XSLT mixed content node

Question

I have a quite stupid question. How can I make sure that my XML mixed content node doesn\'t get mixed up? I have, say, an XML structure resembling this.

<         


        

Answer 1

<xsl:apply-templates> is your friend:

<xsl:stylesheet 
  version="1.0" 
  xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
>
  <xsl:output method="html" />

  <xsl:template match="root">
    <h1>List of books</h1>
    <xsl:apply-templates />
  </xsl:template>

  <!-- a <book> consists of its <title> and <description> -->
  <xsl:template match="book">
    <xsl:apply-templates select="title" />
    <xsl:apply-templates select="description" />
  </xsl:template>

  <!-- <title> is turned into a <h2> -->
  <xsl:template match="title">
    <h2>
      <a name="{.}"/>
      <xsl:value-of select="." />
    </h2>
  </xsl:template>

  <!-- <description> is turned into a <p> -->
  <xsl:template match="description">
    <p>
      <xsl:apply-templates />
    </p>
  </xsl:template>

  <!-- default rule: copy any node beneath <description> -->
  <xsl:template match="description//*">
    <xsl:copy>
      <xsl:copy-of select="@*" />
      <xsl:apply-templates />
    </xsl:copy>
  </xsl:template>

  <!-- override rule: <link> nodes get special treatment -->
  <xsl:template match="description//link">
    <a href="#{@ref}">
      <xsl:apply-templates />
    </a>
  </xsl:template>

  <!-- default rule: ignore any unspecific text node -->
  <xsl:template match="text()" />

  <!-- override rule: copy any text node beneath description -->
  <xsl:template match="description//text()">
    <xsl:copy-of select="." />
  </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>

The following output is generated for your input XML (Note: I piped it through tidy for the sake of readability. Non-relevant white-space was removed in the process):

<h1>List of books</h1>
<h2><a name="Stuff">Stuff</h2>
<p>This book is <i>great</i> if you need to know about stuff. I
suggest <a href="#Things">this one</a> if you need to know about
things.</p>

Answer 2

<root>
 <book>
  <title>Stuff</title>
  <description><![CDATA[
      This book is <i>great</i> if you need to know about stuff.
      I suggest <link ref="Things">this one</link> if you need to know
      about things.
  ]]></description>
 </book>
 [other books]
</root>