"value substitution/population" in template XML using XPath


Hello,
I'm stuck on this problem for quite some time and hope somebody would
be able to guide me.

Basically, I need to populate a large number of "template" XML files
which have all elements/attributes etc. defined but the values in these
elements/attributes might be blank or place holders, as two examples
below:

Example - File type 1
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<fileType1>
<element1>
<element2 attr2="xxx">
<element3>
<element4 attr4="yyy">
</element4>
</element3>
</element2>
</element1>
</fileType1>


or

Example - File type 2
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<fileType2>
<element1>
<element2 attr2="xxx">
<element13>
<element14>
<element15>ZZZ</element15>
</element14>
</element13>
</element2>
<element3>
</element3>
</element1>
</fileType2>


and the new values to be populated (or atleast their XPath) are
indicated in a seperate XML data file as, and easily obtained as
xpath/value pair using Java or XSLT etc.:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<newValues>
<file type="fileType2">
<element>
<x-path>/fileType2/element1/element3</x-path>
<value>newValue3</value>
</element>
<element>
<x-path>/fileType2/element1/element2/@attr2</x-path>
<value>ABC</value>
</element>
<element>
<x-path>/fileType2/element1/element2/element13/element14/element15</x-path>
<value>newValue15</value>
</element>
</file>
<file type="fileType1">
<element>
<x-path>/fileType1/element1/element2/@attr2</x-path>
<value>123</value>
</element>
<element>
<x-path>/fileType1/element1/element2/element3/element4/@attr4</x-path>
<value>999</value>
</element>
</file>
</newValues>



So what is the best approach to read the 'template' example file(s) and
output it with new values for xpath indicated in the data file?

I have used DOM/JDOM to perform this task at a limited scale, but the
complicating factors are:

- the number of unique "template" files is rather large (all
generated from relevent XSD)
- the structure of each template is quite deep/complex
- the number of xpath/value would be arbitrary (say min of 5 "fields"
to be changed, max all of them!)

Essentially this task is a 'value substitution' or 'data population'
problem for an XML file, where the xpath/value pair are indicated in
another XML file. IMHO (re)constructing the output XML from scratch
appears would be overkill, and not feasbile to do it programatically in
Java code etc. Hence my search for a more efficient way to do it, say
with XSLT or some other technique, which 'processes' the original XML
input file WITHOUT altering the structure but substituting the desired
values as required.

Would appreciate any and all help in this regards!

Regards,

Bilal B.


--
Bilal
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