How to remove Namespaces when copying nodes to a different node in XML through XSLT1.0? - xslt-1.0

Question

I'm new to XSL and i'm trying to copy a node of XML to another node in the same XML using XSLT. I can able to transform the file as expected but the XMLNS attribute is getting added to the destination which I don't want.
I have tried all the option of copy-namespaces='no' using XSLT2.0 but that doesn't work. Also, I cant have a prefix of namespaces in the XSLT and use exclude namespaces to avoid xmlns because the incoming XML file is dynamic and namespaces keep on changing. I can't have all the namespaces declared as a prefix in XSLT.
Incoming XML:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<PropertySet>
<Message>
<NotificationHeader>
<BusinessId></BusinessId>
<CorrelationId>0201201916:21:24CKG3N</CorrelationId>
<SourceName></SourceName>
<SourceId></SourceId>
<EventType></EventType>
<SecurityIdentifierId></SecurityIdentifierId>
<ClientRequestId></ClientRequestId>
<TargetId>ESB</TargetId>
<EventTime></EventTime>
<RequestUser></RequestUser>
</NotificationHeader>
<EventList>
<Event>
<PayLoad>
<ListOfActionIo xmlns="http://www.test.com/IO">
<Action>
<ActivityId>4-309C7WV</ActivityId>
<ActivitySRId></ActivitySRId>
<ActivityTemplateId></ActivityTemplateId>
<ActivityUID>4-309C7WV</ActivityUID>
<Category> Notification</Category>
<Comment></Comment>
<Type>Action</Type>
<ListOfDestination>
<Destination>
<DestinationName>NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Incorporated</DestinationName>
</Destination>
<Destination>
<DestinationName>NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Incorporated</DestinationName>
</Destination>
</ListOfDestination>
</Action>
</ListOfActionIo>
</PayLoad>
</Event>
</EventList>
<DestinationList>
<Destination>
<DestinationName></DestinationName>
<DestinationId></DestinationId>
</Destination>
</DestinationList>
</Message>
</PropertySet>
XSLT Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output indent="yes" method="xml" encoding="UTF-8"/>
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
<xsl:template match="#*|node()">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="#*|node()"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="//*[name()='Message']/*[name()='DestinationList']//*[name()='Destination']"></xsl:template>
<!--Copy the destination from one node to another node-->
<xsl:template match="//*[name()='Message']/*[name()='DestinationList']">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:copy-of select="//*[name()='Message']/*[name()='EventList']//*[name()='Destination']"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<!--Remove the original node from where the destination was copied-->
<xsl:template match="//*[name()='Message']/*[name()='EventList']//*[name()='ListOfDestination']"></xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Output:
<PropertySet>
<Message>
<NotificationHeader>
<BusinessId/>
<CorrelationId>0201201916:21:24CKG3N</CorrelationId>
<SourceName/>
<SourceId/>
<EventType/>
<SecurityIdentifierId/>
<ClientRequestId/>
<TargetId>ESB</TargetId>
<EventTime/>
<RequestUser/>
</NotificationHeader>
<EventList>
<Event>
<PayLoad>
<ListOfActionIo xmlns="http://www.test.com/IO">
<Action>
<ActivityId>4-309C7WV</ActivityId>
<ActivitySRId/>
<ActivityTemplateId/>
<ActivityUID>4-309C7WV</ActivityUID>
<Category> Notification</Category>
<Comment/>
<Type>Action</Type>
</Action>
</ListOfActionIo>
</PayLoad>
</Event>
</EventList>
<DestinationList>
<Destination xmlns="http://www.test.com/IO">
<DestinationName>NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Incorporated</DestinationName>
</Destination>
<Destination xmlns="http://www.test.com/IO">
<DestinationName>NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Incorporated</DestinationName>
</Destination>
</DestinationList>
</Message>
</PropertySet>
Expected Output:
Without the Namespaces on the copied node.
<PropertySet>
<Message>
<NotificationHeader>
<BusinessId/>
<CorrelationId>0201201916:21:24CKG3N</CorrelationId>
<SourceName/>
<SourceId/>
<EventType/>
<SecurityIdentifierId/>
<ClientRequestId/>
<TargetId>ESB</TargetId>
<EventTime/>
<RequestUser/>
</NotificationHeader>
<EventList>
<Event>
<PayLoad>
<ListOfActionIo xmlns="http://www.test.com/IO">
<Action>
<ActivityId>4-309C7WV</ActivityId>
<ActivitySRId/>
<ActivityTemplateId/>
<ActivityUID>4-309C7WV</ActivityUID>
<Category> Notification</Category>
<Comment/>
<Type>Action</Type>
</Action>
</ListOfActionIo>
</PayLoad>
</Event>
</EventList>
<DestinationList>
<Destination>
<DestinationName>NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Incorporated</DestinationName>
</Destination>
<Destination>
<DestinationName>NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Incorporated</DestinationName>
</Destination>
</DestinationList>
</Message>
</PropertySet>

Answer 1

You are asking the wrong question. You don't want to "remove namespaces" - you want to change the namespace of transformed elements. This is akin to renaming the elements.
Now, since your example is confusing (and too long), consider the following:
XML
<root>
<colors>
<color>red</color>
<color>blue</color>
</colors>
<shapes xmlns="some-unknown-namespace">
<shape>circle</shape>
<shape>square</shape>
</shapes>
<sizes>
<size>small</size>
<size>large</size>
</sizes>
</root>
To change the namespace of shapes (and its descendants, that inherit it!) to no-namespace, without knowing in advance what the original namespace will be, you can do:
XSLT 1.0
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output method="xml" version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
<!-- identity transform -->
<xsl:template match="#*|node()">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="#*|node()"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="*[ancestor-or-self::*[name()='shapes']]">
<xsl:element name="{local-name()}">
<xsl:apply-templates select="#*|node()"/>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Result
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
<colors>
<color>red</color>
<color>blue</color>
</colors>
<shapes>
<shape>circle</shape>
<shape>square</shape>
</shapes>
<sizes>
<size>small</size>
<size>large</size>
</sizes>
</root>
Added:
lets modify the code to move the shapes into sizes and remove the shapes node.
OK, let's do that:
XSLT 1.0
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output method="xml" version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:strip-space elements="*"/>
<!-- identity transform -->
<xsl:template match="#*|node()">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates select="#*|node()"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="sizes">
<xsl:copy>
<xsl:apply-templates/>
<!-- move the shapes into sizes -->
<xsl:apply-templates select="../*[name()='shapes']/*"/>
</xsl:copy>
</xsl:template>
<!-- remove the shapes element -->
<xsl:template match="*[name()='shapes']"/>
<xsl:template match="*[ancestor::*[name()='shapes']]">
<xsl:element name="{local-name()}">
<xsl:apply-templates select="#*|node()"/>
</xsl:element>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Result
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>
<colors>
<color>red</color>
<color>blue</color>
</colors>
<sizes>
<size>small</size>
<size>large</size>
<shape>circle</shape>
<shape>square</shape>
</sizes>
</root>