Using PHP code inside XSL stylesheets.

[gazchap]

I've been given the task of integrating an XML property search system from EGPropertylink into a client website.

Everythings fine, apart from images. The image filenames come through in XML like this:

<server_filename>0000284929/image1.jpg</server_filename>

but the actual URL for the image is:

http://www.blah.blah/PropertyImages/29/0000284929/image1.jpg

The bit that is bothering me is the /29/ bit in that URL. That bit is dynamic, and is taken from the last two characters in the numeric property ID (in this case, 0000284929).

Consequently, I need to use PHP's substr function to grab the last two numbers from the propertyID, but from within the XSL stylesheet.

How would I go about doing this? Is it even possible? EGPropertyLink supply ASP example code that uses VBScript, which is obviously no good in this instance.

[MrPixel]

Store the stylesheet in stylesheet.php, then do something like this: header() to output the proper MIME type:

<?php
//This must be at the top of the file
header('Content-Type: text/xsl'); // or text/xml 
?>
<your stylesheet>

Then place your code (in <?php ?>) wherever you need it. You can do this for any kind of file ... JavaScript, CSS ... just make sure you use the appropriate content type in the header.

[gazchap]

Thanks for the info MrPixel, I never thought about that. A good way of getting around certain things.

Unfortunately, its not quite what I'm after in this instance as the values I have to use substr with come from an XML document so need to be handled by the XSL transformation 🙁

So I need a way of evaluating PHP expressions in the middle of an XSL transformation, with the values from the XML available.

[MrPixel]

Probably should have mentioned this before, but PHP has a bunch of XSLT functions If they're available on your server, that could solve your problem.

[gazchap]

Hehe, yeah I'm using the XSLT commands to do the transformation. Took a while to get the hosts to install the extension, but they got there in the end 🙂

I'm not sure how I'd go about putting PHP code into the stylesheet though. I've seen mention of process-instructions and things like that, but I don't understand that at all! 🙂

[MrPixel]

XSLT understands XPath expressions, which can manipulate numbers and strings ... sounds like it's probably your only option.

[gazchap]

Thanks for that dude, looks like thats what I'm going to have to do 🙂