text processing with xsl...

["Larry Fitzpatrick" <lef@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,  I'm new to this list. Sorry if this is a newbie question that's been hashed before. (I only saw
peripherally related questions in the archive.)

Seems that XSL is fantastic at structural transformations. I've been working with XT and am totally
impressed.

The spec seems silent, however, on how to handle processing of the actual content of elements.
I'm finding that I want to do this... a lot. I suspect that this is a general problem. For example, there 
was a thread in the archive where someone was trying to construct an URL from space-containing content. They 
wanted to transform the spaces into %20's.  

Now, XT allows you to call out to Java, but according to the docs, these are "extensions". In my world,
at least in some places, Java is not an option.  I recall comments that some have made
about making JavaScript callouts in IE5 (I am not using ie5). I've also read that the Perl community
is integrating xsl, and I suspect that it'll be possible to do some content manipulation from an xsl
script, there, as well.

There seem to be ways to do this, with specific tools, but there is no guarantee of portability this way.
So, my question: is the XSL community converging on a portable way to process the actual content, as
well as the structure, in XSL? Is this an issue at all? If not, why not (that is, what am I missing)?

Cheers,
lef


Lawrence Fitzpatrick
Matter: Open Text, Suite 450, 1320 Old Chain Bridge Rd, McLean VA 22101
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