need an xsl that will remove empty tags and attributes from an xml.

Hello

I would like help in creating an xsl (and to flatten out the learning curve). I’m new to using xsl, but have good experience with dom trees and xml. Using xsl looks like it can do many things I have been coding manually.  What I need now is to take a xml doc and remove all attributes and empty tags. (I consider empty tags as tag without any data).  To help illustrate this, below is a sample of the input/source xml and the resulting xml.

xml source

<Sales_ticket>
    <Sales_ticket_header>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Transmit_version/>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Store_number/>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Register_ID/>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Transaction_date/>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Transaction_time/>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Polled_date ref="XDT50">11232005</Sales_ticket_header_Polled_date>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Ticket_number ref="X50TICK">36154</Sales_ticket_header_Ticket_number>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Receptionist_ID ref="X50RECP">00</Sales_ticket_header_Receptionist_ID>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Employee_ID ref="X50EMPN">05</Sales_ticket_header_Employee_ID>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Customer_type ref="X50CTYP">4</Sales_ticket_header_Customer_type>
      <Sales_ticket_header_price_group ref="X50PGRP">020</Sales_ticket_header_price_group>
      <Sales_ticket_header_POS_sales_tax ref="X50STAX">000000.00</Sales_ticket_header_POS_sales_tax>
    </Sales_ticket_header>  
    <Sales_ticket_detail>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Ticket_number ref="X51TICK">36154</Sales_ticket_detail_Ticket_number>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Employee_ID ref="X51EMPN">05</Sales_ticket_detail_Employee_ID>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Detail_price_group ref="X51PGRP">020</Sales_ticket_detail_Detail_price_group>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Retail_or_service_flag ref="X51TYPE">S</Sales_ticket_detail_Retail_or_service_flag>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Retail_or_service_number ref="X51COD1">00865</Sales_ticket_detail_Retail_or_service_number>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Subservice_number ref="X51COD2">000</Sales_ticket_detail_Subservice_number>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_List_price ref="X51LPRC">000012.50</Sales_ticket_detail_List_price>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Quantity_sold ref="X51QTYS">01</Sales_ticket_detail_Quantity_sold>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Item_taxed ref="NG51ITAX">N</Sales_ticket_detail_Item_taxed>
    </Sales_ticket_detail>
    <Payment_detail>
      <Payment_detail_Ticket_number ref="X54TICK">36154</Payment_detail_Ticket_number>
      <Payment_detail_Payment_type ref="X54TYPE">1</Payment_detail_Payment_type>
      <Payment_detail_Amount_tendered ref="X54AMNT">0000000000050.00</Payment_detail_Amount_tendered>
      <Payment_detail_Amount_negative ref="NG54NEGA">N</Payment_detail_Amount_negative>
      <Payment_detail_Gift_certificate_number_redeemed ref="X54GCRD">000000000</Payment_detail_Gift_certificate_number_redeemed>
      <Payment_detail_Change_record ref="NG54CHNG">N</Payment_detail_Change_record>
      <Payment_detail_Change_amount ref="NG54CAMT">0000000000000.00</Payment_detail_Change_amount>
      <Credit_card_detail>
           <Credit_card_detail_Ticket_number ref="NG55TICK"/>
           <Credit_card_detail_Charge_amount ref="NG55CHGA"/>
      </Credit_card_detail>
     </Payment_detail>
</Sales_ticket>

desired xml result

<Sales_ticket>
    <Sales_ticket_header>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Polled_date>11232005</Sales_ticket_header_Polled_date>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Ticket_number>36154</Sales_ticket_header_Ticket_number>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Employee_ID>05</Sales_ticket_header_Employee_ID>
      <Sales_ticket_header_Customer_type>4</Sales_ticket_header_Customer_type>
      <Sales_ticket_header_price_group>020</Sales_ticket_header_price_group>
      <Sales_ticket_header_POS_sales_tax>000000.00</Sales_ticket_header_POS_sales_tax>
    </Sales_ticket_header>  
    <Sales_ticket_detail>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Ticket_number>36154</Sales_ticket_detail_Ticket_number>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Employee_ID>05</Sales_ticket_detail_Employee_ID>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Detail_price_group>020</Sales_ticket_detail_Detail_price_group>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_service_flag>S</Sales_ticket_detail_service_flag>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_service_number>00865</Sales_ticket_detail_service_number>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Subservice_number>000</Sales_ticket_detail_Subservice_number>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_List_price>000012.50</Sales_ticket_detail_List_price>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Quantity_sold>01</Sales_ticket_detail_Quantity_sold>
      <Sales_ticket_detail_Item_taxed>N</Sales_ticket_detail_Item_taxed>
    </Sales_ticket_detail>
    <Payment_detail>
      <Payment_detail_Ticket_number>36154</Payment_detail_Ticket_number>
      <Payment_detail_Payment_type>1</Payment_detail_Payment_type>
      <Payment_detail_Amount_tendered>000000050.00</Payment_detail_Amount_tendered>
      <Payment_detail_Amount_negative>N</Payment_detail_Amount_negative>
      <Payment_detail_Gift_certificate_number_redeemed>000</Payment_detail_Gift_certificate_number_redeemed>
      <Payment_detail_Change_record>N</Payment_detail_Change_record>
      <Payment_detail_Change_amount>00000000.00</Payment_detail_Change_amount>
     </Payment_detail>
</Sales_ticket>

Basically I’m trying to reduce the document size before sending it on its way.

Here is what I got so far, it seems to just remove the attributes, but not the empty tags. Not sure what tells it to remove the attributes either.  So 500 points for one that does both, with comments telling what part does what.  Thanks.

<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
<xsl:output method="xml" indent="yes" omit-xml-declaration="no"/>
<xsl:template match="* | /">
    <xsl:copy>
        <xsl:apply-templates/>
    </xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
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