Problem sorting RSS feed by date using XSL

Question

I\'m creating a website where I need to show the top 5 records from an RSS feed, and these need to be sorted by date and time.

The date fields in the RSS feed are in

Answer 1

An other way to get around the document restriction is to use the following:

<xsl:template name="getMonth">
    <xsl:param name="name" />
    <xsl:choose>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'Jan'">01</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'Feb'">02</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'Mar'">03</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'Apr'">04</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'May'">05</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'Jun'">06</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'Jul'">07</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'Aug'">08</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'Sep'">09</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'Oct'">10</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'Nov'">11</xsl:when>
        <xsl:when test="$name = 'Dec'">12</xsl:when>
        <xsl:otherwise>99</xsl:otherwise>
    </xsl:choose>
</xsl:template>

Called using

   <xsl:call-template name="getMonth">
       <xsl:with-param name="name" select="substring(./pubDate,9,3)" />
   </xsl:call-template>

It's not pretty, but at least you don't have to worry about security

Answer 2

The following transformation:

<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
 xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
 <xsl:output omit-xml-declaration="yes" indent="yes"/>

  <xsl:variable name="vrtfMonths">
    <m name="Jan" num="01"/>
    <m name="Feb" num="02"/>
    <m name="Mar" num="03"/>
    <m name="Apr" num="04"/>
    <m name="May" num="05"/>
    <m name="Jun" num="06"/>
    <m name="Jul" num="07"/>
    <m name="Aug" num="08"/>
    <m name="Sep" num="09"/>
    <m name="Oct" num="10"/>
    <m name="Nov" num="11"/>
    <m name="Dec" num="12"/>
  </xsl:variable>

  <xsl:variable name="vMonths" select=
   "document('')/*/xsl:variable
                   [@name='vrtfMonths']/*"
   />

    <xsl:template match="channel">
      <xsl:for-each select="item">
        <xsl:sort data-type="number" order="descending" select=
        "concat(substring(pubDate,13,4),
                $vMonths[@name 
                        = 
                         substring(current()/pubDate,9,3)]/@num,

                substring(pubDate,6,2),
                translate(substring(pubDate,18,8),
                          ':',
                          ''
                          )
                )
         "/>

         <xsl:if test="not(position() > 5)">
           <xsl:copy-of select="."/>

         </xsl:if>
      </xsl:for-each>
    </xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

when applied on the provided source XML document (too-long to list here, see the link),

produces the wanted result:

<item xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss">
        <title>Inflation rate expected to fall</title>
        <description>The latest figures for the rate of inflation, for the 12 months to January, are expected to show that it has fallen again.</description>
        <link>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/business/7893873.stm</link>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7893873.stm</guid>
        <pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:58:03 GMT</pubDate>
        <category>Business</category>
        <media:thumbnail width="66" height="49" url="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45483000/jpg/_45483998_cash226.jpg" />
    </item><item xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss">
        <title>Farming pressures</title>
        <description>Are farmers being forced to use GM seeds?</description>
        <link>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/business/7892328.stm</link>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7892328.stm</guid>
        <pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:06:31 GMT</pubDate>
        <category>Business</category>
        <media:thumbnail width="66" height="49" url="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45481000/jpg/_45481936_005666785-1.jpg" />
    </item><item xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss">
        <title>Engine room?</title>
        <description>Western Australia's economy may be hitting reverse. </description>
        <link>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/business/7840370.stm</link>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7840370.stm</guid>
        <pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:05:25 GMT</pubDate>
        <category>Business</category>
    </item><item xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss">
        <title>Coining it in? </title>
        <description>Investors turning to old and rare coins in the downturn </description>
        <link>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/business/7878606.stm</link>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7878606.stm</guid>
        <pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:04:29 GMT</pubDate>
        <category>Business</category>
        <media:thumbnail width="66" height="49" url="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45459000/jpg/_45459789_dsc_4982.jpg" />
    </item><item xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss">
        <title>Home sales may rise say surveyors</title>
        <description>Property sales may pick in the next few months, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics).</description>
        <link>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/business/7893193.stm</link>
        <guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7893193.stm</guid>
        <pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:02:19 GMT</pubDate>
        <category>Business</category>
        <media:thumbnail width="66" height="49" url="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45483000/jpg/_45483075_006771638-1.jpg" />
    </item>