Hey Stephen,

I usually have a separate 'Settings' section outside of the site for situations like this, something like:

-- Content

---- Home

-------- About Us

-------- Contact Us

-------- etc.

---- Settings 

--------Tips

---------- Tip 1

---------- Tip 2

As for pulling out the random nodes you can use the xslt from here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1389127/randomly-choose-a-node-in-xslt

Cheers

Rich

Hey Rich thanks for the feedback...

Is there a reason to set this up outside the main content? I'm new to umbraco and often wondered where I should put things that are not necessarily HTML content but take care of things like lists for drop down selections in a form, would this be applicable to that?

Cheers,

Stephen

Hey Stephen,

I always have a settings section, however in this case possibly I would have it like this:

--Content

----Home

------ Tips

-------- Tip 1

-------- Tip 2

It's just a matter of preference or  whatever is easier for the content editor to edit in this case.

It's up for discussion when content is not content (as in this case the Tip will not be rendered on it's own, only in the context of the homepage).

As for dropdowns in a form, yes I always put these in settings over the drop down datatypes as the user can edit them.

There's no 'right' way but I'd most sites I've seen other developers set up have a settings section of some type.

Cheers

Rich

thanks Rich, i think i'm going to include a image and a tip, would the structure still apply?

Hey Rich, using that code below but i'm getting no output? Am i doing this right?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE xsl:Stylesheet [ <!ENTITY nbsp "&#x00A0;"> ]>
<xsl:stylesheet
version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:msxml="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"
xmlns:umbraco.library="urn:umbraco.library"
xmlns:Exslt.ExsltMath="urn:Exslt.ExsltMath"
exclude-result-prefixes="msxml umbraco.library Exslt.ExsltMath">

<xsl:output method="xml" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>

<xsl:param name="currentPage"/>

<!-- This should probably be a macro parameter so you can use this elsewhere-->
<xsl:variable name="parentNode" select="1381"/>

<xsl:template match="/">

        <xsl:variable name="numberOfNodes" select="count(umbraco.library:GetXmlNodeById($parentNode)/node)"/>

        <xsl:variable name="randomPosition" select="floor(Exslt.ExsltMath:random() * $numberOfNodes) + 1"/>

        <xsl:variable name="randomNode" select="umbraco.library:GetXmlNodeById($parentNode)/node [position() = $randomPosition]"/>

        <!--
          You now have the node in the $randomNode variable
          If you just want the id then you can do an XPath query on the variable
          or you can modify the XPath above to get the property you are after rather than
          the whole node
        -->

  <xsl:value-of select="$randomNode/tmQuote" />
  <img src="{$randomNode/@nodeName/hpImage}" alt="" title="" class="hpImage" />
   

</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

Hi Stephen

I have done something similar to display a random quote, where a had Quotes and Quote doctypes... and the Quote doctype could have the properties I needed: http://our.umbraco.org/forum/developers/xslt/20274-How-to-display-random-quote

Furthermore there is this wiki http://our.umbraco.org/wiki/how-tos/xslt-useful-tips-and-snippets/xslt-getting-a-random-document-when-the-page-reloads where it uses root instead of a specific doctype in the first link..

Bjarne

Hi Stephen,

The reason I think you get no output when using the code you have posted is that this uses the old XML schema. And I assume that you are using a newer version. Probably 4.7 right?

If so, try something like this and see if you have better luck.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE xsl:Stylesheet [ <!ENTITY nbsp "&#x00A0;"> ]>
<xsl:stylesheet
version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:msxml="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"
xmlns:umbraco.library="urn:umbraco.library"
xmlns:Exslt.ExsltMath="urn:Exslt.ExsltMath"
exclude-result-prefixes="msxml umbraco.library Exslt.ExsltMath">

<xsl:output method="xml" omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>

<xsl:param name="currentPage"/>

<!-- This should probably be a macro parameter so you can use this elsewhere-->
<xsl:variable name="parentNode" select="1381"/>

<xsl:template match="/">

<xsl:variable name="numberOfNodes" select="count(umbraco.library:GetXmlNodeById($parentNode)/* [@isDoc])"/>
<xsl:variable name="randomPosition" select="floor(Exslt.ExsltMath:random() * $numberOfNodes) + 1"/>
<xsl:variable name="randomNode" select="umbraco.library:GetXmlNodeById($parentNode)/* [@isDoc][position() = $randomPosition]"/>

<!--
You now have the node in the $randomNode variable
If you just want the id then you can do an XPath query on the variable
or you can modify the XPath above to get the property you are after rather than
the whole node
-->
<xsl:value-of select="$randomNode/tmQuote" />
<img src="{$randomNode/@nodeName/hpImage}" alt="" title="" class="hpImage" />

</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

A useful tool when you, as you find something xslt based on the old form can be Tommy Poulsen's online xslt convert tool. You find the link here.

http://blackpoint.dk/umbraco-workbench/tools/convert-xml-schema-to-45-.aspx.

The way you can see the xslt code uses the old form can often be in such <xsl:variable name="numberOfNodes" select="count(umbraco.library:GetXmlNodeById($parentNode)/node)"/>. Node does not exist in the new schedule, this has been replaced by a [@ isDoc].

I hope it can help you on the right track

/Dennis

Hey Dennis,

Thanks for the post and link the convert tool.  Still not working with the new code...does not seem to be getting the random node..i found another XSLT that can get a random from a media folder that works well...would still like to work out how to do it on a folder though

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