CONVERT XML DATA TO DISPLAY AS TIMETABLE USING XSLT

Probably by first using a 24 hour clock!

I presume an HTML output?

If so the classes ought to be one-column tables which I position on the page using CSS positioning according to the start time and whose height I also calculate using the finish time.

Of course the biggest problem with this sort of thing is error handling. On line 49 of the XML you have <day>Fiday</day> which is wrong. One is tempted to do this rather with script - far better error handling and control. XSLT can be terribly awkward and arcane at times - and this is probably one of them.

Yes, with 24 hour clock it is really good idea, so it is easy to sort by hours*100+mins. but the biggest problem is rows when the class start 14.30 and finishes 16.30 as this should be done in the table.
How would you do this ?

Well, this can be easily done using XSLT, but can you first tell us how you will execute the XSLT.
It would be nice if you could use XSLT2, it would make life easier.
I can make an example if you can use XSLT2, I don't bother if you need XSLT1, but I can tell you how I would do it using XSLT1

I would make a row in a table for every minute or every 5 minutes (or whatever precision you need)
and for each event I would calculate the row span.
I would get all the events using a key combining start time and day
I would also check for other events starting within the same period (sequence or collection of possible start times in the reserved block) using the same key
(or don't you allow the possibility of having multiple events going on at the same time)
You could pre calculate the maximum number of joint event per colum and possibly split the columns before hand

XSLT2 gives you the power of date types so calculating time differences is a lot easier than XSLT1
XSLT2 also gives you functions
As I said I would help if you can use XSLT2, if not you'll have to sort most of it out yourself (though I can assist in the process)

I suggest that you add a first step for validating the data
Make a little schema to make sure that you can't have stuff such as Fiday (use an enumeration on the date)
And as BigRat suggests, either use a 24 hour clock or add a field stating pm/am, your data is currently ambiguous.

I would also add a preprocess step that slightly changes your data, to make the times start or end at a precision boundary,
(and maybe correct the ambiguous times)

To answer your follow up question
If you do this using a row per minute (or five, or ten, whatever precission you need)
you can easily calculate the number of rows for a block and get the rowspan
The block will fall into place automatically

For the rows, you can simply iterate over a sequence that contains the dates

Row should be done every 30 minutes, of course i have got dtd for this file but didn't attached it. I attached corrected XML file. I would prefer XSLT 1 (easier to run), but if you can make example of solution in XSLT2 that would be great.
stml.xml

Well, a DTD is not sufficient to exclude the errors in the days of course
(enumeration works on every simple type in XSD, only on attributes in DTD)

Give me a couple of hours, I need to finish some customer stuff first

Can you have classes at the same time (do you possibly need double columns?)

This rowspan thing is really compicated in this case i think so. I was just thinking of simple solution like checking for every 30 mins row if there is a class, if not just leave empty space in other case just put appropriate data. what do you think ?

no, you can't have two classes at the same time.

Well, using the rowspan avoids data being put in twice or more.
Basically it is easy to calculate the rowspan.
A class (information added) starts when the start time of the class equals the start time of the cell (or in the first half hour after it)
And based on the end time you can easily calculate the row span
The next row in the calculation does not need a cell, when the cell start time falls in the period start-to-end of an event

You can make this easier to swallow by simply doing a preprocess, listing every cell start time that is touched by an event

Split columns are a lot harder than the row spans actually. Do you need them?

Why do you consider XSLT1 easier to execute?
Do you need it in a browser, or in .Net?
Or do you have a specific processor in mind?
Can you answer me how you want to execute the XSLT, it would help in the requirements

If I post a XSLT2 solution, it will be very very tough to port that to XSLT1,
I need to be sure that the effort is well spent

OK, missed your answer on the classes at the same time, so it won't be too hard actually

Both XSLT 1 AND XSLT 2 are cool !

That's fine, I just realized that XSLT 2 is of course right for this. I just had a problem as my software was a little bit too old, I just updated to newer version and everthing is good ! So any ideas for a solution ?

Had more work than I expected for my customer.
I coincidentally just started working on it.
It is past midnight here, so I might not end this today, will see

it looks great, but when i want to run it in Firefox 4, it says: Error during XSLT transformation: An XPath expression was expected to return a NodeSet. What should i do to run it ? Of course points for you only tell me how to give them to you ? ! :D Thanks

Ah, it is XSLT2, you can't run it in FireFox (that is why I asked how you planned to execute it)
Best you can do is download Saxon 9.3HE from
http://saxon.sourceforge.net/

and see how it is run from the command line here

http://www.saxonica.com/documentation/about/gettingstarted/gettingstartedjava.xml

save the XML as a file on  the filesystem, do the same with the XSLT and run the above mentioned command line
(put the jar for "he" on the class path or run with -cp as suggested)

Why would you delete?
I worked three hours to get you a good solution.
You should accept with a tripple A instead

Of course i want to give a grade but it is tricky, I really like it so should I mark A B C as the best one ?
and then got questions  ie. Was the solution complete? and three choices but nothing next to it, so what should i mark ? top middle or bottom ?

By the way what tips would you give me for XML 1 ? thanks a lot ! really appreciate it !

Ah, I see,
If the solution is complete and working (I tested it, it does) you should grade A.
About the questions, I don't know, when in doubt, thick the top :-)

What tips are you looking for?

General tips on XML?
There is a lot on www.xml.com

references to XSLT1 books?
this one is a very good learning book
http://my.safaribooksonline.com/book/databases/xml/0596000537
the latest edition also covers XSLT2
http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780596527211

or do you want hints on how to redo the stuff in XSLT1?
I strongly discourage you to do this for the following reasons
- XSLT1 has no time datatypes... it is very inconvenient for comparing times
- XSLT1 has no concept of an intermediate tree storage (cfr. $step1) unless nodeset extensions
- XSLT1 has no functions, only named templates, that is a bit unconvenient here
- XSLT1 has no sequences, so it is tougher to make a $rows iterator, or a $days iterator

If you really want to go down that route, because you want to serve up XML with XSLT for a browser,
then I recommend that you have two steps
An XSLT2 step on the server for doing the difficult bits
A browser XSLT1 for some late minute layouting or reordering

I just will have to find my own solution, I just wanted some idea, now it is time for me to practise.... as practise makes perfect, as some people say, and i know that :D

I have seen some useful functions at http://www.w3schools.com/xpath/xpath_functions.asp and gotto make sure that it works in the browser.

the problem with W3schools is that they fail to say...
most of the functions are XSLT2 and will not work in a browser.
Please take my advise serious... do the bulk of the work outside the browser, using XSLT2

I am just trying to do it in 1.0 found quite useful website:
http://zvon.org/xxl/XSLTreference/Output/xpathFunctionIndex.html

I am  new to XSLT so I should start with sth easy then keep going to harder staff. Now it is time to start with basics, by the way I am really impressed by your knowledge, you must have quite a lot of experience. I am 24 now, when I was 13 I started to make first money on html, php, mysql and things like domains, servers, ads, but last 5 years "wasted" as i wasn't doing too much IT staff, you know, GIRLS :). Now trying spend whole days on practising and get a nice job. Any ideas what should I practise most this time ? Now I would like to find job in Internet Application Development, in few years maybe move to Financial Services when get bored with Internet Applications.