl:if>-->
    <a href="{concat('c-',EntityID,'-',SEName,'.aspx')}">
    <xsl:if test="EntityID = $CategoryID or descendant::Entity/EntityID = $CategoryID">
    <xsl:attribute name="class">MenuSelected</xsl:attribute>
    </xsl:if>
    <xsl:value-of select="$eName" disable-output-escaping="yes"/>
    </a>


    <xsl:if test="count(child::Entity)>0">
    <ul class="submenuul">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="Entity">
    <xsl:with-param name="prefix" select="concat($prefix, '��')"/>
    </xsl:apply-templates>
    </ul>
    </xsl:if>
    </li>

    </xsl:when>
    </xsl:choose>

    </xsl:template>

    </xsl:stylesheet>
    </PackageTransform>
    </package>

Answer 1

If you are using ASP.NET you can use standard ASP.NET XML Control.

On page load assign to it your xml and xsl files like below:

protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
   Xml1.DocumentSource = "~/App_Data/YourXmlFile.xml";
   Xml1.TransformSource = "~/App_Data/YourXslStyleSheetFile.xsl";
}

You can also use DocumentContent property your xml is stored not in files but, i.e. in database.

See example here

Answer 2

The accepted answer is true to ASP.Net, but not to Aspdotnetstorefront. The XML file referenced in the question is only generated if debug is enabled and it should not be generated on any production environments (you will end up with write conflicts).

The XML behind the XSLT is generated for you at runtime. The category data (and other entity data) is included because you have includeentityhelper="true". EntityHelper caches category (and other entity) data to reduce DB queries. If you need data in addition to this, you should use the XMLPackage <query> node documented here (under 'SQL Queries'): http://manual.aspdotnetstorefront.com/p-157-xml-packages.aspx

You'll also find the '' node used in most of the XMLPackages included in the default build.