topic Re: XSLT does not honor the output element in Community Chat

XSLT does not honor the output element

iyerha — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 19:32:02 GMT

Hi,

I am using XML tools by workato and the Transform using XSLT action.

I am converting an XML input to a text output. I do this using the following XSLT element:

<xsl:output method="text" encoding="UTF-8"/>

But workato always seems to add the XML prolog to the output i.e. I get <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> prefixed to the output.

This works correctly when I use another XSLT testing tool. Is this a bug? Is there a workaround?

Thanks,

Hari

Re: XSLT does not honor the output element

Prudvi — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 04:36:48 GMT

Hi @iyerha,
Did you try adding the following attribute to the xml:output omit-xml-declaration="yes".
"<xsl:output method="text" omit-xml-declaration="yes" encoding="UTF-8"/>"
Regards,
Prudvi

Re: XSLT does not honor the output element

iyerha — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 21:09:50 GMT

Hi Prudvi,

I tried that and it still emits the XML prolog. It appears to be a bug.

Thanks,

Re: XSLT does not honor the output element

shivakumara — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 05:51:55 GMT

Hi @iyerha ,
I hope you are doing well,
Here is my understanding on the problem statement:
1. You are basically converting given XML to Text (RAW output) applying XSLT transformation.
2. However, you are getting a response which is including XML header to it (i.e. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>)

Here I am adding my insights to the problem statement, let me know if that works for you
1. Please kindly check your XSLT content whether it is applied to your XML.

Here I am adding my input XML, Provided XSLT contents and output.

Input XML ------------------------- <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <students> <student> <name>John Doe</name> <grade>A</grade> </student> <student> <name>Jane Smith</name> <grade>B+</grade> </student> </students> XSLT applied: --------------- <xsl:output method="text" encoding="UTF-8"/> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"> <xsl:output method="html" indent="yes"/> <xsl:template match="/"> <html> <head> <title>Student Grades</title> </head> <body> <h2>Student Grade Report</h2> <table border="1"> <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Grade</th> </tr> <xsl:for-each select="students/student"> <tr> <td><xsl:value-of select="name"/></td> <td><xsl:value-of select="grade"/></td> </tr> </xsl:for-each> </table> </body> </html> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet> Output: ---------------- { Output: <html> <head><title>Student Grades</title></head> <body> <h2>Student Grade Report</h2> <table border="1"> <tr> <th>Name</th> <th>Grade</th> </tr> <tr> <td>John Doe</td> <td>A</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Jane Smith</td> <td>B+</td> </tr> </table> </body> </html> }

Please let me know if the provided output is what you were expecting.

Thanks and Regards,
Shivakumara K A

Re: XSLT does not honor the output element

iyerha — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 13:47:12 GMT

Hi Shivakumara,

When output is set to html, there is no XML prolog as you have demonstrated. But I am trying to convert to plain text and when I set the output to text, I still get the prolog. Here is my recipe test result:

{ Response content type: rawdatatxt, Document: <books> <book> <title>Effective Java</title> <author>Joshua Bloch</author> <year>2018</year> </book> <book> <title>Clean Code</title> <author>Robert C. Martin</author> <year>2008</year> </book> </books>, XSLT: <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"> <xsl:output method="text" omit-xml-declaration="yes" encoding="UTF-8"/> <xsl:template match="/books"> <xsl:apply-templates select="book"/> </xsl:template> <xsl:template match="book"> Title: <xsl:value-of select="title"/><xsl:text>
</xsl:text> Author: <xsl:value-of select="author"/><xsl:text>
</xsl:text> Year: <xsl:value-of select="year"/><xsl:text>

</xsl:text> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet> }

{ Output: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> Title: Effective Java Author: Joshua Bloch Year: 2018 Title: Clean Code Author: Robert C. Martin Year: 2008 }

However, I agree that using html is a workaround to the problem. But it's odd to use html when the output is not html.

Re: XSLT does not honor the output element

shivakumara — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 07:35:53 GMT

Hi @iyerha,
Here are the small changes:

Your changes: ----------------- <xsl:output method="text" omit-xml-declaration="yes" encoding="UTF-8"/> Changes required: ------------------- <xsl:output method="text" indent="no"/>

Thanks and Regards,
Shivakumara K A