Flatten Nested XML/hierarchy using XSLT Transformation

Question

I have a nested hierarchial xml structure which is to be flattened using xsl transformation. Following is the scenario.

<company>
  <Managers>
    <Manager>
       <Name>Matt</Name>
       <ID>1</ID>
       <Manager>
          <Name>Joe</Name>
          <ID>11</ID>
          <Manager>
          <Name>Dave</Name>
          <ID>111</ID>
       </Manager>
       </Manager>
    </Manager>
    <Manager>
        <Name>mike</Name>
          <ID>2</ID>>
    </Manager>
  </Managers>
</company>

result:

Matt 1
Joe 11
Dave 111
Mike 2

Answer 1

A better alternative via @Mathias Mueller,

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<xsl:transform xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
    <xsl:output method="text" encoding="UTF-8"/>

    <xsl:template match="Manager">
        <xsl:value-of select="Name" />
        <xsl:text>: </xsl:text>
        <xsl:value-of select="ID" />
        <xsl:text> </xsl:text>
        <xsl:apply-templates/>
    </xsl:template>   

    <xsl:template match="text()"/>

</xsl:transform>

Why this is better: It will more properly control the text output (assuming you really do want to output this to plaintext format). It also is more XSLT template oriented, which tends to be more extensible and maintainable than having for-each loops hanging around.

Using the descendant-or-self axis:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<xsl:transform xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
    <xsl:output method="text" doctype-public="XSLT-compat" omit-xml-declaration="yes" encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes" />

    <xsl:template match="//Managers">
       <xsl:for-each select="descendant-or-self::Manager">
        <xsl:value-of select="Name" />: <xsl:value-of select="ID" /><xsl:text> </xsl:text>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </xsl:template>    

</xsl:transform>

Output:

  Matt: 1 Joe: 11 Dave: 111 mike: 2 

http://xsltransform.net/nc4NzQB